In this challenging time God has chosen for us to live in, we need all the spiritual help we can get. Our Lady has been given to us as a model, guide, and helper. She, in turn, has given us her Holy Rosary as lifeline, a weapon, and a consolation. If we choose to pray it, we will grow in faith, hope, and love, and learn to trust Jesus more with our lives and our world.
We have been created to live and pray in community for our mutual encouragement. Even when we were isolated in our homes during the pandemic, we were consoled by the reality that we remained in union with our fellow Catholics praying along with the Mass virtually. In a similar way, belonging to the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary gives strength to each member, wherever they choose to pray their beads.
What is the Confraternity?
“The Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary is an international association of faithful Catholics who pray the Rosary each week for each other’s intentions.” This description from the website of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) of the Province of St. Joseph (Eastern United States) tells us the simple basis of the society. It is made up of men and women who desire to pray the Rosary regularly in union with others. Beyond this, the spiritual purpose is “to praise and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary and to secure her patronage by the recitation of the Rosary for the mutual spiritual benefit of all the members throughout the world.”
The Obligation of Membership is Simple: Pray the Rosary
Each week members pray the original fifteen decades of the Rosary (the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries). That’s it. Just three, five-decade rosaries per week. It isn’t even necessary to pray them all at once.
To aid with the goal of growing closer to Jesus through Mary by praying the Rosary, another obligation is to meditate on each mystery of Christ’s life as you pray. The Blessed Mother wants us to pray, not just “say” our prayers.
Finally, there is an obligation to pray for the intentions of the other Confraternity members. Even this is simplified, however. You may make a one-time “general intention” to pray for the Confraternity’s intentions which will satisfy this obligation perpetually.
No obligation of the Confraternity binds under pain of sin, but you may find yourself easily fulfilling them because of the graces of membership. The Blessed Mother will guide your soul to desire to pray the Rosary faithfully, and perhaps beyond the obligatory fifteen decades per week.
What’s in it for me? The Spiritual Benefits
Our Blessed Mother can never be outdone in generosity. Those who enroll in the Confraternity are given many beautiful spiritual benefits in response to the very modest offering of three Rosaries per week. These are:
- A share in the prayers and the good works of countless members throughout the world and in heaven.
- A share in the good works and prayers of the Order of Preachers.
- A plenary indulgence is granted under the usual conditions on the day of enrollment as well as the feast days of Christmas, Easter, the Annunciation, the Assumption of Our Lady, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Immaculate Conception, and Our Lord’s Presentation in the Temple.
- A plenary indulgence is also granted, under the usual conditions, to all who pray the rosary in a Church or oratory, in a family (family rosary), religious community, or in a pious association of the faithful. Otherwise, the indulgence is partial.
- And most importantly, the intercession and special protection of Our Lady, the Mother of God.
In addition to these benefits is the less tangible, yet equally important benefit of the deepening prayer life that naturally accompanies meditation on Our Lord’s and Our Lady’s lives.
Where did the Confraternity come from?
Over 500 years ago, in the 1470s, the first Rosary Confraternity was established by Blessed Alan de la Roche, OP. He fervently preached about the importance of praying the Rosary. The Confraternity was an inspired work that came out of that preaching. As individual Confraternities spread, so did devotion to the Rosary. The uniform method of praying the rosary that we use today developed over time through the regulation of the Confraternity.
The Dominican order has overseen the Confraternity since the beginning. Each enrolled member not only shares in the graces of all the members’ Rosary prayers, but also in the prayers and good works of the friars, nuns, sisters, and laity of the Dominican Order. This is a good deal!
Most recently, the Confraternity was examined by Pope Leo XIII in 1898. Regulations were given in his Apostolic Constitution, Ubi Primum, which continues to be the rule of the Confraternity today.
Let Mary Guide You
Of the many good reasons to pray the Rosary, one is certainly to allow Mary more deeply into your prayer life, and your life in general. Mary always points us to her Son and helps us to walk closer to Him in simple, achievable ways. Joining the Confraternity will help you to keep your hand in Mary’s as she leads you deeper into God’s plans for your life.
You may find yourself praying her Rosary daily. You may find yourself discerning a call to join the Dominicans as a priest, friar, sister, or member of the Laity! Who knows where Mary will lead you? Wherever she does, it is where Our Lord has chosen, and where your abiding peace can be found, no matter what is going on in the world or in your life.
How to Enroll
Enrollment in the Confraternity is simple. You enroll in the Dominican Province where you live. For example, if you live in Boston, MA, you enroll in the Eastern (St. Joseph) Province. If you live in Tallahassee, FL, you enroll in the Southern (St. Martin de Porres) Province. Here is a list of United States and international websites where you can enroll or just learn more about the Confraternity.
Mary, thank you for the Rosary. And thank you for the gift of the Confraternity to draw us deeper into prayer, deeper into your Son’s life. Help us to respond to these gifts with trust and a desire for holiness that God Himself desires to fulfill in us. As we pray round-and-round your Rosary, may our hearts settle into His love in a way that blesses everyone around us and the whole world.
Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash
