Catholic Help?

Apache Junction AZ

Description

I'm hoping to get some input/education from someone familiar with Catholic traditions. My Aunt recently passed, and my cousin let me have a few items that were important to her and held memories for me. Two things I shared with her was our love for reading and God. As he is not a spiritual person, he gave me several of her Christian books, her first Bible, the Bible my grandfather carried during WWII as well as the items in the photos. The reason I am needing some help is because I honestly know nothing about these things. I am also not sure about why she had these and another rosary. She was Baptist, as am I, and our family has been for a long time. I have only been to a Catholic service once, and I remember it being very different and somber compared to the singing preacher and loud music we were accustomed to. I have no idea about the significance of any of these. But I do like to learn, and I enjoy learning from people who really know, are passionate about it and live it rather than a Google search. She had the rosary tucked away in the box with the little scripture cards, and I'm very curious about the buildings and words on it. What is the Sunday Missal and it's purpose? Why so many pendants? I know I've seen a lot of these for different saints, but I never knew why. And why does Mary appear so often? Why is Jesus always depicted on the cross? Growing up I was taught that we didn't because we know he didn't stay on the cross, but that only made me more curious about this kind of imagery. Please be kind. I am just trying to learn something from a different perspective. I was raised by a Baptist father and a Pentecostal mother and never had any exposure to Catholic traditions. I don't mean to offend or upset anyone. These look older, so my Aunt obviously held on to them for sometime. I have thought about passing them along someday to someone who would be more understanding about them, but I would want to make sure that is something that is okay to do. For now, they have inspired me to learn something new.