My Nameday: Come for Dessert

By Helen McLoughlin

MY NAMEDAY—COME FOR DESSERT, which was first published in 1962, is an invitation to parents to celebrate the family’s namedays. It contains the names, feasts, and symbols of our Blessed Mother and the saints, prayers of the liturgy, and appropriate desserts for the celebration of the sanctoral cycle of the Church year in the home.

A nameday commemorates the feast of the saint whose name we received at baptism. To the Church’s mind, the day of the saint’s death is his real feastday, and that is the day usually assigned as his feast—his birthday into heaven. In some countries and in most religious orders it is customary to observe namedays instead of birthdays.

On a child’s nameday, “My Nameday—Come for Dessert” is a popular way to entertain. It is economical, festive and meaningful, and permits the family to splurge on a fabulous dessert without inflicting lasting wounds on the budget. It can be a “little evening”—a time for a party and a prayer for the child in the company of his friends, a time for pleasant conversation for the grown-ups who accompany them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Release date: Jan 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787208582

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Text originally published in 1962 under the same title.

© Papamoa Press 2017, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

MY NAMEDAY—COME FOR DESSERT

BY

HELEN McLOUGHLIN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

AUTHOR’S NOTE 5

ABBREVIATIONS 6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12

MY NAMEDAY—COME FOR DESSERT 14

HOW TO OBSERVE A NAMEDAY 16

NAMES 20

PROGRAM FOR A NAMEDAY 26

CROWN CAKE 33

CROSS CAKE 35

KUGELHUPF 36

MARY 39

LILY SANDWICHES 50

MUSICAL CAKE 58

SNOW HEARTS 62

SUGARLESS SPONGE CAKE 66

SUNBURST DESSERT 68

ASSUMPTION DAY FRUIT MEDLEY 68

RASPBERRY BAVARIAN CREAM 74

STAR-STUDDED CHIFFON PIE 75

ROSE PETAL COCONUT CAKE 79

CRYSTALLIZED ROSE PETALS 80

ALMOND TORTE 84

HONEY CHIFFON PIE 85

HONEY CHIFFON FILLING 87

ST. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF OUR LADY 90

ST. JOSEPH’S CREAM PUFFS 96

MOST POPULAR BOY’S NAMES 99

LAMB CAKE 106

FOUR-MINUTE FROSTING 107

CHOCOLATE ANGEL CAKE 110

MULLED ORANGE PUNCH 112

ORANGE DOUGHNUTS 113

STAR OF DAVID CHIFFON CREAM PIE 120

SNOWBALLS-ON-FIRE 128

CHERRIES JUBILEE 129

GLOW WINE 130

MOST POPULAR GIRLS’ NAMES 132

CAROL CAKE 137

ST. PATRICK’S DAY DESSERT SALAD 140

STRAWBERRY FROSTED LAYER CAKE 146

STRAWBERRY BUTTER FROSTING 146

CUT-UP CAKES 147

EAGLET CAKE 149

SHIP CAKE 149

LION CAKE 151

HOBBY HORSE CAKE 151

HEART CAKE 152

FISH CAKE 153

DOG CAKE 154

VANILLA MOUSSE 156

BOMBE GLACE 156

MELON BOMBE 156

CLASSICAL RECIPES 157

APOSTLES AND SAINTS WHO BEAR THEIR NAMES 164

OTHER POPULAR NAMES 180

ST. GEORGE (MELACHRINO) CAKE 183

NAMEDAY SUGAR COOKIES 188

NAMEDAY STRAWBERRIES 191

VIRGIN SAINTS 193

FLAMBE CHERRY PIE 199

MARTYRS 200

MARTYRS’ CHIFFON DESSERT 203

CONFESSORS 204

CONFESSORS’ LIGHT CHOCOLATE CAKE 206

NAMEDAY CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM 207

BISCHOFSBROT (Bishop’s Bread) 208

BISHOP WINE 209

PAPST (Pope Punch) 212

DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH 214

A GENOISE BOOK CAKE 215

FOUNDERS 219

NUN’S LEMON LAYER CAKE 232

