Page:TheRosaryItsHistory.djvu/15

 As I write these lines, a vision comes before my eyes, and a sentence uttered long ago echoes in my ears. I seem to behold, in the dim and distant past, a mother stretched upon a bed of sickness, gradually sinking, yet perfectly calm. She is about to leave those on whom she has ever impressed, by word and example, the need of devotion to the Mother of God, and amongst her farewell requests there is one that is still deeply imbedded in my memory: “Don’t forget to say the Rosary together every night; and offer it for three months for the repose of my soul.”

Dear readers, though our earthly mother may not have explicitly expressed that wish to us, we all know that it is the ardent desire of our heavenly Mother that we should daily recite her Rosary in token of our filial attachment to her. O, let us regard that practice as one of the most sacred duties of our life; let us daily present the Rosary to Mary as a crown of roses; let us incessantly honor her by that sweet devotion until we are at last admitted into the courts of Heaven, there to sing for all eternity the glories of Jesus and of His Immaculate Virgin Mother.