In this our monastery’s 75th Anniversary year, we remember that vision of Mother Mary of Jesus, the prioress at the Catonsville monastery where our Foundresses became nuns. While walking in the cloister garden one day, Mother Mary of Jesus saw unfolding before her eye a dramatic scene: a violent crowd engaged in a race riot. Into the midst of the crowd walked a dark-skinned Dominican friar–St. Martin de Porres–holding a Rosary in his hand. As he passed, the crowd quieted, and their weapons of violence became Rosaries. Then St. Martin pointed up to a monastery on a hill, where Mother Mary of Jesus saw nuns of many races praying the Rosary with their arms outstretched.
This vision was the seed of our monastery’s foundation. It shows the power of prayer, the power of the silent, hidden lives of the nuns of many races who have lived and prayer here for the past 75 years.
Please, now is the time to join us in praying the Rosary.
Why the Rosary?
The Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon because it unites us to the saving mysteries of Jesus Christ. When we pray the Rosary, we meditate on the events of our salvation in the life of Jesus, as we invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary in the words that first announced the dawn of our salvation in Christ.
This prayer shows its power not only in our own hearts, but through miracles that can only be called spectacular. Consider:
- The Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571) — A Catholic fleet by a miraculous turn of events destroyed a larger and more advanced fleet of Muslim Ottoman Turks who had sworn to conquer Rome and threatened Christian Europe. In Rome, Pope St. Pius V himself led Rosary devotions for the defense of Christendom. He witnessed the victory in a vision on the very evening of the battle, and later declared the feast of Our Lady of Victory, now Our Lady of the Rosary, in commemoration of this miracle.
- Austria (1955) — After World War II, part of Austria, along with “East Germany,” was given to the Communists. In 1946, at the Marian shrine of Mariazell, the Austrian priest Fr. Petrus Pavlicek heard Our Lady tell him, “Do as I say and there will be peace.” He organized a “Holy Rosary Crusade of Reparation” which by 1955 drew more than half a million people, more than 10% of the population of Austria. That year, the Communists unexpectedly and peacefully left Austria.
- Marbury (late 1940’s) — We also have our own “Rosary Miracle” story. In the early days of our foundation, far before any local fire department, a forest fire was bearing down the hill toward our small farmhouse-turned-monastery. Our Foundress, Mother Mary Dominic, advanced toward the fire. Invoking Our Lady, she hurled her Rosary as far as she could into the flames. At that moment, the wind changed and the fire was pushed back, leaving the monastery unharmed.
These are only a few of the stories that can be told of Our Lady’s intercession, through the Rosary, obtaining victories, miracles, and the conversion of hearts. For more, we highly recommend Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC’s book Champions of the Rosary.
Words from Heaven
At Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, the Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children and told them to pray the Rosary for peace in the world, to make sacrifices for sinners, and to offer reparation to God for all the offenses committed against Him. In many, many of her apparitions in the 20th century, Our Lady has told us to pray the Rosary, and even herself prayed the Glory Be’s along with the visionary.
Our Lord told Sr. Lucia, one of the visionaries at Fatima, that the peace of the world was entrusted to the hands of His Mother. Learn more about Our Lady’s request for reparation at the Sister Servants’ website.
Pray the Rosary!
Please, pray the Rosary every day for conversion of hearts, so that all people may embrace the saving truth of Jesus Christ and there may be peace in our country, the Church, and the world.
Pray the Rosary alone, with your family (little children love leading decades), in a church, or listing in with EWTN on TV, radio, or internet.
Our resources for the Rosary:
As nuns devoted to the Perpetual Rosary, we have these resources on our website:
Audio meditations and recordings from our Pilgrim Rosary celebrations.