Silver Rose Announced

A silver rose on a nine-month pilgrimage will be the centerpiece of a special prayer service at St. Patrick’s Church in on Wednesday, September 4th at immediately after the 12:00 mass . The Silver Rose Program is sponsored by Knights of Columbus to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and express both international unity and dedication to the sanctity of human life.

The journey of the silver rose begins each year in March and ends on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. During that time, Silver Roses travel from town to town along eight routes throughout North America. Several of those routes begin in Canada and end in Mexico. The Silver Rose Program began in 1960, when the first rose – a real, live one – was blessed by a bishop in Ontario. The rose then traveled to New York and then to Texas where it was taken across the border into Mexico. The rose ended its pilgrimage at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In 2001, when Carl Anderson, Past Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus commented: “Through [the Silver Rose Program] we honor not only Our Lady of Guadalupe and express the unity of the Knights of Columbus, but we also reaffirm the Order’s dedication to the sanctity of human life.

It is to the Blessed Mother that we turn in prayer as we work to end the Culture of Death that grips our society. As we think in terms of ‘One Life, One Rose,’ it is most appropriate that we turn to Our Lady of Guadalupe who made known her will through Juan Diego and the miracle of the roses.”

All members of the community are encouraged join Knights of Columbus John Paul II Council #13935  at St. Patrick’s on Wednesday, September 4th at right after the 12:00 mass.