Three Rosary Stories

Story I

A survivor’s gripping account gives a convincing testimony of the power of the Rosary. A 25 year-old female student who lost her brother and her mother in the terrorists attack in the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010 relates:

“Next to my brother, there was also a woman who was bleeding profusely. She asked the terrorist: ‘Kill me, please, do not let me suffer any more.’ He answered her: "No, suffer; that way you will experience hell on earth and after your death." And he repeated: "You are infidels, Allah ou akbar!" And I, then, prayed the rosary, with my head bent down towards the floor. A terrorist came and asked me: "What are you praying? What do you venerate? Do you venerate Christ?" And then, some grenades exploded and we truly had the impression that the church was going to collapse on us. I myself absolutely did not think that I would survive. I prayed as if I was about to die. It is Our Mother who saved us.”

Needed more than ever in our times

Amid that horrific bedlam and terrible carnage, the student courageously hung on to her rosary and prayed even as the Islamic terrorist accosted her. By the grace of God, she was spared from death.

Story II

Vienna, Austria, September 12, 1955: After World War II, Austria was divided between four countries: America, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia, which was still communist. The section of Austria controlled by the communists was the richest, and included the city of Vienna. The Viennese were subject to all the atrocities and tyrannies of communism.

With all of his country’s problems weighing heavily on his heart, Capuchin Fr. Petrus Pavlicek made a pilgrimage to Mariazell, the principle Marian shrine in Austria. While deep in prayer before the miraculous image of Our Lady above the shrine’s high altar, he was told by an interior voice: “Do as I say and there will be peace.”

To obey this inspiration of Our Lady, Fr. Pavlicek founded the Holy Rosary Crusade of Reparation in 1947. His Crusade consisted of the Viennese faithful coming out of their homes in order to participate in a public Rosary procession in the streets of the city. The intentions of the Rosary were for the end of communism in their country and in the world. Father traveled throughout Austria with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima promoting the Rosary Crusade. At first, the processions were miniscule, but in time they grew to staggering proportions. The Prime Minister and other members of the Austrian government soon joined the ranks, along with all of the nation’s bishops.

In 1955, after eight years spreading the word about the Crusade throughout Austria, the Rosary processions would reach the size of half a million people, about one-tenth of the Austrian population.

Finally, through the help of Our Lady, the Soviet forces pulled out of Austria in October of 1955, leaving the country for good.

Each year on September 12th, the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, thousands gather in Vienna to thank the Mother of God for her intercession in freeing their country from communist domination.

Story III

It was a cold, wintry night in Ohio when homes used coal for fuel. One home had only enough to make it till dawn. Young Mary, who writes this story, tells us her family was going through hard times as her Dad had lost his job.

As she sat around the kitchen table with her parents, there was talk that she and her eight siblings might have to go to the Children’s Home on the morrow. They could only hope the relief truck would come in the morning. But there was no guarantee. It was then they decided to say a Rosary.

As they finished, there was the rumble of a motor in the lane. The coal truck! Mary’s Dad ran out to help unload. Back in, he remarked, “Funny, I've never seen that man, and he didn't give me a paper to sign or anything.”

That night they slept warm, and worriless. But next morning there was the coal truck again. Mary's Mom informed the driver, a cousin, that they had a delivery the night before.

The cousin chuckled, “Mine is the only relief truck in the area…If you got a load last night, St. Joseph must have brought it!”

Mary’s family never knew who the delivery man was…It didn't help that they never got a bill.