Our Story: The Journey to Founding the House of Catena
In the fall of 2024, a spark ignited our mission to share the beauty of our Catholic faith. A dear friend, a fellow Catholic, arrived in the U.S. with a collection of handmade sample women’s dresses, crafted with care and modesty in mind. It was intended to raise funds to support the work of devout young Catholic men and women at the Mission Tradition parish in Nigeria.
Over heartfelt conversations, we recognized a gap in the market for affordable, elegant, modest women’s clothing that embodied Catholic values. These dresses, shared initially among friends and family, earned glowing praise for their quality, design, and affordability.
Encouraged by this response, I urged our friend to create more dresses and other religious items, and I committed to helping bring them to a wider audience. With each sale, those who patronized us expressed delight, affirming the demand for apparel that reflects faith and dignity.
I continued to sell these dresses in person among friends, acquaintances, and other referrals.
During this time, I was courting my lady friend (now my wife, who gifted me a stunning pencil drawing of Our Lady for my birthday—a piece that captured her remarkable talent and deep devotion to Catholic art. Her gift inspired me to see the potential in sharing her creations with others - maybe I could list her art and paintings on Etsy or something?
I, too, have always been drawn to design, crafting pieces for personal use, friends, and parish ministries. My own journey in design began years earlier.
So, when planning our wedding, I searched for a nuptial Mass booklet that reflected the beauty of the sacred liturgy but found nothing that matched my needs. I wanted to include the music scores for all the Mass propers and ordinaries to encourage participatory congregational singing. So, I created one from scratch, pouring my love for the liturgy into every detail.
Our guests were moved and gave encouraging comments, and soon, friends planning their own weddings asked to use our booklet. Their enthusiasm inspired us one more time: we could share these designs with other young couples seeking such beauty for their special moments.
The vision for the House of Catena, as a Catholic store, emerged from this convergence of passions and desire for beauty. Our friend’s handmade dresses and items, my wife’s artistic gifts, and my experience crafting liturgical booklets formed a foundation for something meaningful.
With prayer and the guidance of our trusted advisor, we took a leap of faith and founded our family-run business in the summer of 2025, almost a year after the initial spark. We named it the “House of Catena” to honor Our Lady, whose Magnificat antiphon is preceded by “Catena” in the Tessera of the Legion of Mary and to unite all who cherish Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
At the House of Catena, our mission is to provide goods and apparel that reflect Catholic values. Our work is not just a business—it’s a calling to share the joy of our faith with others, inspiring lives rooted in the sacred and the beautiful.
— Pantaleon and Clare
Our Core Values
Sense of Faith: All we do is inspired by our Catholic faith. It’s the lens through which we view the world. We ensure all of our production processes retain that sense of faith, with which we should all carry out our work.
Our shop and household are devoted to Our Lady of Sorrows.
Taste for Beauty: We care about beauty in our work. We create goods and items that reflect the beauty of our faith and values.
Community: We named our shop “Catena” as a reflection of the connection we seek to build with those who seek the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We believe that what and where you shop matters!
About Our Products
Many of our products such as modest women’s dresses, Rosaries, Scapulars, Sacred Images, are handmade with devotion and beautifully crafted in Nigeria, exclusively for the House of Catena, by a group of devout, young Catholics living in faithful service to God.
Our booklets, manuals, prayer cards, and artistic prints are meticulously designed and produced in-house, ensuring beauty and reverence in every detail.
Our apparel and branded merchandise are made-to-order and fulfilled by our production partners from across the US.
However, in the future, we hope to curate more goods and items from faithful Catholic vendors and artisans to serve the needs of our loyal customers and patrons.
Our Charity Work
When you shop at House of Catena, your purchases help support our charity work, which includes offering some scholarships to cover the cost of tuition fees for schoolboys and girls at the small Catholic school located at the Mission Tradition parish in Nigeria.
Additionally, you can donate small amounts to support the parish’s works of mercy, ensuring that the temporal needs of those in their care are met.
Thank you for your support!
May God bless you for your generosity and support.