On every Friday at Saint Viator a centuries-old tradition occurs in the Alumni Memorial Chapel—members of our community gather to pray the Rosary, uniting students and faculty to a wealth of spiritual blessings and encouragement. Meeting during flex time, the Rosary club dedicates fifteen minutes out of the week to spend praying to our Lord Jesus in devotion to the Virgin Mary. Relatively new, Rosary Club began meeting in 2021;
“Freshman year Henry Jochaniewicz and Marianne Mercurio started it with me,” said senior Lucy Jochaniewicz, “I’m actually a founding member.”
As a devotional, the genesis of the rosary dates back to the earliest days of the Church in Roman times; according to Fr. William Saunders with EWTN, the Catholic television channel; “The use of ‘prayer beads’ and the repeated recitation of prayers to aid in meditation stem from the earliest days of the Church and has roots in pre-Christian times.”
Tradition holds that St. Dominic in the 13th century received a Marian apparition during a period of intense illness where, as Fr. Saunders notes, Mary called him to “preach the use of the rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ.”
Evolving into its modern form in the 16th century, the Rosary is composed of five decades of ten Hail Marys and four mysteries: the joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and the luminous (added by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002).
In accordance with tradition, on Fridays when the club meets we pray the sorrowful mysteries: the Agony in the Garden, the Crowning of Thorns, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion. Meditating on these mysteries, we recall Mary’s cooperation with the will of the Lord as Christ suffers his tribulations on the road to Golgotha, remembering our own sins and shortcomings and offering them up to Christ. Calling us to take up the Cross, the sorrowful mysteries promise courage in the emulation of Christ, offer spiritual encouragement in the faith life, and present Mary as a model for Christian discipleship. I love attending Rosary club for these spiritual graces, but they aren’t unique to the participants either: every meeting we offer intentions for various family and friends, those who are suffering physically or mentally, or victims of natural disasters around the globe.
Some students attends to explore and share their faith, and others to offer gratitude or to petition aid through prayer.
“I love the experience and the community,” said junior Brandon Valenzuela.
Students of all grade levels and faculty from many departments make efforts to attend Rosary club, and while members vary considerably in experience, all are welcome to join at 2:45 any and every Friday to pray the Rosary. Every week, I look forward to this opportunity to communally practice my faith; lingering on the words of the Hail Mary, Glory Be, and Our Father I find a connection to the historical church and an example of Mary as a disciple of Christ as I enter the weekend. Inviting us to live in closer communion with Christ, through the Rosary we begin our weekend closer to him. With this smallest sacrifice of our time, we come to great benefit, and as Senior Lucy Jochaniewicz said:
“God gives us 24 hours every day, it seems only right to give 15 minutes back to him.” This perfectly wraps up the goal of Rosary Club: spend time with God.