CHILDREN AND THE ROSARY

  The Rosary
  >> Small sacrifices
  << back

“Every morning I get up early to go to Miss Rita’s to pray the five decades of the Rosary with Maria Pia and other children, and this morning I left my milk on the table so I could pray the Rosary sooner. My aunt Ada noticed and she got angry and slapped me; I didn’t take it badly, but offered it up to Our Lady and after eating, we prayed the Holy Rosary”. (Giorgio M. – Manduria, TA)

“I am a 9-year-old girl, I have gathered 15 girls in my class who are more or less 9 or 10. Every morning we pray the Holy Rosary”. (Imma Pia F. – Mandria, TA)

“We went to spread the Rosary and some unbelievers threw brooms at us, but that didn’t matter to us at all. We went to all the families”. (Vildo M. – Mafalda, CB)

“I went to give everyone the rosary and to teach the mysteries of the Holy Rosary… we have divided ourselves into groups of children and each group goes to a different neighbourhood of the town to let people know about and pray the Holy Rosary. We say the Rosary at home and at school”. (Leonardo P. – Mafalda, CB)

“Dear Father Andrea, I want to tell you something important and that makes me very happy: I managed to convince my teacher to pray the Rosary in class. A friend of mine used to make fun of me because I pray the Rosary, but then she understood she was wrong and now she prays the Rosary with her grandmother”. (Giovanna – Sulmona, AQ)

“At the beginning of the year we have undertaken to pray more with the children. Devotion to Our Lady has increased both in the community and at school. A grandmother of one of the children at pre-school, Fabrizio, told me that one evening, while they were watching television and heard about a plane crash in Toscana, a tragedy in which 25 people died, Fabrizio got up and left the room. His parents asked him where he was going: “I’m going to pray for those poor people who died”. When his grandmother takes him for a walk or takes him shopping, he takes out his rosary and she asks him: “Fabrizio, what are you doing?”. “I have to pray”, he answers. One evening, while going to bed, Fabrizio said to his mother: “Now I must say the whole rosary!”, and his mother said: “But ten Hail Marys are enough…”. “No, mommy, Our Lady is happier if we say the whole rosary!”. Fabrizio is only five years old: as you can see, Father, Our Lady, using these children and through them, is conveying her message to the others by calling them back to fulfil their duty as Christians.
Every day I put the children to sleep and during their nap we say the Rosary with the older children who don’t sleep. On the first of May, something beautiful happened: during afternoon nap time, the older children approached me and asked if they could pray the Rosary, as usual. Since we had to say it in church half an hour later, I said no to them, thinking that they would get tired (the Principal always urges me not to tire them out…). They didn’t say anything, then a few minutes later one of them, taking his rosary, asked: “Can I pray by myself?”. “Alright”, I answered. Instead do you know what they did? They all got together as a group and prayed the Rosary, as usual, each one saying a decade. I let them pray, pretending not to hear them, and I joined them, in a low voice…” (Sister Mariangela – Bologna)

“Dear Father Andrea, at school we all pray the Rosary with the rosaries you gave us”. (Sabrina, first grade, Chieti).

“Every week 200 niños campesinos (country children) belonging to Juventino Rosas gather together in the village church to pray the Holy Rosary, each one holding the “Weapon” in his hand; happy to belong to the Armata Bianca, they pray for peace in the world”. (Ludovico O. – Celaya – Mexico)

“The children meet once a week to pray the Rosary and each day they go to Holy Mass. Even Giorgio, who is only three years old, prays the Rosary. I admire another older boy because he has undergone heart surgery seven times and offers everything to Our Lady and considers himself privileged”. (Iole P. – L’Aquila)

“Dear Father Andrea, since you came to my class and talked about Our Lady, I know what Love means. I pray the Rosary once a week, praying Jesus to make people convert and not do violence anymore; I want there to be Love in the world. When you brought us into the chapel and we consecrated ourselves to Our Lady, I was excited and I felt very happy. I hope you can come to our class again to tell us about Our Lady, because your words struck the hearts of all the children. I still pray the Rosary so that there may always be Love in the world; I hope other children like me have understood what it means to love one’s neighbour and pray”. (Teresa Di S. – Naples)

“Since I began praying, something inside of me has changed: before I didn’t obey my parents, now, instead, as soon as my mother tells me to do something I do it without complaining”. (Marco M. – Vermicino di Frascati)

“My seven-year-old daughter came home from school and was wearing a white rosary around her neck. Without giving me the chance to say a word, she told me with great joy: “Mommy, we have to say the Rosary every day for peace in the world. Our Lady is asking for our help and I promised to help her because…” and she told me the story of Fatima. Around nine o’clock, I got her ready for bed, as usual, but, to my great surprise, she knelt down, took her rosary and began to say it, asking me to help her. She was sleepy, but she didn’t give up; I managed to follow her for a while, but then I forced her to go to bed, but she didn’t give up. She was tired and sleepy, but nothing and no one could move her. She told me: “Mommy, I promised Our Lady to help her, I belong to the Armata Bianca”. Seeing that she was unmovable, I left her alone with her prayer. It’s the first time that Mary and the Rosary have come into my home and my little daughter is the messenger of the prayer I had forgotten about. I began to cry because I was so moved and because of the great tenderness Mary had for me and my little girl!” (a mother – Bergamo).

