St. Patrick's Parish

Mass Schedule

Reconciliation

• Wednesdays at Noon in Church
• Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. in Church

 SALVATION ROSARY

In the time that I was at home and growing up in a family of nine siblings, it was a daily practice to kneel as a family before the icon of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus and pray the Rosary before dinner. In the late evening if you walked down the street and passed by a Catholic home it would come as no surprise to hear the family praying the Rosary together. If we were visiting at a friend’s home it was also customary and expected that one would join the family in the praying of the rosary. Indeed, I am aware that all of my family and friends have been so blessed by the praying of  the rosary. 
 
‘Rosary’ means, a  "crown  of  roses",  -  A spiritual bouquet given to the Blessed Mother. The rosary probably began as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Divine Office (Breviary or Liturgy of the Hours), during the course of which the monks daily prayed the 150 Psalms. The  laity, many of whom could not read, substituted 50, or even 150, Ave Marias (Hail Marys) for the 150 Psalms. This prayer, at least the first half of it, seems to date from as early as the 2nd century, as ancient graffiti at Christian sites has suggested. The first clear historical reference to the rosary, however, is from the life of St. Dominic (died in 1221), the founder of the Order of Preachers or Dominicans. 
 
Why Pray the Rosary today?    .... continued next page