Blessed Virgin Mary

Aug 30 2024

Participate in the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage

As we approach the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage, we are filled with a deep sense of anticipation and devotion for Our Lady.. For those who cannot join us in person this year, there are still meaningful ways to participate and experience the graces from the Pilgrimage.

Human beings, as pilgrims on a journey from earth to heaven, find profound spiritual benefit in the practice of pilgrimage, which serves as a reminder of our eternal destination. This tradition is exemplified by Christ Himself, who journeyed through various lands and ultimately to Calvary and ascended to heaven.

The Rosary, a prayer that reflects Christ’s own pilgrimage and encompasses aspects of human life, serves as the ideal spiritual companion for our pilgrim state. The Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage, beginning with a nine-month novena and culminating in a national event on September 28th at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, integrates this spiritual practice with a communal pilgrimage, inviting participants to unite their journey with the devotional power of the Rosary.

Each aspect of this pilgrimage is a chance to grow in holiness and strengthen our relationship with God.

Ways to Participate

Commit to Prayer: Even if you are or aren’t attending the Pilgrimage in person, you can be part of the Pilgrimage through prayer. Dedicate time to pray the Rosary daily, especially on the day of the Pilgrimage.
Share the Pilgrimage with Friends and Family: Invite others to join in the journey by sharing information about the Pilgrimage and encouraging them to participate in praying the Rosary.
Receive Indulgences: A plenary indulgence is granted if the Rosary is recited in a church or public oratory. See here for the general conditions.

Join Us Through the Livestream

For those unable to be physically present, we invite you to join us via livestream. On the day of the Pilgrimage, you can access the livestream here on our website. Additionally, by subscribing to our email list, you will receive a direct link to the livestream, allowing you to participate in the Pilgrimage from wherever you are.

Aug 01 2024

The Rosary: A Private or Public Devotion

In 1961 Venerable Patrick Peyton gathered 550,000 people in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to pray the most holy Rosary. This was a tremendous victory for promoting the praying of the Rosary as well as family prayer. Ven. Patrick Peyton was known for the maxim, “the family who prays together stays together.” He believed that the praying of the Rosary would bring so many graces into family life. Since that day in 1961 though, devotions like the Rosary have been argued to remain as private devotions so as to not shove religion into people’s faces and cause them discomfort.

This begs the question, what kind of devotion is the Rosary? It seems like the Rosary has a private devotional life for people. People pray it when they’re on their way to work, when they’re in eucharistic adoration, when they’re in a time of great need, and many other times. There is an intimacy involved in the Rosary that is brought about by private recitation. A person can come to know the Blessed Virgin Mary through the Rosary. Still, more importantly, a person can come to know Jesus Christ more intimately through the Rosary. The private recitation of the Rosary allows one to reflect on the words and mysteries they are praying at their own pace. All of these are good things, but do they warrant the keeping of the Rosary as a private devotion?

The Rosary has another dimension to it that can only be seen when it is prayed in common. The Church offers a plenary indulgence for those who “devoutly recite the Marian Rosary in a church or oratory, or in a family, a religious community, or an association of the faithful, and in general when several of the faithful gather for some honest purpose” (Manual of Indulgences). Ven. Patrick Peyton also asked families to pray the Rosary together, and not in their own separate rooms. What is it about the public or group recitation of the Rosary that is different from the private recitation?

Praying the Rosary in a group gives a person the opportunity to enter into the 3 vows religious brothers and sisters take of poverty, chastity, and obedience. A person enters into obedience by following the pace of the group praying. The pace may be slower or faster than what a person is used to. A person enters into poverty by losing control of how the group might be praying the Rosary. There might be devotions that a group adds to the praying of the Rosary that a person may not think are necessary, but this is how that group has come to pray the Rosary. A person enters into chastity through the mind while praying the Rosary. St. Thomas would call this spiritual chastity. He says that if the human mind delights in union with God, and not union with things contrary to God, this is spiritual chastity.