HOLY WOMEN 234

SCRIPTURAL SAINTS—Old Testament 235

SCRIPTURAL SAINTS—New Testament 237

SCRIPTURE CAKE 238

SPECIAL PATRONS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH 240

MARTYRS AND SAINTS OF GREAT BRITAIN 248

OTHER SAINTS OF GREAT BRITAIN 250

GAELIC NAMES AND IRISH SAINTS 252

IRISH RECIPES 258

MOUSSE TULLAMORE 258

IRISH COFFEE 258

SAINTLY MOTHERS 259

HEILIGE KAPFE (Saint’s Plaits) 259

CHOCOLATE SYMBOLS FOR CAKE DECORATIONS 259

NO-BAKE LEMON CHEESE CAKE 260

BASKET CAKE 261

DAY-BY-DAY CALENDAR OF PATRONS 265

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 279

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Nameday prayers in honor of patron saints for whom no special prayers are given in this book. If your patron saint was a

MARTYR-BISHOP, see page 207.

MARTYR who was not a bishop, see page 207.

WOMAN-MARTYR, see page 209.

VIRGIN, see page 200; also 225.

VIRGIN-MARTYR, see page 203.

CONFESSOR-BISHOP, see page 215.

CONFESSOR, see page 211.

POPE, see page 219.

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, see page 220.

ABBOT, see page 224.

SAINT mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, see page 186.

HOLY WOMANwho was not a martyr or virgin, see page 240.

If in doubt, use the prayer on page 30 (or 241).

Nihil obstat:

John Eidenschink, O.S.B,, I.C,D., Censor deputatus.

Imprimi potest:

Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., D.D., Abbot of St. John's Abbey.

Imprimatur:

Peter W. Bartholome, D.D., Bishop of St. Cloud. August 24, 1962.

ABBREVIATIONS

In this book references are frequently made to stores or companies from which various items may be purchased for the nameday celebration. In order to avoid repetition only the initial letters are given with a direction to page 7. Here follow the full addresses:

AL—Alinari

Via Nazionale 6

Firenze—Florence

Italy

AMS—Ave Maria Shop

11 Barclay St.

New York 7, N.Y.

BER—Berliner & McGinnis

Nevada City, Cal.

BM—Bobbs-Merrill Co.

1720 E. 38th St.

Indianapolis 7, Ind.

BMA—Birmingham Museum of Art

Birmingham, Ala.

BR—Bruce Publishing Co.

400 North Broadway

Milwaukee 1, Wis.

CAB—Mother Cabrini Shrine

701 Fort Washington Ave

New York, N.Y.

CCA—Contemporary Christian Art

1053 Lexington Ave.

New York, N.Y.

CR—Thomas Crowell Co.

432 Park Ave. South

New York 16, N.Y.

DA—Devin-Adair Co

23 E. 26 Street

New York 10, N.Y.

FC—The Frick Collection

1 East 70 Street

New York 21, N.Y.

FL—Frederick Leighton Mexican Imports

15 E. 8 Street

New York, N.Y.

FLB—Family Life Bureau

1312 N. W. Massachusetts Ave

Washington 5, D.C.

FP—Frederick Pustet Co.

14 Barclay St.

New York 8, N.Y.

FSC—Farrar, Straus and Cundahy

19 Union Square W.

New York, N.Y.

GI—Gregorian Institute of America

2130 Jefferson Ave

Toledo 2, Ohio

GO—Gourmet Magazine

Plaza Hotel

New York, N.Y.

GR—The Grail

Grailville

Loveland, Ohio

HNA—Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

6 W. 57th Street

New York 19, N.Y.

IR—Irish Industries Depot

831A Lexington Ave.

New York, N.Y.

JU—Jubilee

168 E. 91st Street

New York 28, N.Y.

LAS—The Little Art Shop

Regina Laudis Monastery

Bethlehem, Conn.

LP—The Liturgical Press

St. John’s Abbey

Collegeville, Minn.

MA—Manganaro Foods Inc.

488-9th Ave.

New York, N. Y.

MB—Morehouse Barlow Co.

14 E. 41st St.

New York 17, N.Y.

