Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary

12/12/2025

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Our Lady of Guadalupe is integral to Mexican identity, to the point that sometimes the name guadalupano can be a substitute for mexicano. She is a cause of great joy for everyone blessed by her patronage. Speaking of the tender love of la Virgen, macho men are reduced to tears and frail abuelitas regain a youthful vigor.

On a most happy occasion, I found myself among these pilgrims.

A group from my college was heading to Mexico City with a twofold purpose: to visit the tilma and to meet the poor living on the streets of the city—the littlest children of Nuestra Señora (through a group called Hope of the Poor).

Throughout the trip, I met many chilangos (Mexico City natives), especially those living in very difficult circumstances. In every interaction, I had the very real impression that I was meeting the many children of Our Lady of Guadalupe. When I would talk with anyone—with some love and a smile—I always got to mention that I had just visited Our Lady of Guadalupe for the first time, and that I would ask her to help them.

Invariably, for each of them, regardless of their many sufferings, I saw a ray of hope dawn in their hearts at the very mention of their mother’s name. In spite of my painfully dreadful Spanish, I frequently became the bearer of some good news: a mom simply wanting to remind her kids that she loves them, and that they need never be afraid.

She came to be their mother. She came for the poor, like those folks I met on the streets during my pilgrimage. Before the inhabitants of the Americas had ever heard of her, Our Lady loved them. From the appearance of Our Lady to Juan Diego until today, holiness has flowed forth into the hearts of countless guadalupanos.

That’s the thing about Our Lady. She makes saints. You want to be a saint? Go to her mantle. I wanted to be saint, so I went to her and her children in Mexico City.
—Fr. Titus Mary Sanchez, O.P.

11/27/2025

The Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph would like to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving!

11/07/2025

Happy Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers!

Happy Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers!

In each and all the Dominican saints, whether famous or anonymous, we catch a glimpse of Dominic’s own special grace—the grace of the Word, which impelled him to speak always either with God or about God. Every Dominican’s life is indeed marked by his own cooperation with this Dominican grace, whereby he becomes a praedicator gratiae, a preacher of grace.

Like Dominic, the Dominican first speaks with God in prayer and contemplative study, praising him and blessing him, and then he speaks forth about God in common life and the apostolate, predicating in word and deed the one truth who saves: Jesus Christ is Lord.

All the Dominican saints we celebrate today have partaken of this grace, each in a unique measure. And so we chant at Vespers this evening: This is true fraternity, which conquers the darkness of the world by the love of Christ (Responsory, Feast of All Dominican Saints).

For all who are clothed in the Dominican life, and for all who benefit from the Order’s ministries in any way, the Feast of All Dominican Saints is a sign of wonderful hope.

Dominic’s intercession, now compounded by that of untold Dominican saints throughout the ages, yet redounds to the salvation of a great multitude, which no one could count (Rev 7:9): thousands upon thousands of Dominicans hitherto, and millions upon millions of those touched by the Order’s charism.

Today, we rejoice, praising and blessing God and beseeching Holy Father Dominic and the whole host of heavenly hounds, that they keep sending help for the holy preaching unto the ends of the earth: Fulfill Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.
—Fr. Charles Marie Rooney, O.P.

10/19/2025

Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV canonized seven new saints in Rome this morning!

The canonization of St. Bartolo Longo is especially momentous for Dominicans because St. Bartolo was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic and spent himself promoting the Holy Rosary.

St. Bartolo took a long and tortuous path to sanctity. During the great upheavals of his youth in Italy, he aligned himself with the anticlerical movements springing up throughout the country.
He became interested in the occult, eventually becoming a Satanic priest. He blasphemously preached against Christ and his Church, until a friendly professor encouraged him to see a Dominican priest. That priest made all the difference, leading Bartolo to repentance and conversion.

St. Bartolo’s conversion did not end with his return to the Church. He took seriously a promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic: “Whoever promotes the Rosary will be saved,” and began to zealously encourage his neighbors in Italy to pray the Rosary, and join the local Rosary Confraternity. He joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, and began to restore a church in the town of Pompeii, dedicating it to Our Lady of the Rosary.