The public praying of the Rosary can also evangelize the world. This is why St. Pope Paul VI said that the Rosary is the “compendium of the gospel.” The general life of Christ can be explained with these simple beads that we use to pray and those beads are a helpful tool to explain to those who do not believe in Christ.

To conclude, the Rosary cannot be contained to being either just a private devotion nor can it be contained to being just a public devotion. It is both. The Rosary has transformed many people into saints. And the Rosary has the power to transform us into the saints that God has made us be.

This article was written by Br. Jerome Masters, O.P..

Photo by John Osterhoudt.

Jan 19 2023

The Dominican Sculptor of Fatima

On September 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared for the fifth time at the Cova da Iria (“Irene’s Cove”) in Portugal to three children tending sheep. It is a little known fact that a Dominican friar of our Province of St. Joseph enjoyed a unique encounter with one of these child visionaries. The visionary’s name was Sr. Lucia, and the priest was Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P. Before recounting how this encounter took place, a little background must be given.

Fr. McGlynn was a Dominican priest with a gift for sculpture that manifested itself in early childhood and lasted throughout his entire life. Many of his works can be found throughout our province, the country, and even in the Vatican. His legacy is especially remembered in a studio dedicated to his life and work at our own Providence College in Rhode Island. Though he produced many masterpieces, none of his works has a more remarkable history than the statue he crafted under the personal direction of Sr. Lucia herself: the first accurate representation of Our Lady of Fatima.

In the fall of 1946, Fr. McGlynn, fourteen years ordained and forty years of age, found himself teaching oratory at Providence College. During this time, according to his biographer and understudy, Fr. Ambrose McAlister, O.P., Fr. McGlynn continued to apply himself to sculpture. With the permission of his superiors, he rented an old barn in the Olneyville section of Providence to serve as a studio.

The original inspiration to sculpt an image of Our Lady of Fatima actually came from a commission. The story goes that six years earlier, at the first meeting of the Liturgical Society of the United States, McGlynn had come into contact with the Rigali Brothers from Daprato Studios in Chicago. The Rigalis, who were in the business of making plaster replications of original works, approached Fr. McGlynn to commission sculptures that could be copied and then sold with significant savings to churches. McGlynn could not accept their offer at the time; but now, six years later, living at Providence College with his own studio, he was in a different position. He approached the brothers about their earlier proposal, and a formal contract was signed. For the first time, McGlynn was in business as a professional sculptor.

It was agreed that he would produce three pieces for the Rigalis: one of the Blessed Virgin, one of the Sacred Heart, and one of St. Joseph. At the suggestion of two of his classmates, Fr. McGlynn decided that his Marian statue would be a representation of Our Lady of Fatima. He completed his first version of the statue, which the Rigalis approved, but then he began to express concern to his friends that it would not be accepted as an authentic representation of the children’s visions. Fatefully, a woman asked him, “Why don’t you go to Portugal to see Sister Lucy?“

With that idea planted in his mind, Fr. McGlynn called the Rigalis, who gave their approval and even offered to pay for the trip. Having received the permission of his superiors, McGlynn flew to Lisbon in February of 1947 with a letter of introduction from Cardinal Spellman to Cardinal Cerejeira, Bishop of Lisbon.

Cardinal Cerejeira welcomed McGlynn and in turn wrote him a letter of introduction to Bishop Don Jose de Silva, the ordinary of Leira-Fatima. It fell to Bishop de Silva to determine who would have permission to visit Sr. Lucia, who was living 200 miles north of Fatima in a convent at Vila Nova de Gaia. It was a permission rarely given, but Fr. McGlynn was granted his request, and, with the Irish Dominican Fr. Gerard Gardiner acting as interpreter, he finally met Sr. Lucia.