MF—Montfort Book Shop

40 South Saxon Ave.

Bay Shore, L.I.

New York

MG—Mary’s Gardens

124-c West Chestnut Hill Ave

Philadelphia 18, Pa.

MMA—Metropolitan Museum of Art

5th Avenue at 82nd St.

New York 28, N.Y.

MR—Maryknoll Sisters

Maryknoll, N.Y.

MS—Maid of Scandinavia

3245 Raleigh Ave. South

Minneapolis, Minn.

NB—Newman Bookshop

Westminster, Md.

NCRLC—National Catholic Rural Life Conference

8301 Grand Ave.

Des Moines, Iowa

NGA—The National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C.

PA—Pantheon Books

22 East 51st.

New York, N.Y.

PB—Party Bazaar

390-5th Ave.

New York, N.Y.

PC—Patronscraft

5 Little Art Shop

Regina Laudis Monastery

Bethlehem, Conn.

PJK—P. J. Kenedy and Sons

12 Barclay Street

New York 8, N.Y.

PP—Paulist Press

180 Varick St.

New York 14, N.Y.

SMC—Sister Mary of the Compassion, O.P.

Dominican Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Blue Chapel

Union City, N.J.

SMG—St. Martin de Porres Guild

160 5th Ave.

New York, N.Y.

SP—Scapular Press

329 E. 28th St.

New York 16, N.Y.

RC—Regina Coeli Center

80-17 37th Ave.

Jackson Heights, N.Y.

SSJ—The Sisters of St. Joseph

Brentwood, L.I.

New York

SW—Sheed and Ward

64 University Place

New York, N.Y.

WRN—William R. Nelson Museum

Kansas City, Mo.

YCW—Young Christian Workers

1700 W. Jackson Blvd.

Chicago, Ill.

YOHS—Ye Olde Herb Shoppe

46 Dey St.

New York, N.Y.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photo credits: Oudin designs: Hurvault, Phot., 9 rue de Metz, Saint Germain-en-lay, France, pp. 29, 37, 82, 170, 183, 187, 202, 212, 217, 218, 228; Daniel McManamy, pp. 15, 109; John Harrington, pp. 26, 27, 90; Kevin McKiernan, p. 40; General Foods Kitchens, 250 North Street, White Plains, New York (Baker’s Angel Flake Coconut), pp. 32, 80, 108, 154-161 (cf. Baker’s Coconut Cut-Up Cakes booklet); Maid of Scandinavia, 3245 Raleigh Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pp. 35, 73, 191, 222; The Nestle Company, pp. 58, 112, 140, 214; Knox Gelatine, Inc., pp. 69, 76, 88, 123, 145, 210, 226; Richard Snyder School of Bakery, pp. 67, 84; Norton and Peel, 1004 Marquette Ave., Minneapolis, Minnesota, p. 73; Florida Citrus Commission, p. 114; Borden Milk Company, Ice Cream Division, p. 167; Fluffo, 36 Central Park South, New York 19, New York, p. 87; Rev. Hugh Witzmann, O.S.B., p. 105.

Hymns. Hymns given on pp. 56, 93, 144, 200 are under copyright by McLaughlin and Reilly Company, Boston, Massachusetts; used with permission. Hymns given on pp. 148, 194, 245, 248 are under copyright by The Gregorian Institute of America, Toledo, Ohio; used with permission.

Quotations from: Meditations Before Mass, The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, p. 15, 16; Liturgical Piety, Notre Dame University Press, pp. 30, 103; Butler’s Lives of the Saints, P. J. Kenedy and Sons, p. 63; Ancient Irish Poetry, Constable and Company, p. 113; prayers from the Raccolta, pp. 79, 107, 184.

There! it is finished, the cake for your nameday:

Brown, with red raisins, pink icing and candles,

Frilly fine paper with podgy gilt puppies

To ribbon the rim like a wrist with its bangles.

Tomorrow your quick little heart will start pounding,

Your quick little laugh tinkle over the table.

As yet you’re too young to suspect love abounding

Went to that baking—later on you’ll be able.

They’ll heap you with names in the dear Irish fashion:

Páistin,{1} little thrush, peteen-o, and heart’s treasure.

