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• In addition to the regular parish Rosary times, the Holy Rosary will be prayed on the last Saturday and Sunday of October at St. Francis Xavier Church. The Rosary will begin before Mass at 3:30 pm on Saturday (10/25) and on Sunday (10/26) at 7:30 am.
  
  The Rosary is an invitation to experience the grace of Mary’s spiritual motherhood as she leads us to her Son, Jesus. Devotion to the Rosary was especially promoted in the 13th century by St. Dominic and in the 16th century by St. Peter Canisius. It was Pope Leo XIII who dedicated October as the Month of the Holy Rosary and who, in 1895, wrote an encyclical, Adiutricem, on the Rosary.  An invocation known as the Fatima Prayer was commonly added in the early 20th century. In 2002, Saint John Paul II, who called the Rosary his favorite prayer, added a new set of five reflections called the luminous mysteries. They join the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries, in providing opportunities to reflect on the lives of Jesus and his Blessed Mother.
  From the Diocese of Portland