THE Rosary Confraternity is an Association of Catholics who are united together by a spiritual, and in most instances even by an invisible, bond of faith and love. Though unknown to each other they are to be found in thousands and hundreds of thousands in every country of the Catholic world. The object of the union, or pious association, is each member's own personal sanctification first, then the sanctification of their fellow-members, and then of their fellowmen. The bond which unites the members is prayer —the vocal and mental prayer which constitute the holy Rosary. The members undertake,. though not of course under pain of sin, even though venial, to say the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each week, at any time, in any place, and for any intention, as each member may wish. There are no public meetings prescribed, no general communions of the members in a body, no public prayers, no obligations of any kind which bind them to any duty at any particular time. Consequently any one—every one—may join. Most of the Popes for hundreds of years have belonged to it; in its ranks there have been and are Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests unnumbered. The Rosary guide for priests and people by The Very Rev FATHER J. PROCTER, S.T.L.
Click to enroll in the Confraternity of the Rosary

Blessing of the Rosary

Permission from Father Roberts to have a public 15 decade rosary according to the Dominican Method in English on the Second Saturday of the month after morning Mass has been granted. Intentions for the rosary can be sent to webmaster@saintmichaelarchangel.com or requested before the Rosary starts.

Observations on Indulgences

New List of Indulgences and Privileges for the Third Order of Saint Dominic

Prayer: for the intentions of the Holy Father,
viz., the welfare of the Holy See:
the Spread of the Catholic Faith:
the expirtation of heresy;
peace among nations.
It is not necessary these in detail. Five Our Fathers and Five Hail Marys will suffice for these prayers.

The following promises made by our Lady, as is piously believed, to St. Dominic and to the Blessed Alain, a famous preacher of the Rosary in France, In the fifteenth century, will be of consolation to the clients of our Blessed Mother:

To S. Dominic.
1. Devotion to the Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
2. Those who propagate my Rosary will be succored by me in all their troubles.
3. Whoever piously recites the Rosary and meditates on the mysteries will be converted, if he is a sinner.

To B. Alain.
4. Whosoever will piously recite the Rosary, persevering in this devotion, will assuredly receive an answer to such prayers.
5. Persevere in my Rosary, and I will relieve thee and all those who serve me by this practice of piety.
6. Those who recite the Rosary will find during their lives and at the hour of their death comfort and light.
7. None who recommend themselves to me In the Rosary will perish.
8. To those who recite my Rosary I promise my special protection.
9. Preach the Rosary. It is a very powerful weapon against hell, and an impenetrable shield against the darts of the enemy.
10. Whoever will piously recite the Rosary will Increase in grace, if he is just, and will become worthy of eternal life.
11. I promise choice graces to those who are devout to my Rosary.
12. It is my will that those who sing my praise in the Rosary will have light, liberty and plenitude of graces.
13. Those who are truly devout to the Rosary will not die without the Sacrament; they will not lose speech or consciousness before making their confession.
14. I am in a special manner the Mother of the Children of the Rosary who are in Purgatory; every day I release some.
15. The true Children of the Rosary will enjoy great glory in Heaven.

These promises are collected from the approved lives of S. Dominic and B. Alain; , they were communicated to these chosen servants of our Lady at different times during their apostolic careers.

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The Nativity of Jesus Christ
THE ROSARIAN’S ADVENT

TO enter into the spirit of an ecclesiastical season it is important to arouse ourselves to a vivid spiritual realization of the mysteries which it commemorates, of the object for which it has been instituted, and to dispose ourselves for the reception of the manifold fruits attaching to its devout observance.

The season of Advent is a reminder of the ages which ante-dated the Incarnation. Those were ages of direst misery for the race, ages of crime and idolatry whose brightest light was darkness and the shadow of death. They were ages during which the masses were buoyed up by a single hope, a single expectation. That hope centered upon a coming Messiah. The seers and sages of old looked forward to Him who was to come but they could see Him only from afar. The patriarchs sighed and the prophets groaned as they glanced over the world and realized the need of a deliverer. The people as a class grew weary of their vigils and followed after false gods, while the few faithful who remained hung their harps upon the willows and lamented: "How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?" (Ps. cxxxvi, 4.) "With desolation was all the land made desolate."

How incomparably happier the lot of Christians! How blessed we who have seen the accomplishment of the world's redemption! Many indeed have yearned to see the things which we see and have rot seen them, to hear the things which we have heard and have not heard them.

In justice therefore and with deepest gratitude does it behoove all Christians to take these truths to heart during this holy season. Rosarians in particular should ponder them when performing their favorite act of piety. While meditating upon the joyful mysteries, let them recall the gladness which filled pious souls as they beheld the Saviour's work begun. So rejoiced was holy Simeon at the first gleam of salvation that he died almost of ecstasy. In the sorrowful mysteries let them measure, if they can, the enormity of the world's wickedness and the blackness of sin. Let them contemplate the malice that was utterly incurable save by the Passion of a God, and which was little short of infinite since it goaded men on to slay their supreme benefactor, their Redeemer. In the glorious mysteries let them contemplate the completion of the Missions of Jesus and Mary. These two lives, so intimately woven together, were given us as pledges of the truthfulness of the Psalmist's words:" They who sow in tears shall reap in joy" (cxxv, 5.) Their latter days were typical of the new era in which the darkness and obscurity of prophecy have yielded to the bright and radiant lustre of reality.

By occupying a few of our leisure moments regularly in this manner, we shall spend Advent according to the wishes of Holy Church, namely, in salutary preparation for the festival of Christmas. Such devout exercises can not fail to sanctify the remainder of our deeds. They will lend great assistance in shunning mortal sin. They will in course of time dry up affection for venial sin. They will atone for past transgressions, procure God's blessing upon our future, obtain a love for virtue and a burning zeal for God's honor. They will, so to speak, make ready for our Infant Saviour a manger in the cold, barren stable of our hearts. He must be born in a stable. It is His eternal decree. But our oft-repeated Rosaries will make His surroundings more congenial. Each Hail Mary, each Glory be to the Father, will be an extra straw to make His manger softer. It will be a swaddling band, or the ox's breath to warm His chilling members. Let us not ?deny Him this tiny offering. Let us give it to Him cheerfully and then forget what we have done. Aye, when we have done most, let us account ourselves "unprofitable servants," insolent debtors to Him whom we owe so much. "What shall I render to the Lord for all He hath rendered unto me?'' (Ps. cxv, 12.)

THE MYSTERY OF THE MONTH.

One mystery more than others is presented for our meditation this month. It is the birth of the Child Jesus. Once the Son of God had determined to become man, it mattered little what state He might choose, for the most exalted condition was as far beneath Him as the meanest. Yet, since He was to be judged by man's day, and since He wished to propose Himself as "the way" and "the truth" for man's guidance to eternal destinies, He searched through all the ranks of human life and chose the basest, He searched through all the nations for a home and chose one of the rudest. He searched through all ages for a time and chose one in which wickedness was most obstinate. The foolish things of the world He preferred to the prudent that He might confound the wise, and the weak things to those more powerful that he might confound the strong. "Being in the form of God, He * * * emptied Himself taking the form of a servant," a poor, helpless babe. Behold His poverty, His lowliness!

Still it is remarkable that His sensitive flesh was endowed with kingly power and priestly dignity. Who would dream that the puny arm of Jesus, even while He slept, was swaying the stars of the heavens, the billows of the ocean, and the monsters of the deep? Who would believe that it was He through whom the kings reigned and from whom they held their sceptres? Yet such was the case. Bethlehem's Babe was in vested with royal highness but He had placed His majesty in bonds. He was at the same time a true priest, the first according to the order of Melchisedech. What is more. He was offering a continual sacrifice in atonement for the world's iniquity. His manger was thus, after Mary's hallowed tabernacle, the first altar worthy of divine recognition. From it the holiness of Jesus was already beginning to diffuse itself. It inflamed before all others the hearts of Mary and Joseph, then those of the shepherds, and finally those of all who closed them not to its benign influence.