After careful examination of the statue, which McGlynn had brought with him, Sr. Lucia pronounced her verdict: the statue was inaccurate. Up to this point, McGlynn had thought only minor alterations would be necessary, but, confronted with the judgment of Sr. Lucia, he now faced a decision difficult for any artist: stay true to his own artistic intuition or start from scratch and take direction from another. To his credit and with another permission, he remained at the convent to produce an entirely new statue under the direction of Sr. Lucia. The result became the archetype for all subsequent representations of the image of Our Lady of Fatima. A few five foot copies of this original were made by Fr. McGylnn of which one now resides at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City.

17592754725 535962ffb3 5k 1 614x1024 1 — A smaller version of Fr. McGlynn’s Fatima statue in the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC / Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The original would also serve as the model for the 20 foot statue Fr. McGlynn carved especially for the Basilica tower at Fatima.

fat finished 7.5 w 761x1024 1 — Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P., standing next to the larger statue of Our Lady of Fatima he carved for the Basilica.

McGlynn presented the opportunity to Catholics in the United States, who were devoted to Our Lady of Fatima, to raise the funds necessary to make the larger version of the five foot statue approved by Sr. Lucia for the niche above the main door to the Basilica as a perpetual symbol of American Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin at her newest great shrine. He was confident of American interest, generosity, and love for Mary. His statue now stands, centered, above the entrance to the basilica at Fatima, where it is seen by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year.

49890608897 37d32c90e8 k edited — The Fatima Statue by Fr Thomas McGlynn OP, photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Fr. McGlynn also wrote a book titled, “Vision of Fatima,” in which he recounts his encounter with and privileged access to the last surviving visionary, Sr. Lucia, and how she gave direction as he sculpted Our Lady of Fatima.

The book Vision of Fatima is more than an enjoyable travelogue. “In your writing,” Sr. Lucia had asked Fr. McGlynn, “please stress the spiritual meaning of things, in order to raise minds that today have become so materialistic to regions of the supernatural; so that they may understand the true meaning and purpose of the coming of Our Lady to earth, which is to bring souls to heaven, to draw them to God.”

Fr. McGlynn reminds us that Fatima, like Cana, is a place of miracles. He also points us to the penitential character of Mary’s message. Penance seeks justice and communion with Jesus crucified. The Rosary is a prayer whereby we grow in the virtues of Mary’s contemplative heart.

Fatima has long been an invitation to prayer and Fr. McGlynn’s gifts for sculpture and writing beautifully present this invitation of the Blessed Virgin. His book is again a gift to our life of prayer, honoring Our Lady of Fatima, who enjoins us to pray the Rosary and ask her Son to forgive our sins and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of his mercy.

The remarkable thing about Fr. McGlynn’s encounter with Sr. Lucia is that every step of his journey was taken under religious obedience. When entering religious life we bring our talents and gifts with us, but we have to be ready to put them aside or use them only as God sees fit. Yet, when we entrust our lives to those whom God has placed in charge of us, our gifts and talents often have a greater impact than we could ever have imagined possible. This was certainly the case with Fr. McGlynn’s sculpture. What began with a superior’s permission became a work of art glorifying God and giving honor to his blessed mother.

Click here to order Fr. Thomas McGlynn’s book Vision of Fatima.

This post contains content adapted from Dominicana journal.

Main image (clockwise from top left): Fr. McGlynn working on a sculpture of St. Martin De Porres, Fr. McGlynn standing next to the completed marble carving of Our Lady of Faitma that now resides in the Basillica tower at Fatima, and finally Fatima visionary Sr. Lucia in Portugal (1947) standing next to the completed image of Our Lady of Fatima that was crafted under her direction by Fr. McGlynn. All images and sources in the text above are from Thomas McGlynn: Priest and Sculptor, written by Fr. Ambrose McAlister, O.P. and published by Providence College Press in 1981.

Dec 15 2022

St. Dominic Receives the Rosary

It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book ‘De Dignitate Psalterii’, by Blessed Alan de la Roche. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said, “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”

“Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, “you know far better than I do, because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.”

Then our Lady replied, “I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”

So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for the conversion of the people in that district, he made straight for the cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together, and Saint Dominic began to preach.

The above excerpt is from Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort.