Four times a year the Rosary Newsletter is brought out and distributed to the Dominican Churches around the country.
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Latest news:
Irish Research Council Supporting Irish Dominican HistoryFebruary 14, 2023 - 5:14 pm
New YouTube Series LaunchedDecember 20, 2022 - 10:15 am
Br Ruaidhri Grieve OP Ordained to the DiaconateDecember 4, 2022 - 12:02 pm
Three Dominican Novices Make Simple ProfessionSeptember 20, 2022 - 9:19 am
Three Men Enter the Dominican NovitiateSeptember 19, 2022 - 8:19 pm
1st Jubilee Mystery: Announcement to the Shepherds of the birth of the Messiah.
/in Jubilee 800, Rosary Letter/by John Walsh OPLuke 2:8-20
“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
The Shepherds upon finding themselves in the presence of the angel with the glory of the Lord shining around them were filled with fear. This fear is dispelled by the words of the angel when he says, “Do not be afraid; for behold I bring you news of a great joy.” This joy comes from the knowledge that the Saviour which all Israel had been longing for had finally come to his people. Overcome by what they had witnessed and filled with expectation the shepherds “went with haste” to see the Christ child. As with the annunciation to Mary, the angelic visitation fills them with a joy that cannot be contained, and moves them to action. The darkness of the night in which they laboured in the fields gives way to the light which they now see before their eyes, the true light of the world; the King of the Universe, in a manger. Changed forever by this experience the shepherds become messengers of joy, making known to others what they have seen and heard.
Let us pray that we may experience anew the joy that comes with knowing Christ our Lord. Like Mary, who pondered the mystery of her Son in her heart may we by meditating on this mystery be changed by grace and become messengers of joy to all we meet.
One Our Father, Ten Hail Mary’s, Gloria.
Queen of Preachers: Pray for us.
Rosary Letter Winter 2016/2017
/in Rosary Letter/by John Walsh OPThe New Year of 2017 brings the 800th Jubilee of the Dominican Order to a close. It has been a year of many graces and blessings for us here in Ireland with many celebrations and pilgrimages nationwide. It was a year to look back with thanksgiving in our hearts for 800 years of our family’s existence and its faithful service to the Church. The Order of Preachers was born in the heart of a man who passionately loved the Church, the mystical body of Christ on earth. Dominic de Guzman set fire to the Church of his time with zealous preaching on the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. These mysteries he studied, contemplated and preached with passion for the salvation of souls, that the world of his time would once again embrace the saving mysteries of the incarnate Saviour. Dominic brought the faithful to an understanding of the love of God for the world in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived for Jesus and his Kingdom, and like the sower going out to sow, he planted in the hearts of the faithful the seed of renewal and conversion. The mysteries Dominic preached are the mysteries we contemplate in the Rosary. Tradition states that Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the Rosary, asking him to preach the mysteries she herself contemplated in her Immaculate Heart.
A few months ago, two friars were travelling across Ireland by car to a parish mission and in a discussion about the rosary, considered its place in their spiritual life. The discussion developed into a question, ‘If you could add new mysteries to the Rosary, what Gospel mysteries would you pick?’ The mysteries chosen and agreed upon, are presented as a Jubilee Rosary in thanksgiving to God for our founder St. Dominic de Guzman and for the patronage of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary. We share them with you and pray that they lead you closer to Jesus whom Dominic loved and preached with all his heart and soul.
Fr. John Hyacinth Walsh. O.P.
Director of the Rosary Apostolate.
Our Lady of Limerick
/in Rosary Letter/by Luuk Dominiek Jansen OPThe statue of Our Lady of Limerick first came to that city in 1640 as a gift from Patrick Sarsfield and his wife Eleanor. Patrick had purchased the statue on the continent and gifted the statue in reparation for the martyrdom of Sir John Burke of Brittas, Captain of Clanwilliam. It was Patrick’s uncle, Judge Dominic Sarsfield, who had sentence Sir John to death. Sir John was a member of the Rosary Confraternity connected with the Dominicans of Limerick City. He loved the Order and promoted the Rosary in his family and locality. Each year he invited the Dominicans to celebrate Mass in his ancestral home, Brittas Castle and for having the Holy Mass celebrated in secret, he was condemned to death and his estate confiscated in the Act of Settlement in 1653.
Patrick Sarsfield donated the Statue and a silver chalice dated 1640 to the friars of Limerick and he inscribed it with his wife’s name and his own in reparation for the sin of his Uncle, Judge Dominic Sarsfield. They were presented to Fr. Terence Albert of Brian, O.P. who would later become Bishop of Emly and die for the faith in the city of Limerick on October 30th 1651.
During the siege of Limerick in 1651, the statue of the Virgin was removed and according to tradition was buried alongside the remains of the Martyred Bishop O’Brien.
In 1780 when the days of persecution had passed the Dominicans built a small chapel in Fish Lane to replace an earlier church destroyed by anti-Catholic forces. The statue was recovered from its earthly grave and given a place of honour alongside the main altar. When the Dominicans opened St Saviour’s Church in Perry Square in 1816 the statue was brought in procession and enthroned on its own altar surrounded by images of the Dominican saints. In 1954 the Virgin and Child were crowned with a tiara of gold, pearls and diamonds all donated by the women of Limerick, with the result that rich and poor alike had some share in the graces that flow from the treasury of Our Lady of Limerick. The statue of Our Lady of Limerick is almost life-size. On her arm rests the Infant Jesus; while a long silver rosary, with an ancient tubular cross, stretches from the right hand. Our Lady of the Rosary of Limerick, a gift in reparation for the sins of man, watches over her beloved city and its people to this very day. A Mother’s love never ends, and we pray her intercession over God’s children in this modern and changing world.
Prayer to Our Lady of Limerick.
Most loving lady of Limerick, my Mother and my Queen, I thank thee from my heart for the many blessings and consolations that hast bestowed upon me. I love thee with all the fervour of my soul and promise to serve thee always and to make thee loved by all. I place my entire life with its many cares and anxieties in the tender arms of thy maternal love, knowing that thou wilt always guide and protect me. Inflame my heart with true love of Jesus Christ so that I may every accomplish His holy will. I pray thee, thou Mother of Mercy, to safeguard, as thy special heritage, thy faithful people of Limerick. Thou wert given to us in our hour of suffering to inspire and encourage us; do not leave us until thou see us safe in Heaven, there to bless thee and sing thy mercies for all eternity. Amen