Catholic Business Spotlight
New website, traveling store sell religious items

By Tim Puet
Catholic Times Reporter

A Columbus woman who wants to make religious goods more affordable and accessible for central Ohio residents has started a business combining online commerce and a traveling shop.

Alycia Hartley began setting up the business, Gratia Plena Religious Goods, a little more than a year ago. It’s been in operation about six months.

She and a friend, Libby Tatz, have visited Columbus Holy Name Church and the Parroquia Santa Cruz, which meets at Holy Name, twice and Hartley’s home parish, the St. Leo the Great Oratory in Columbus, once after weekend Masses so parishioners can purchase what they  offer. Other parishes are being contacted concerning similar sales events.

“I got the idea for the business last year,” Hartley said. “I live on the north side of town, and it was hard for me to get to Generations, the local Catholic religious goods and book store.” Generations is located on Dublin Road near downtown. “I didn’t want to make a round trip there of an hour or more to buy a simple item. I do online shopping and thought an online religious goods store would fill a need.”

Hartley said she started paperwork for the store early last year. “State approval to start a business came last year on the same day President Trump declared a national state of emergency because of COVID-19. The pandemic brought everything to a halt, including my plans for a store, for a while.” 

It also caused the bishops of Ohio to close Catholic churches to public worship for a period that included Holy Week and the Easter season. Churches were reopened on a limited basis beginning May 31, 2020, Pentecost Sunday, and Hartley resumed setting up her business.
The shop, which can be found at www.gratiaplena.shop, has more than 50 items available, ranging in price from $1.25 for a Catholic identification card to $40 for rosaries from Italy and $80 for some crucifixes.

“Libby and I have been keeping an eye out for sturdy, economical items,” Hartley said. “Being new to the business, we’re still trying to figure out what people like and avoiding big-ticket items, at least for now, since we are a traveling shop. The items we offer are the type of things every Catholic home should have.”

Some come from wholesalers, others from individual artisans, and several, including rosaries, earrings, necklaces and wooden crosses bearing the words of the Our Father, are made by Hartley herself. She said one of the most popular items on the site is a St. Benedict laser engraved wooden rosary priced at $7. Rosaries and chapel veils sold well at the recent St. Leo Oratory event.

The shop’s Gratia Plena name comes from the Latin words for “full of grace,” part of the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus.

“It’s a name that’s something different and gives people an idea of what the shop is about – helping others by providing sacramentals and other religious items designed to inspire faithful living,” Hartley said.

Visitors to the website are greeted by a picture of a statue showing Mary leaning down and smiling, with one hand outstretched toward the viewer and the other pointing upward. The statue is located in Our Lady’s Chapel at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington and was crafted by sculptor Gordon Kray in 1984 to replace an original that was severely damaged.

“The statue appealed to me because, unlike most Marian statues, it shows Mary reaching out to us and seeming to say, ‘Here is my Son, and He is the way to heaven.’ It looks as though she is pulling us forward toward striving to be better and to obtain grace from Jesus.”

Hartley, 34, a preschool teacher at Westerville St. Paul School, joined the Catholic Church 16 years ago. “As a teenager, I became interested in religion and went with friends to various churches,” she said. “I started telling God I wanted to know what truth was and what life is about, and he began showing me pathways which led me toward the Catholic Church.

“I started watching EWTN and didn’t know what the Mass was about but knew I wanted to learn. I eventually found a priest to talk to, and he led me to RCIA classes, which resulted in my entering the Church at the Easter Vigil. 

“This shop is one way of expressing my joy and gratitude at being a Catholic,” she said. “As sole proprietor of Gratia Plena, I have definitely put more into it financially than I have gotten out of it, but that’s to be expected at this point. The parishioners at St. Leo’s have been very generous and have helped put the shop on the right track.

“I’d like to visit more parishes, because at the shop’s parish appearances, I’ve found that many people enjoy perusing items in person to see what items they like best or what they may be interested in buying at a later time.”

For more information on the Gratia Plena shop, go to www.gratiaplena.shop or contact Hartley at (614) 502-9880 or achartley86@protonmail.com.