Living RosariesThe Living Rosary is one
way to recite the rosary prayer in conjunction with
others. The method was
founded by Pauline Marie Jaricot, born on July 21,
1799, the youngest child
of eight. She began the Living Rosary devotion on
December 8, 1826, in several
parishes because she believed in the enormous
power of the rosary prayer and
wanted more people to say it. In the Living
Rosary, you are assigned one decade
and mystery of the rosary to be said
perpetually, and fourteen others are
given the remaining mysteries of the
rosary, also to be said each day. In
praying the Living Rosary this way,
each group says a complete rosary daily.
Pauline chose St. Philomena as the
patroness of the Living Rosary Association.
Very little is known about this
saint except that she was a virgin and martyr
for the sake of Christianity.
The Dominicans took over the Living Rosary Association
when Pauline died,
but, already dedicated to the Confraternity of the Holy
Rosary, they let the
Living Rosary fall into disuse. On December 8, 1986,
Richard and Patti
Melvin took up the cause of the Living Rosary to honor St.
Philomena. They
started with thirty people saying the Living Rosary, and today
there are one
million members of the Living Rosary Association, including
someone from
every country in the world. If you would like to join the Living
Rosary
Association, their e-mail address is filomena@philomena.org |
