How Solace & Saints Began
As we have just celebrated our first birthday as a company, I want to share a little bit about how Solace & Saints began.
It all started with a broken Rosary
During my conversion process, I picked up a Rosary (by donation) from a local parish. Unfortunately, more often than not, I would pull it out of my pocket to pray and it would come out missing a Crucifix. After repairing it a few times, I started looking into getting a more durable Rosary. I spent some time looking and kept running into exchange rates and huge shipping fees. So I thought, “I wonder if I could make one…”
Likewise with Crucifixes, I could never find what I was looking for. So I decided to make one myself. During this time, I was working in the construction industry doing finishing carpentry. It was here that I honed my woodworking skills and refined my detail work. It’s remarkable to look back now and see how God was preparing me for what was to come.
My first handmade Rosary
After a stop at a local bead shop, where the woman working taught me how to tie a barrel knot, I was about to embark on my first handmade Rosary. Little did I know then, not my last one! I used the beads from the Rosary I already had and was quite happy with the result. I remember the next one I made (or rather the next two) was for a friend (I also made myself a matching one). It had sandalwood and black onyx beads, strung on black 95 paracord. It was there, after countless hours drilling and cracking beads, that I learned I needed large-hole beads next time.
From there I made many more for gifts, and more for myself, all the while refining the craft and learning what I liked and didn’t like, what colours worked, what materials felt good in the hand. I was really loving doing it and would look for any excuse to make one for someone else, or for myself.
I recall saying to my wife countless times, “I wish I could make Rosaries and Crucifixes for work…” It just never seemed like something that was attainable or practical. There was a particular time when work was a bit slow, and I found myself with a lot of time off. I started talking with my wife about making this sacramental hobby more legitimate. So we brainstormed and came up with a name, landing on Solace & Saints.
Why Solace & Saints?
The simple definition of solace is ‘comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness’. For me, something I have cherished so much since becoming Catholic is the tangible and tactile elements of our faith. Gazing at a Crucifix or running Rosary beads through my fingers, these simple things, these real things, bring me comfort. I find solace in them. And our blessed Saints; how great a gift they are to us! I don’t know what I would do without Our Lady and Saint Joseph. Their presence in my life has helped me know God more fully, overcome trials with strength, and desire to become the husband, father, and worker God has created me to be.
Dream come true
When our fourth baby was born in the summer of 2024, I took a full year off from work. As time went on it became clear to us that I wouldn’t be returning. With my wife’s business, four kids and homeschooling, me working full-time as a foreman just wasn’t sustainable. So once again, I was a full-time stay-at-home dad (St. Joseph, pray for me!). As things settled a bit, post-baby, I began slowly spending more time designing and sourcing parts and by fall 2024 I was ready with designs and a website. All of a sudden, my dream had come true. I was actually doing the thing I wanted and prayed I could someday do.
I am so grateful to God for Solace & Saints. I am also so thankful for the support of my wife, Brooke, who truly believes in this company more than me! May God forever be praised and glorified, may the Blessed Virgin be honoured, and may the hands of Saint Joseph make great everything we do. Amen.
I will leave you with a prayer to St. Joseph the Worker that I say every day before I work.
O Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance for the expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations; to work with thankfulness and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, never shrinking from weariness and trials; to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, keeping unceasingly before my eyes death and the account that I must give of time lost, talents unused, good omitted, and vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God.
All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thy example, O Patriarch, Saint Joseph. Such shall be my motto in life and in death. Amen. (Composed by Pope St. Pius X)
Thank you for joining me in this reflection. If you have been encouraged by what we are doing, please show your support by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Instagram.
Peace in Christ,
Jesse Cameron