While you are learning about St. Bartolo, consider following his example and joining the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. Joining this Confraternity strengthens you with the prayers of its other members and gives you a share in the good works of the Dominican Friars. The commitment is simple: Pray five decades of the Rosary three times a week.

Visit the link in the comments below to join the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary.

St. Bartolo Longo, pray for us!

10/15/2025

St. Teresa of Jesus, pray for us!

Happy Feast of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church!

Saint Teresa clearly saw herself as a friend of God, but this was only possible because she had attuned her will to that of God. Think about it this way. When one plays a guitar that is out of tune it sounds horrible and it doesn’t do what it was made to do, namely to play music. The guitarist has then to tune it using a specific tool that allows him to gauge whether one needs to apply pressure to the string or loosen it. Only when the string plays the right note according to the tuner is the guitar capable of producing music. So also our souls.

Saint Teresa’s spirited prayer was nothing more than “an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us” (Life, 96). But she explains that this friendship and love cannot endure until there is a union of wills. Through prayer God fine-tunes our souls, applying pressure or loosening our “strings.” He might send us things that will purify our will, or he might send us consolations to strengthen us for future battles. In all this, however, we should strive not to seek God’s consolations, but the God of consolations, as Saint Bernard would say.

God wants us to live according to how we were meant to live: to know the truth and to love the good; and there is nothing truer than God’s own Word, and nothing greater than God himself. But for us to be admitted into the choirs of angels, we must allow God to fine-tune our soul through prayer so that we might become an instrument fit to sing the praises of God.
—Br. Sebastian Vicente, O.P.

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🖼️ François Gérard — "Teresa of Ávila"

10/07/2025

Join Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P., as he reflects on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, once known as Our Lady of Victory.

In every struggle and challenge, we turn to her intercession through the Rosary. Let us pray together: “Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.”

May her guidance and protection accompany us in our daily journey of faith.

10/04/2025

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Happy Feast of our Holy Father Francis of Assisi!

Generally when people speak of St. Francis they speak of the joyful beggar, the man who fearlessly shared Christ to all who would listen. This tremendous saint, born into a life of luxury, underwent a dramatic conversion empowered by the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ.

St. Francis then began a radical life devoted to his beloved Lady Poverty, directed only by the love of Christ crucified. He preached to all, and he preached everywhere. Little Francis put himself totally at the service of his brothers. By virtue of this humble, devoted life, Francis became known in Catholic tradition as a true alter Christus, one who verily became as another Christ.

How this portrayal of Francis contrasts with the all too common depiction of St. Dominic! In the minds of many, Dominic is wedded not to Lady Poverty but to Inquisitions and crusades. Some sources go so far as to swiftly denounce St. Dominic as a monster of cruelty and lover of tortures and wars.

Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. The truth about St. Dominic, that noble preacher of grace, shows that his life and teaching bear more similarity to St. Francis than many may think.

Holy Father Dominic writes, “Humility will remove from your heart all false pretension, free from all proud ambitions and relieve them of the heavy weight of temporal dignities.” Similarly, Holy Father Francis teaches, “Holy humility confounds pride and all the men of this world and all things that are in the world.”

Both of these poor friars knew that humility lies at the heart of the Gospel, and by humility the burdens of the world are cast off and the values of the world inverted.
—Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, O.P.

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🖼️ Fra Angelico — "The Meeting of Saint Dominic and Saint Francis of Assisi"

09/24/2025

In just a few days, the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage will draw thousands of pilgrims to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Together we will hear preaching, adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, receive his mercy in confession, pray the Rosary, and celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

If you cannot come to Washington, you are not left out. The entire day will be livestreamed so that all may join us in prayer under Our Lady’s mantle. Visit the link in the comments below for more information.

09/17/2025

Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P., reports from the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, which Bl. Bartolo Longo commissioned and co-founded.