The Rosary Ministry of St. Michael the Archangel
This ministry was started at St. Michael's by Ann Ryan back in the late 1960's, and kept going each week for many many years. Ann passed peacefully away in 2000 in her mid 90's. The Rosary ministry meets each Thursday from 10:00 am until 12:00 noon in the first classroom on the side of the Parish Center Building, Everyone is welcome to come and join them. All Rosaries are given away to the Missions or Catholic Organizations. Please contact Cathy Crehan at 942- 349- 4569
The history of the Rosary goes back to the early day of Christianity and the Monks. A devout ascetic , wishing to say a certain number of prayers (Pater Noster's usually), would gather pebbles or seeds into a basket and place them one by one in another container as he said his prayers. It was often customary to make low salaam for genuflection with each prayer. In some of the Eastern Rites, these customs have been retained, the prayers being recited upon knotted cords or strings of beads. In the Western Church, the Hail Mary's came into general use in the middle of the 12th century.
Hail Mary's and Our Father's were then used when recited the Rosary, especially in the monasteries by lay Brothers and Sisters who could not read the Psalms or the Divine Order. Instead of the fifty Psalms which were sung daily by choir monks and nuns , the fifty Hail Mary's accompanying Pater Noster's and Glorias were substitiuted. The laity in general took up recitation of the Rosary, which is a source of deep devotion for both the learned and illiterate, combining as it does both mental and vocal prayer.
There seems to be no proof that St. Dominic originated the Rosary, or even preached it in his missionary work. However, it is known that Dominican Friars later spread the devotion far and wide. The practice of meditating during the recitation of the vocal prayers is said to have been introduced by Dominic the Prussian, a Carthusian monk, after St. Dominic's death. The beads of the rosary are made of all materials - olive stones, Job's tears, pearls both real and imitation, and real and precious stones strung on gold chains, as used by many a great lady both present and past.
The Rosary is a beloved and universal devotion in honor of Christ, son of Mary, leading the worshiper gently along through their joys, sorrows and into glory. Said in Common with others it is a communion of prayers with fellow Christians on earth and Blessed in heaven. To one who loves God, the repeated prayers are nether tiresome or repetitious.
How to say the Rosary
