My Family Prayer Book

  May 13: Feast of Our Lady of Fatima Exactly 105 years ago today, our Lady appeared to three poor shepherd children : Lúcia dos Santos and her friends Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fatima, Portugal   They reported witnessing, between 13 May and 13 October 1917, six apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom they described as " a Lady more brilliant than the Sun ".  She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray "the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war" Lúcia also said that she heard Mary ask for the following words to be added to the Rosary after the Gloria Patri prayer: " O my Jesus, pardon us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need ." After newspapers reported that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on 13 October, a huge crowd, between 30,000 and 100,000, including reporters and photographers, gathered at Cova da...

  History of the Rosary The Rosary is one of the most cherished prayers of our Catholic Church. Introduced by the Apostle's Creed, the Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Doxology ("Glory Be"), and concluded with the Salve Regina, the rosary involves the recitation of five decades, each consisting of the Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and the Doxology.  But how did it all start? Pre-Vatican II, from the Middle Ages till 1962, people were required to attend liturgical services celebrated in Latin, a language that they did not understand, often in places where they were unable to even see or understand what was happening. The Rosary evolved over this period of time as a private and intimate form of personal devotion that many found spiritually uplifting due to its rhythmic format, its tactile feel and references to the important events in the life of our Lord and Mother Mary. One of the first origins can be traced back to Cyprian , bishop of Carthage, who in 248 AD clearly stat...