This uniquely packaged gift box contains four bars of handmade soap from the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Each bar of soap is carefully blended, individually cut, placed in a cloth bag, and sealed with their monastery’s wax logo. Fragrance and essential oils, shea and cocoa butter, olive, coconut, palm, palm kernel, almond, and castor oils: these are the natural ingredients which make these soaps skin-friendly and environment-friendly. In addition, each batch contains a few drops of holy water and a prayer for those who will use this soap. “The work of our hands—made for your hands and body.”

The following fragrances are the four bars included in this box:

• Gardenia
  
  
• Morning Dew
  
  
• Sage Meadow
  
  
• Water Lily
  
  

A lovely photo of their monastery graces the inside of the box, reminding the recipient that they are being held in prayer. In the chronicles of the Benedictines’ early history, an 1882 entry reads, “The Sisters made their own candles and soap.” Many years ago, the sisters made soap because they needed it. In recent years, the sisters have rediscovered the value and joy of handmade fragrance soap, using modern techniques but with the same careful attention to detail that they use in all their handmade items of pottery, weaving, and sewing that they have crafted for years. Work and prayer go hand in hand in their daily lives.