““Mommy! Mommy! I have an atomic bomb, I’ll show it to you” my nine-year-old daughter shouted. For a moment I was afraid and nervous because I had never heard her speak with that tone of voice. “Daughter, what are you saying? Do you have a fever”? “No, mommy, I’m fine, here on my heart is an atomic bomb of peace and forgiveness. It’s the Holy Rosary, the weapon of Our Lady in Heaven and this morning I said my “yes” to Mary because I want to help her. I belong to the Armata Bianca, do you know mommy that there are many of us in the world and we are all united with the white beads of the rosary. I am proud to belong to the Armata Bianca”. (P.G. – Rome)

“Every day I try to improve my life, to be a better person and recruit other people to follow me. Almost every evening two of my friends and I shut ourselves up in a room, kneel down and pray the Rosary. I managed to convince my mom too, and not really every evening, but when she remembers to, she prays the Rosary too. Like this, the whole world could really save itself from the hell which drags men into always desiring evil and never good”. (Anna – Rome).

“Dear Father Andrea, my name is Laura, I write also on behalf of my little sister Francesca and my little brother Antonio. We belong to the Armata Bianca in Iglesias. Since the last time you came to Iglesias with the statue of Our Lady, even my father, who never used to pray the Rosary, now prays the rosary together with us and our mother. I am nine years old, almost ten, and I have been asking Our Lady for this for a long time. Sometimes daddy comes with us to the Armata Bianca which gets together every Tuesday for Adoration at our parish. Best wishes for the new year. Come to visit us soon”. (Laura, Francesca and Antonio G., Iglesias)

“Dear Father Andrea, since you left, remembering what you told us, me and a few of my classmates go to the nuns’ little chapel every evening after school, and we pray the Rosary. However, my secret is to pray every evening, and behind the window of my balcony I say: “Father in Heaven, come among us soon”. (Lucia, S. Demetrio – L’Aquila)

“Dear Father Andrea, it’s the first time that a priest has come to Senise to bring the statue of Our Lady to our school. Now we pray with the Rosary, and each time I pray it, I take a load off my chest and I feel stronger to make sacrifices and good deeds. When you were speaking, we all listened carefully with open ears to your words. You could have heard a pin drop; the children in first grade didn’t move, and after a while I understood that it wasn’t you speaking but it was Our Lady who came into our hearts and guided us to follow the right way. Thank you for allowing us to understand that salvation can be accomplished through our prayers”. (Filomena B. – Senise)

In a little mountain town in Abruzzi the children, after hearing about Fatima and the three shepherd children, decided to gather every evening to pray the Rosary. They went to church but a lady, we can’t understand why, chased them out, insulting whoever put these things in their minds. Without getting discouraged, they got together at someone’s house and prayed the Rosary. Later on they went to the lady in question and with good manners told her: “We said the Rosary anyway… and we prayed for you too!”. (Maria, Roio, L’Aquila).

“Every evening, before going to bed, my brother Salvatore and I say the Rosary aloud. I noticed that the people next door hear through the walls and respond to the Rosary too…” (Concetta – Manduria)

Irene’s mother tried to convince her daughter that it wasn’t necessary to pray the Rosary every day. When she had run out of  subjects she heard her daughter object: “Mommy, do we only pray on Sundays?!” (Sister Teresa, Novara).

A story from Columbia: A six-year-old girl from the college of the Presentation, Maria Catalina Gayalla Lagos, came home and at night asked her family to listen to her because she wanted to make a request to Our Lady in Heaven. She took her white Rosary in her hands and began the Hail Mary; her family satisfied her because they thought the girl would get tired after four or five Hail Marys, instead the little girl went on: one decade, two, three decades, up until the end without stopping and forcing her family to respond; then she concluded with these words: “Io te pido Señor par ache nunca me haga olvidar de rezar el Rosario porque muchos niños tienen que saber que Dios es vivo y que no es muerto”, translated into English: “I ask you Lord that for no reason may I forget to pray the Rosary so that many children may know that God is alive and not dead”. Asi sea. Amen. (Angela M., Bogotá)

If you want to write to us too, these are our addresses:

avemaria@armatabianca.org Armata Bianca Via Sant’Apollonia, 8 – 67100 L’Aquila ITALY

We will be happy to know about and let others know about your experiences through these pages.