Kind love will float round you, a pool of hushed passion;

You dear little soul, you’ll be loved without measure.

Beginning the third of the years you are with us

The Father fulfil you, the Christ and the Spirit;

The Mother of Jesus be vigilant for us

Nunc et in hora...and keep you, and cherish.{2}

MY NAMEDAY—COME FOR DESSERT

is an invitation to parents to celebrate the family’s namedays. It contains the names, feasts, and symbols of our Blessed Mother and the saints, prayers of the liturgy, and appropriate desserts for the celebration of the sanctoral cycle of the Church year in the home.

A nameday commemorates the feast of the saint whose name we received at baptism. To the Church’s mind, the day of the saint’s death is his real feastday, and that is the day usually assigned as his feast—his birthday into heaven. In some countries and in most religious orders it is customary to observe namedays instead of birthdays.

On a child’s nameday, Come for Dessert is a popular way to entertain. It is economical, festive and meaningful, and permits the family to splurge on a fabulous dessert without inflicting lasting wounds on the budget. It can be a little evening—a time for a party and a prayer for the child in the company of his friends, a time for pleasant conversation for the grown-ups who accompany them.

Namedays are a means of strengthening the faith of our children, of drawing them closer to the Communion of Saints. The extra work on the parents’ part will be amply rewarded. A little more and how much it is; a little less and what miles away.

In the thirteen years from kindergarten through high school, children spend 13,000 hours in school (five hours a day); 37,960 hours asleep (eight hours a day); and 62,920 hours awake at home or elsewhere. The chief problems parents face are how to make a Christian home in which the children may pass their waking hours, how to teach the lessons of the faith over and beyond the catechism, how to counteract the secular influences of television and radio.

The Sisters, Brothers and teachers in our schools teach Christian doctrine, it is true; but parents must teach religion. And the bulk of the work should be done before the child is six years old. Our Catholic educators can only build upon the foundations of Catholic training inculcated in the home. One of the ways to create a supernatural atmosphere in the home and to train our children in the faith is by the celebration of namedays.

Namedays enrich a child’s thinking and create feelings of security, reverence and love of tradition which come from links with the past. They bind the members of the family closer to each other, to God and to the saints; they are a means of sanctifying the home, fulfilling the command of the bishops of the United States: Christians must make their homes holy.

The nameday dessert may be served as formally as you like. It is most attractive at the dining room table, covered in its Sunday best with linen, polished silver, good china, and candles. A low centerpiece decorated with a symbol of the patron saint will provide beautiful decor. The table may be set with placemats, nameday napkins (available at $.50 a package from MS; see p. 7), and place-cards marked with an attribute of the saint or a verse from the Bible easily taken from the Mass of the patron.

At a gathering too large to be seated, let the table be set as a buffet with a taller and more imposing centerpiece, perhaps built around a statue or paper cut-out of the child’s patron saint.

Serve the most beautiful cake or pie in your repertoire, or a dessert frozen in a symbolic mold, nameday punch for the children, and coffee (perhaps Irish coffee, p. 264) for the grown-ups. Just before the dessert is served, the family and guests pray the Collect of the day for the nameday child. A copy of the prayer may be typed or printed by hand for each guest.

HOW TO OBSERVE A NAMEDAY

The impetus for keeping namedays must ordinarily begin with mother. She can stage a nameday celebration just as successfully as she whips up a cake. Nothing happens on a nameday unless she makes it happen. The triduum beforehand, the vigil prayers, family attendance at Mass on nameday morning, the fun of the dessert party are the result of conscious planning born of a love for the traditions of the Church.

Family observance of namedays adds to the richness and completeness of life. Namedays like holidays give variety to our years; furthermore, they are a stabilizing influence, bringing the family together and uniting it to the Church Triumphant. So let’s have namedays, even if they do make another job for mother.

How do you find the time? mothers ask. Something less important must go undone, is the answer. Namedays need not be all work and no fun. The solution lies in systematic planning. Like all other household activities, advanced planning relieves the pressure. It is easy to work out a nameday routine that will become a family tradition. Change the routine here, change it there, but keep the same outline from year to year. Done in this way, the celebrations are easier to manage, and children will love the program the more for its familiarity. They will feel a part of it. As they grow older, they will take the whole thing out of mother’s hands.

