Confirmation crosses are made to hang on the wall with special attention given to the Saint chosen to be the patron. I interview the confirmation student, I ask them who they chose as their patron and why. It is amazing having this conversation with a teen, I get a sense of what attracted them to the saint and why they identify with them. After this conversation I begin my research on the saint and choose 3 attributes to include on the cross. This special attention allows each cross to be tailored to that saint and the confirmed.
Claire chose St. Dymphna. She wanted a Saint that would be there to help with mental health and anxiety. Claire felt that mental health was an important issue in her life and this was a good way to highlight it.
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Now I needed to find symbols that would make this cross mean something to Claire. St. Dymphna was a child of attempted incest. Her father was mentally unbalanced after the death of his wife. St. Dymphna was sent to a convent in Ireland by her priest to protect her. The edges of the cross are green to signify her location. The cross is made of a glass that you can see through to show her purity but it is not transparent. The rosary beads are made of transparent irid and green irid glass. We pray the rosary to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Sadly, Dymphna was murdered as a child by her father. I now had my 3 cross characteristics.