What is the Holy Rosary?
The Holy Rosary is a prayer of love and devotion which is prayed using a chain of Rosary beads made up of five sets, each set having one large bead and ten smaller beads, called decades. On the large bead the ‘Our Father’ is prayed, on the smaller beads the ‘Hail Mary’ is prayed, and each decade is concluded with the ‘Glory be’ prayer. There are four sets of Mysteries that can be meditated on during the prayers, and these comprise the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious aspects of Our Lord’s life and that of the Virgin Mary, His Blessed Mother.
A brief history
The Rosary had its beginnings in the early centuries of the Church with the tradition of singing the 150 Psalms from the Holy Bible. This developed into the praying of 150 Our Fathers, and then the praying of 150 Hail Marys. The Rosary took the form it has today when, in the 13th century, it was given by Our Lady to St. Dominic and its use spread throughout the Church at Mary’s request. The Rosary is a powerful prayer which gives great honour to Mary and has one aim: to bring every Christian who prays it closer to Jesus through devotion and love of His Blessed Mother.
Rosary Prayer Group
The Church dedicates the months of May and October to Mary, the Mother of God. As part of our commitment to living the faith and fostering an ever more fervent prayer life within our children, during the months of May and October the Headteacher leads a Rosary Prayer Group. Each day during the week at lunchtime, children gather to pray one decade of the Rosary. Each week one of the four sets of Mysteries are chosen for meditation during the praying of the Rosary, so that by Friday a full five decades of the Rosary have been prayed and a full set of five Mysteries have been meditated upon.
Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette
In 1858, Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette 18 times. Bernadette described Mary as “the beautiful lady”. Mary was wearing a white dress with a long white veil, a blue sash round her waist, and a golden yellow rose on each of her feet. In each of the apparitions Mary was seen holding in her hands a set of Rosary beads, and each time Bernadette would kneel down and pray the Rosary with Our Lady. As word spread of the apparitions, and more people gathered at the grotto, so more people prayed the Rosary with Bernadette.
Our Lady of Fatima
In 1917, over a period of 6 months, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. The first time she appeared was in the month of May, and the final time was in the month of October, and one of her requests to the children was to pray the Rosary every day.
Our love for Mary
And so, following the example of our patron, St. Bernadette, our academy has a special devotion to Our Lady, as the Mother of God, as “the beautiful lady” who appeared to Bernadette in Lourdes, and as our dear spiritual Mother, given to us by Our Lord Jesus from the cross when He said, “Behold, your mother!” We ask always for her powerful intercession and for her special care and protection and love of all who work, teach, and learn in our academy, and all those who support our endeavours in so many different ways, and we ask that she draw us ever closer each day to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lady of the Rosary,
Queen of Heaven and Earth,
Queen of all the Holy Angels and Saints,
Queen of our hearts,
Pray for us.
