My oldest brother is in his early sixties. He recently retired from his career as a university professor and will be ordained next month as a Deacon in the Catholic church. I want to get him something memorable for the occasion of his ordination. One of the problems here is that I am Presbyterian and know next to nothing about what is appropriate to get someone for such an occasion in this scenario. So, I am looking to my esteemed dopers (particularly those of the Catholic faith) for ideas. Opinions?
A fancy-schmancy rosary might be a nice gift. Ditto with a crucifix or other religious icon.
This site has a lot of Catholic gifts, including books and everything else you can think of. St. Stephan is the patron saint of deacons, you might be able to buy a St. Stephan medal he can wear.
That should be Stephen, don’t know where the ‘a’ came from.
My vote’s for a medal, unless he doesn’t do jewelry. You can get them in silver, gold, or whatever you like, and they can be quite beautiful. Other than that I’d say a rosary, you can also find some really nice rosaries out there. Most people IME have very utilitarian rosaries, unless they happened to inherit a fancy one, so that’s another special gift he probably wouldn’t think about buying himself.
As a deacon he doesn’t need special vestments, so that’s out.
If you know of a saint of which is is specially devout, an image of that saint (one that’s not terribly ugly) may work. Or an image of the saint of the day when he’s been ordained; any day has several saints, so choose the one that you think makes the most sense for him. Of course and specially if he’s married (what, you don’t have to be celibate to be a deacon!), said image shouldn’t clash horribly with the rest of the house… in an ultramodern house, the image of St Stephen by El Greco goes well; one by Zurbarán, not at all.
The other stuff I can think of is all things you’d have to ask him.