Editing Holy card (section)

{{Short description|Christian devotional image}}
{{Distinguish|Mass card}}
[[Image:holycard.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A German holy card from around 1910 depicting the [[crucifixion]]]]
[[File:Saint Christopher 001.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The earliest known [[woodcut]], St [[Saint Christopher|Christopher]], 1423, [[Buxheim]], with hand-colouring]]
[[File:Stampita of the Holy Face.jpg|thumb|right|Prayer card of the [[Holy Face of Jesus]]]]
In the [[Christianity|Christian]] tradition, '''holy cards''' or '''prayer cards''' are small, [[Catholic devotions|devotional]] pictures for the use of the faithful that usually depict a religious scene or a [[saint]] in an image about the size of a [[playing card]]. The reverse typically contains a [[prayer]], some of which promise an [[indulgence]] for its recitation.

The circulation of these cards is an important part of the visual [[folk culture]] of Roman Catholics, and in modern times, prayer cards have also become popular among Orthodox Christians and Protestant Christians, although with the latter, biblical themes are emphasized within them.<ref name="Hasinoff2011">{{cite book|last=Hasinoff|first=Erin L.|title=Faith in Objects: American Missionary Expositions in the Early Twentieth Century|date=2011-11-22|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780230339729|page=206|quote=Protestant prayer cards tended to emphasize biblical themes as opposed to devotional subjects (Leonard Primiano, personal communication, 2011).}}</ref><ref name="Illes2011">{{cite book|last=Illes|first=Judika|title=Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints & Sages|date=2011-10-11|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780062098542|page=68|quote=In recent years, holy cards have become increasingly popular among Orthodox Christians as well.}}</ref>