Handmade Olive Wood Saint Benedict Crucifix from Bethlehem – Catholic Cross with Cord, Velvet Bag and Certificate, 7.5 x 4.8 x 1.6 cm, 20g 3.0 Inches

This olive wood crucifix is handcrafted by skilled Christian artisans in Bethlehem. Made from genuine olive wood, each piece is unique with natural grain patterns. Size: 1.6 cm. Ships worldwide with free US shipping on orders over $100.

About This Crucifix

Hold this and you'll notice it right away. Solid, warm, real wood. Not plastic coated to look like wood, not resin, actual olive wood carved in Bethlehem by people who've been doing this their whole lives.

At 7.5 cm it sits somewhere between pocket-size and pendant-size, which is exactly the point. The silver-tone corpus with the Saint Benedict medal centerpiece gives it that devotional weight Catholics are looking for, and the cord means it's ready to wear the moment you open the velvet bag. If you've been looking for a christening crucifix necklace that actually comes from somewhere, this one does.

Every piece has its own grain pattern. No two look identical, because they're not. That's what you get when you order crosses hand carved from a single block of Holy Land olive wood instead of stamped out of a mold.

Features & Details

• ✓ Genuine Holy Land olive wood, hand-carved in Bethlehem
• ✓ Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 1.6 cm (2.95 x 1.89 x 0.63 inches)
• ✓ Weight: approximately 20 grams
• ✓ Silver-tone corpus with Saint Benedict medal centerpiece
• ✓ Cord included for wearing
• ✓ Natural grain varies, no two pieces are identical
• ✓ Arrives in velvet gift bag with certificate of origin
• ✓ Suitable for baptism, first communion, and confirmation gifts
• ✓ A wearable orthodox catholic cross with genuine provenance

Product Specifications

Perfect As a Gift

A priest in Texas ordered a dozen of these for first communion. He told me he wished he'd ordered more, because parents kept asking where he got them. That happens more often than you'd think.

It arrives in a velvet bag with a certificate, so there's no extra wrapping needed. Crosses baptism gift, crosses confirmation gift, crosses christmas gift, it handles all of it without you having to do much. And for crosses easter gift giving or a crosses wedding gift for a Catholic couple, this size is just right. Not too small to feel cheap, not so large it's impractical.

Free US shipping on orders over $100 makes it easy to grab a few at once for a parish or ministry group.

The Story Behind It

Most crucifixes for sale online are factory-made somewhere and shipped to a warehouse. Ours are carved by Christian artisan families in Bethlehem who have been doing this work across three generations. Same families, same city, same craft.

The olive wood comes from annual pruning of living trees. Nobody cuts a tree down for this, the pruned branches would otherwise be discarded. It's a sustainable material by nature, not by marketing decision. I find that detail meaningful, at least when I think about the fact that christianity and the cross have been represented in this wood for centuries in this part of the world.

I stopped by one of the workshops last year. The father was fitting the corpus, his son was finishing the sanding. They asked how the orders were going. That's the kind of shop this is, on both ends.

Care Instructions

Olive wood is low maintenance. If it starts looking a little dry, rub a small drop of olive oil into it with a cloth and that's enough to bring it back. Don't soak it in water and don't leave it sitting in direct sun for long stretches. Otherwise it takes care of itself.