Establish a nameday closet. As namedays roll around, acquire permanent fixings which can be tucked away in labeled boxes or in a drawer. Here can be stored special nameday symbols and table decorations, crowns, gummed seals, ribbons of appropriate colors, odds and ends that are needed for dramatizing the life of the saints and a nameday wreath for feasts (MS, see p. 7).

A special party pantry, or at least a shelf, is also a good idea. In a short time its resources can turn any dessert period into a nameday celebration. Such a shelf should hold colored straws, marshmallows, gum drops to make a crown for Elizabeth, Margaret, Henry, Kenelm. or Louis; perhaps a gummed alphabet; Cake-mate in colors to write the patron’s name on a cake; silver dragées to make a rosary on a cake for Catherine, Dominic, or any Dominican saint; chocolate bits to form musical notes for a David, Vivian, or Gregory; paper napkins to be crayoned; and even such things as animal crackers.

For instance, for a small Daniel or Mark, lions in cookie form or gummed-seal lions may be used to decorate cupcakes. Put a candle on the top, with the lions encircling it (this is also for Leo, Marciana, Jerome, Natalie)—and you will have a nameday celebration in no time at all. It is well to have party balloons and paper plates on which the symbols of saints may be painted with nail polish. With such materials on hand, it is possible to celebrate namedays without trouble or expense.

Chart the Church year for namedays. Your religious calendar will serve as a reminder if you circle the dates of your family’s patrons. We cannot stress enough the importance of such activities; in themselves they may seem to be of no consequence, but seen in a broader perspective they have great spiritual value. Anything which unites our children more closely to the Communion of Saints is worth the effort it costs a mother. It is an ordinary household chore which can have supernatural significance.

In organizing a successful nameday party, one which your children will enjoy and remember, there are a few rules to be observed. First, invite no more children than can be comfortably managed; second, keep the party short and snappy. Plan the time so that a few games may be played before refreshments—always a quiet one to end with. It is best to give prizes to the winner of each game at a small child’s party; crayons, soap bubbles, modeling clay, yo-yos, or candy are suitable.

The table is the center of attraction at these parties; the child’s patron and his symbols will dictate the party theme.

The nameday vigil: a period of quiet. The preceding suggestions were meant to give the assurance that the celebration of your child’s nameday need not involve much feverish preparation. In fact, a spirit of quiet and calmness should pervade the household on the vigil. Romano Guardini in Meditation before Mass (Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland) stresses that such a period of composure is the prerequisite of a liturgical holy act—in this case, holy Mass on the nameday feast of your child. This period of quiet may be devoted to a reading and explanation of the Mass of the day, or at least of the Collect. Often the Mass text in honor of the child’s patron—pope, bishop, abbot, martyr, holy woman or virgin—will suggest symbols and verses for the place-cards to be used at your party the next day.

We have found that the period of quiet is best maintained by having the children work in silence at a table where they can cut silhouettes or name shields, make paper sculptures of the patron saint, draw and paste up symbols. Their work is used on the family altar, over the mantel, or on the kitchen bulletin board.

Helping to create a nameday decor provides children with a period of stillness in which the Holy Spirit may work upon their hearts and minds and hands. Sometimes the drawing or cut-out is a simple mitre for a bishop; at other times they may work out more elaborate designs. Like most children, ours are most often noisy, so this period of absolute quiet always impresses them.

When they were small, decorating paper napkins with crayoned symbols was a sure guarantee of a quiet period. They also enjoyed pasting gummed seals on place-cards (3x5 file cards), such as a goose for Martinmas, St. Martin’s day; a horse for Irene; a rooster for Guy or Peter. Now that they are older they use nail polish to outline the symbols on paper plates. These exercises are not without their pedagogical value. For example, in drawing a crosier for a bishop they learn that the straight staff denotes righteous rule; his mitre designates his authority.

