Form a Children's Rosary
If there isn’t a Children’s Rosary at your school consider starting one. Our Lady has continued to show us through the apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima that she is calling our children to prayer and in a special way, the Rosary.
Steps to Begin a Children’s Rosary in Your School
1. Choose a location: Usually groups meet in a a school classroom or Church if one is close by. Some groups choose to meet outside. Groups cannot meet in private homes.
2. Choose a regular meeting time: Groups meet monthly or weekly or if interest exists, daily.
3. Method of Implementation: Ideally groups meet during the school day in their respective classrooms. In this way all the children are able to participate and can take turns leading the prayer. It is not a problem to have children of different faiths participating in the Children’s Rosary as it is not a sacrament. Other methods of implementation could include a school-wide implementation before a weekly or monthly Mass where classes take turns leading a Children’s Rosary. It is also possible to have the Children’s Rosary held during lunch break or after school for those children interested in joining.
4. Register your Children’s Rosary by mail at P.O. Box 271743, West Hartford, CT USA or email blythe@childrensrosary.org In this way we will have a central list of all Children’s Rosary groups formed.
Guidelines for Your First Children’s Rosary
1. Begin by Consecrating your new group to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
2. Bring the children together in front of those gathered and have them kneel (pillows are a welcome addition for them to kneel on).
3. In turns have a child stand and lead a decade of the Rosary (if a microphone is present in a Church this is a nice way for their soft voices to be heard).
4. The child should say the first part of each prayer:
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
The entire group then responds together:
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
5. An optional addition is the use of flowers (roses or any other flower). This is particularly nice for smaller children not able to lead or children with disabilities preventing them from leading. At the end of each decade a child is asked to place a flower at the foot of a statue of Mary if available (otherwise just place the roses in a small pile on the ground in front of where the children are praying). While the child is placing the flower an adult is saying, “Mary we humbly place this flower at your feet and ask for the gift of… Faith” if one were saying the first glorious mystery. The gifts asked for correspond to the fruits of the mysteries. If purchasing flowers is economically difficult consider having the children make flowers that are placed before an image of Mary.
6. Consider having a prayer book with illustrations of the mysteries of the Rosary for the children to use during prayer. The Children’s Rosary book was designed for this purpose but any visual aid can be used.
7. Consider having a petition box. The children can decorate the box if desired and it can be placed in front of the children while they are saying their Rosary.
Any questions please contact Blythe Kaufman at:
Email: blythe@childrensrosary.org
Address: PO Box 271743
West Hartford, CT 06127 USA
Phone: (860) 785-3340
