The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-10-23

Mary Respondent reigns on high,
Queen of the Holy Rosary,
She who on earth had sorrows keen
Dwells now in heaven, the Angels
Queen.
Mary conceived Immaculate
Worthy of more than royal state
Virgin for ever, thee we praise,
Blessed art thou, through endless
days.
Father Sheehan, in Luke Delmege,
puts into vivid words stories of Irish
devotion to the holy Rosary. He
depicts the young priests mother
with "the eternal beads in her hands,"
and the toil-w0rn woman kneeling be-
fore the altar, her baby kicking and
growing in herr arms, and catching
atathe beads as they slipped through
the mothers fingers. But most vivid
of all is the picture of Father "Pat,"
the great friend of the Delmege
family. He had been the guest of
honor at the gathering for the home
coming of Father Delmege, who had
said his first Mass that morning. AS
the evening drew to close, Father
Pat took his leave and strolled down
the moonlit field, but just at the stile
he thought of something" and came
back.
They were all kneeling, and Luke
was reciting the Rosary. Father Pat
heard the murmur of the voices, and
paused. And there outside the win
dow he took out his own Rosary beads
and joined in that blessed prayer that
echoes night after night from end to
end of Ireland.
And there was Father "Tim" Casey
"Who didn't preach, but only spoke
to the people" He was our Lady's
sworn knight, and had sounded her
praises all his days What wonder
that when he lay on his deathbed he
had no fear! "The Blessed Virgin will
be there at the foot of the bed," he
had said, ''she will be standing there
when the light is going out" AS the
end drew near, he spoke again:
Didn't / tell you, Martin-that the
Blessed Virgin would come for me-
There she is, Martin. Look there
over her picture. Yes, I'm ready
And Father Martin was alone in the
room.
Another Irish writer, Seumas Mac
Manus, in his Donegal tales, describes
what the Rosary meant to the people
whose last act at night was to join in
this beautiful devotion: "Uncle
Donar' is a type of the spiritual
minded peasant. The Rosary, Dinny
the Rosary he says to his orphaned
nephew, to whom he gives a fathers
love. Dinny recalls the scene:
/ We got on our knees by the fire
and Uncle DonaI gave out the Rosary
in an even more solemn voice thar
usual. Amongst the solemn prayers
with which he followed it-prayers fol
friends living and friends dead, fol
friends near and friends absent, al
well as for those who in the worlC
were friendless, he asked, in a voice
that shook, for one other prayer
which, in. all my memory, he had never
omitted-'Wan Pater-and-Ave for poo
sufferin' Ireland; that God may lighter
her burden, and Lead her into the
bright sunshine of His eternal smile.
And we chorused the response from
our hearts deep depths.
Later, on a pilgrimage to Loci
Dearg, Dinny again tells of the re
cital of the Rosary:
Let us say the Rosary said Toa
a-Gallagher, drawing forth hi
beads. We all drew out our beads
and we knelt in circle, some on tn,
single, some on the heather, AM
from our hearts chorused the respons
es to Toal, or led, each in turn, in ;
decade. The Rosary of the Five Joy
full Mysteries it was that Toal recited
He needed neither light nor book, TO
he had all the Rosary by heart, and h,
worded the mysteries in an impress
siVe manner, pouring into them tn,
fullness of pious heart. The volume
of our voices filled the air, so that j
seemed as if a multitude prayed upol
the moor. Such joyous bliss, too
filled our souls as if we waited out
side the gate, on the eve of our en-
trance into Paradise.
Reading these holy and beautiful
thoughts we have borne in upon us tn
great and wonderful heritage that i
ours-the heritage of faith. Let u
be worthy of it, and prove our loyalt
and devotion by word and deed. L
this month of October let us join il
the Rosary daily, lifting our hearts t
God and His Blessed Mother, and s
gaining comfort and strength as W
humbly "say the beads"
nADIn Dn0V UHTUnnAIAIM