Tattooing Fr. Mike Schmitz

In the heart of the Old City, Razzouk Tattoo is a place where time often feels suspended, and every person who walks through the door is treated with the same reverence.

But eventually, one name began echoing through the stone walls in a way that caught us by surprise.

“Have you really tattooed Father Mike Schmitz?” a client asked one afternoon, pausing mid-session with genuine curiosity.

At first, the question meant nothing to us. A few days later, it happened again. Different client. Same question.

“Did you really tattoo Fr. Mike?”

The repetition finally sparked curiosity, so we searched his name online. There he was: Mike Schmitz — a Catholic priest with a massive following and a voice reaching millions around the world.

But it wasn’t the numbers that stood out, it was the face. The moment we saw him, the memory came rushing back.

He had walked into the shop months earlier surrounded by a group of young students. There were no cameras, no introductions, and certainly no ego. At the time, he was simply another pilgrim among many who pass through Jerusalem searching for something meaningful.

He was quiet. Reflective in a way that stayed with us.

As the session unfolded, conversation came naturally, the kind of calm exchange that often fills the room during a tattoo. He was humble and soft-spoken, but at one point he said something none of us forgot:

“This is very important to me. It will be my only tattoo.”

At the time, we had no idea we were tattooing someone known by millions. To us, he was simply someone who had traveled a long way to mark a moment of faith in ink.

Only later, through the questions of other pilgrims, did we realize that the quiet hour shared inside the shop had reached far beyond those walls.

The design he chose was the IHS Cross. Since then, many clients have come asking for it by another name:

“The Fr. Mike Schmitz Cross.”