Sometimes the children rule paper napkins with borders and color them in keeping with the feast: blue border and monogram for our Blessed Mother; black and white with a shield for Dominicans; brown for Franciscans, etc. For St. John the Baptist green is used as a symbol of spiritual initiation. Red is the color for the many martyrs who suffered in times of persecution. Yellow or gold symbolizes sacredness; both St. Joseph and St. Peter are pictured in art wearing this color. A helpful book, Paper Sculpture by Mary Grace Johnston, will give ideas on making a paper sculpture of a patron (available from RC, see p. 7).

The image is a reality; the mind can only attempt to plumb it. The image is richer than the thought; hence the act by which we comprehend an image, gazing, is richer, more profound, vital and storied than the thought. People today are over-conceptualistic. We have lost the art of reading images and parables, of enacting and understanding symbols. We could relearn some of this by encouraging and practicing the power of vision, a power which has been neglected for too long (Romano Guardini, ibid.).

For teen-agers this period of quiet should be devoted to reading the life of the saint or studying the missal for the Mass of the feast. It is also a time to help the younger children with artwork. Parents too must become aware of the mystery of the feast. They must revere and pray to their children’s patrons daily, must express love for the heavenly protectors after whom they have named their children by a joyful celebration of the heavenly birthdays of the family patrons.

Again Guardini gives the clue; "From the liturgy it is clear that the (name) day does not begin with the morning, nor with midnight, but on the evening before with a vigil. (It need be only a period of quietness, a decade of the Rosary to ask our Lady and the child’s patron for his needs, and, if possible, a prayer in the child’s own words.) There is a profound insight into this. It is not a question of the astronomical, but of the living day. The one is a mathematically exact fraction of time which begins with a certain second, regardless of what takes place in it; whereas the other, the living day, is a continuously renewed form.

Then when does the nameday begin? One could say at the moment of deepest sleep, when life is at its stillest, on condition that sleep itself begins and moves and ends properly. Sleep is profoundly influenced by the hours that immediately precede it. Therefore the problem of a happy nameday begins on the vigil, the evening before (Guardini, ibid.).

It is for parents to find how to meet this challenge, to find time in schedules already overcrowded. (This obviously means curtailing TV.)

Family participation in Mass is the most important part of the nameday—a miniature of the Mystical Body at the Lord’s table. Early in the Mass, at the Collect, the family seeks God’s graces for the nameday child through the intercession of his patron. They receive God’s word, glorify Him, and place the child’s particular needs at the feet of Providence. At Holy Communion they see God the Father’s hand preferring sacred nourishment which all readily accept that they may have life.

The Lord received in Holy Communion lingers to hear your desires for your nameday child, to pour out the love of His Heart, to bless him or her in a special manner, and to give life everlasting. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world (John 6:33-57)—ideal for nameday vigil reading and meditation. It is most important that parents understand the significance of Christ’s coming in the liturgy. It is not the dessert or the baubles or the party, but Christ’s coming to yourselves and your nameday child that makes a feast.

What are the Christian implications of this word, feast? The dictionary says a feast is a religious festival or celebration. Before accepting that definition, however, we must remember that our society has lost touch with certain ultimate mysteries. We are rationalists and psychologists, and reduce everything to the intellect or moral plane, or to the subjective level of experience, Guardini says (ibid.). Then he proceeds to give his definition of a Christian feast. To wait for our Lord, to invite Him, to go to receive and honor and praise Him, to be with Him, drawn into the intimacy of communion with Him (and through Him into communion with the nameday saint)—that is the Christian feast, and the true meaning of a nameday.

The celebration at home, the agape, or nameday party which highlights the child’s patron and his attributes by special desserts and decorations, the Collect prayer at the party—all are dependent for their effectiveness upon understanding the meaning of a Christian feast. What good is a feast to children surfeited with sweets? To get the full effect of a nameday feast, give youngsters the opportunity to fast from desserts on the vigil, or better still, during a triduum before the nameday. After a day or two without dessert, the nameday cake looms twice as beautiful and tasty.

NAMES

I will give him a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written (Apoc. 2:17).

A name is a badge of individuality. As long as an infant is nameless, he is amorphous. When he receives a name by which he can be identified, he enters upon a subjective existence.