Schamelot Prayer

Why the daily Rosary?

2008-01-19T06:58:00.000-08:00

Our Lady has 117 titles. She selected this title at Fatima: "I am the Lady of the Rosary".
St. Francis de Sales said the greatest method of praying is - Pray the Rosary.
St. Thomas Aquinas preached 40 straight days in Rome, Italy on just the Hail Mary.
St. John Vianney, patron of priests, was seldom seen without a rosary in his hand.
"The rosary is the scourge of the devil" - Pope Adrian VI.
"The rosary is a treasure of graces" - Pope Paul V.
Padre Pio the stigmatic priest said: "The rosary is THE WEAPON"
Pope Leo XIII wrote 9 encyclicals on the rosary.
Pope John XXIII spoke 38 times about our Lady and the Rosary. He prayed 15 decades daily.
St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote: "The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who so loves His Mother."
If you wish to obtain a favor: - Pray THE "54-day ROSARY NOVENA"

Learn the Salve Regina!

2007-11-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

This has always been one of my favorite hymns--even before I learned that it is the Hail Holy Queen, which we say at the end of the Rosary. I'm trying to teach it to my family so we can sing it at the end of our family Rosary. I sing it to Marian Ireland when she's crying and more often than not she stops crying and starts smiling. Who needs "Rockabye Baby" when you're Catholic?

With literal English translation:

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae:
(Hail, Queen, mother merciful:)
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
(Life, sweetness, and hope of ours, hail.)
Ad te clamamus, exsules, filii Hevae.
(To thee we cry, exiles, children of Eve.)
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
(To thee we sigh, morning and weeping)
in hac lacrimarum valle.
(in this tearful valley.)
Eia ergo, Advocata nostra,
(Quick then, Advocate of ours,)
illos tuos misericordes oculos
(those thy merciful eyes)
ad nos converte.
(to us turn.)
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
(And Jesus, blessed fruit of womb thine,)
nobis, post hoc exsilium ostende.
(unto us, after this exile show)
O clemens: O pia: O dulcis
(O clement: O loving: O sweet)
Virgo Maria.
(Virgin Mary.)

The Birthday Rosary

2007-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

I decided this year that it would be nice to establish the custom of praying a whole Rosary (just 5 decades!) for each family member on his birthday. We pray each decade for a different intention as follows:

1st decade: purity of heart

2nd decade: success in all endeavors

3rd decade: discernment of a vocation

4th decade: a long and holy life

5th decade: a happy and holy death

The last birthday we celebrated was my oldest son's and when one of his siblings accidentally started to announce the third decade when we were supposed to be on the second, my son piped up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you skipped one!" anxious not to get jipped out of the full benefits of this budding family tradition.

Not sure how much it had to do with the second decade being for "success in all his endeavors"...

I love raising kids!