These reflections should bestir in us a fervent devotion and ardent love for the Babe of Bethlehem. Particularly on Christmas morning, when we recite the third joyful mystery before the crib, ought they to be uppermost in our minds. Then will they be best calculated to procure us a share in the gifts of the Saviour.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDULGENCES.

For the ordinary plenary indulgences confession and communion are required. Those called "station" indulgences, whether plenary or partial, are to be gained by visiting each of five altars in a church containing that many, or by making five visits to one or two altars in smaller churches. During each visit five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys must be said for the welfare of the Church.

Dec. 4—First Sunday of month and second of Advent: prayers for Holy Father's intention (plenary); "station" (10 years and 400 days).

Dec. 8—Immaculate Conception B. V. M.: prayers for Holy Father's intention in a Rosary chapel (plenary); devout attendance at Rosary procession (plenary); a second visit to Rosary chapel (7 years and 280 days); visit to Rosary chapel during octave, i. e., between Dec. 9 and 15 inclusive (plenary).

Dec. 10—Second Sunday of month and third of Advent: "station" (15 years and 600 days).

Dec. 20 22 and 23—Ember Days: "station" each day (10 years and 400 days).

Dec. 17—Third Sunday of month : "station" (10 years and 400 days).

Dec. 24—Vigil of Christmas: "station" (15 years and 600 days. Christmas eve until dawn, "station" (15 years and 600 days).

Dec. 25—Christmas: same as on Dec. 8 except attendance at Rosary procession; also "station" (plenary); at Mass called "Aurorae," the second of the feast, "station" (15 years and 600 days); recitation of five mysteries (7 years and 280 days). This last indulgence is also attached to the fifteen mysteries recited Christmas week.

Dec. 26, 27 and 28—"Station" each day (30 years and 1200 days).

Jan. 1—Circumcision: prayers for Holy Father's intention (plenary).; also "station" (30 years and 1200 days).

CORRESPONDENCE.

N. E. Cusch:—The mere enunciation of the Rosary mysteries before each decade is not sufficient in the case presented. The Rosarian must meditate upon these mysteries in particular. To substitute others for them as subjects for meditation would indeed be an act of piety but it would be an act bereft of the copious Confraternity indulgences.

THE word Advent comes from the Latin and means "The coming." The four weeks preceding Christmas are so called because they are set apart by the Church to prepare for the coming of Christ.

With great longing, the world, for four thousand years, wailed for the coming of the Redeemer. God Himself, nourished this longing by repeated prophetic promises, which became more distinctly clear as the time of fulfillment approached. The universal misery in which mankind then languished increased this longing for the Redeemer. These four thousand years are typified by the four weeks before Christmas. The longing for the Messiah, announced by the prophets, is partly expressed in the Rorate Masses, but more especially so in the Divine Office, which becomes more and more beseeching as the feast of Christmas approaches. The penance which we are exhorted to practice during this time is symbolical of the misery of sin. The following important feasts fall in Advent:

The feast of St Andrew the Apostle, which was celebrated in the earliest times. This Apostle stands conspicuous at the entrance of the Ecclesiastical Year, for Advent begins with the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew. Not only is Andrew the first born of the Apostles, but he led the other Apostles to Christ, and as a special lover of the Cross, he tells us that the Cross is the key to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and the foundation of the Ecclesiastical Year.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast was celebrated by the churches of the East, even in the fifth century, and by the churches of the West since the seventh century. Pope Pius IX in the year 1854 proclaimed, to the joy of the whole Catholic world, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin to be a dogma of the Church. Since then this feast has been zealously kept. With the conception of Mary, the Morning Star of the Redemption arose. On this beautiful feast the Christian should pray God to enlighten him that he may know the faults of the past year, and learn from Mary, by purity of heart, to prepare for the coming of Christ. Feast of St. Thomas. Apostle. Dec 21.

December Confraternity of the Rosary

Dominican Calendar for December

Little Office of Our Holy Father, Saint Dominic

Method 1 of Praying the Rosary from the Rosary Guide by Very Rev. Father Procter, S.T.L.
Litany of the Blessed Virgin



Method 1 of Praying the Rosary from the Rosary Guide by Very Rev. Father Procter, S.T.L.
Litany of the Blessed Virgin

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