New perpetual rosary campaign launched to ‘protect the whole world’ 'The rosary is a spiritual weapon, especially in these times when man wants to be a creator in the Creator’s place. But the world is in God’s hands. Our prayer and our confidence can allow Him to act.' Fri Jun 4, 2021 - 5:57 am EST www.chapeletperpetuelpourlemonde.org/ By Jeanne Smits, Paris correspondent Follow Jeanne LifeSiteNews has been permanently banned on YouTube. Click HERE to sign up to receive emails when we add to our video library. June 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – What is there to be done facing the COVID crisis and the consequences of its “management” by the powers that be? A group of four friends living in the French Alps recently launched a “perpetual Rosary” which they hope will protect humanity from the evil that is so obviously surrounding it. The story of their commitment to bring all Catholics to turn to the Virgin Mary and her powerful intercession in these times is a remarkable one. It finds its roots way back in the 13th century and the story of the miraculous survival of a group of Benedictine monks when a local mountain, Mont Apremont (now known as Mont Granier), partially collapsed, in what has become known as the deadliest catastrophe ever to have occurred in the Alps. On November 24, 1248, several villages were totally destroyed by a landslide of some 500 million cubic meters of mud and rocks, covering a total of at least 20 square kilometers. Four or five thousand people lost their lives, according to contemporary accounts. But for the moment, back to the present. Three Catholic ladies (who were later joined by a fourth: Catherine, Irène, Françoise and Isabelle), all members of prayer groups and active in their local parishes, decided to pray together to discern what they could do in a situation where so many people are suffering: not only those who fall ill and die of COVID, but all those who are facing hardship because of the various measures which have been implemented in the past year. They had decided to come together in person in the fall of last year, but due to circumstances, only one of the group, Catherine, found herself in the Carmel of Chambéry – a convent dedicated to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She had been praying for a long time, she told LifeSite, when suddenly she witnessed what she called an “interior image:” the fresco that adorns the crypt of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Myans – the very place where the miracle of the 13th century has been commemorated for almost 800 years. It is a place she knows well, as do all Catholics in Savoie: there are regular pilgrimages there and the chapel attracts up to 100,000 visitors each year. With her friends, she had prayed in the crypt two days previously, in front of a “Black Virgin” – one of the many ancient statues of Our Lady, the “Vierges noires” carved from dark wood that have been venerated in France from the Middle Ages. In Myans, the early mediaeval statue represents an image of Our Lady seated in majesty, presenting the Infant Jesus on her left arm, sitting on her knees: it was likely already there when the miracle mentioned earlier took place. She was crowned in 1905 at the behest of Pope Pius X. The fresco bears a striking message: it shows the miracle of 1248 which at the same time bears witness to God’s Providence, the Virgin Mary’s protection and the evil intents of Satan against humanity. It all started when a community of Benedictine monks, some miles away, was driven out of its monastery, the priory of Saint-Andrew, which the Count of Savoie wanted to add to his own domain. The Count had obtained permission to do so from Pope Innocent IV, as the Pope, being at the time at war with Frederick II of Prussia, did not want to risk making a new enemy. According to the medieval narrative, on the day that the Count’s secretary arrived back from Rome to tell the monks that they had lost their dispute, they were forced to leave immediately and sought refuge in the chapel where the Virgin had been venerated since the 11th century. At eight in the evening, a horrible noise came from the mountains, and the landslide – probably accompanied by an earthquake – came crashing down on terrified local inhabitants in four or five surrounding villages. The monks prayed for their lives and for the eternal salvation of all the victims, believing that they also would perish. As the mud and rocks approached, the story goes, the monks saw demons pushing the rocks down to the chapel, but while some demons were encouraging others to destroy the sanctuary, those in front screamed: “We cannot, the Black One is preventing us!” The deadly stream of mud and stones miraculously divided, going left and right of the chapel and leaving it intact. All the monks were saved, while the priory they had been forced to leave earlier that same day was totally destroyed. From then onwards, the Black Virgin of Myans was venerated as the protector of those who turn to her in times of danger. All this was in Catherine’s thoughts when a second image formed itself in her mind. As she continued to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament: she saw the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration of Chambéry, which has been active since April 2014 with the approval of the local bishop. Inside the chapel, she saw a rosary with very large beads laid out on the floor. Part of rosary extended outside where it continued to expand, forming a chain of protection. At the same time, she heard these words repeat themselves within her mind: “Perpetual Rosary! Perpetual Rosary!” In the following days, together with her friends, Catherine tried to discern the meaning of her interior visions, with the help of the priest who is their spiritual director. They returned to adore the Blessed Sacrament, and continued to pray. “Then we responded to the Lord’s call, convinced of the power of the Rosary, the extraordinary bulwark that will increasingly protect the whole world! This is how the ‘Perpetual Rosary for the World’ began on October 1, 2020,” the new website dedicated to the devotion explains. At first, the four friends, under the guidance of a local priest and with the cooperation of the Superior, and also the approval of the local bishop, organized a weekly rosary at the Carmel of Chambéry, each Friday at 4 p.m. At the Sanctuary of Myans, the chaplain also decided to organize a monthly rosary. On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, a regular rosary was inaugurated at Myans. From there the conviction grew that the rosary must truly become perpetual thanks to the faithful who would commit to take turns to pray at every hour of the day and night. The ladies also worked at making their initiative known and have now set up a website where all can register, committing to say a “chaplet”, five decades of the Rosary, once a week at a given time or on a given day, or if personal obligations make this difficult, once a week at least without a definite time. The website has been translated into English, Spanish and Portuguese and, to date, over 650 people have joined from 20 countries. All times are given in French metropolitan time (twelve noon in Paris when it is 6 a.m. in New York). Already, all the 30-minute shifts have been filled, but a number of them have only one or two registered participants, and the objective is to create a “rosary” of prayer that will embrace the whole world. The organizers hope that the participation of Americans and Asians will help fill the time-shifts that are harder to complete in Europe: the middle of the night and also the middle of the afternoon. Speaking at length with LifeSiteNews by telephone, Catherine, Irène and Isabelle told of their hopes for this initiative which they are working to promote worldwide, while remaining personally very discreet. They said that they want to pray not only because of the sanitary crisis, but because it has caused people to be isolated and continuously in fear, while bringing about a “social and economic crisis” and leading to so many “lies.” “The real battle is spiritual,” one of the ladies noted. “The rosary is a spiritual weapon, especially in these times when man wants to be a creator in the Creator’s place. But the world is in God’s hands. Our prayer and our confidence can allow Him to act.” Another stressed that the prayers of children are especially powerful: the group has presented its initiative in a small local Catholic school where the directress has decided to join the weekly rosary with her sixty pupils. “It is the most humble, the ill, the elderly whose prayer can exert great power on the heart of God,” she added. The group hopes to enroll people in hospitals and in homes for the elderly, and has prepared special rosary meditations for these groups. Children – and also teenagers – have already joined the initiative, making crowns on which the names of those committed to a weekly rosary are inscribed. “We can feel powerless on the human plane, but Our Lady always asks us to pray the rosary, and it is a powerful prayer,” the group concluded. The website chapeletperpetuelpourlemonde.org is available here in English
