• Holy Rosary Shrine - Santuario del Santo Rosario
    Holy Rosary Shrine - Santuario del Santo Rosario

    Welcome - Bienvenidos

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Come, Contemplate with Mary the Face of Christ

Holy Rosary Shrine is dedicated to fostering union with Jesus through Our Blessed Mother and her Holy Rosary. Central to our mission is beautiful and reverent worship, preaching His Word, devotional and evangelization events, and service to those in need. Staffed by the Franciscans of the Poor Christ, we offer extended hours for the Sacrament of Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, retreat days and Franciscan and Marian spiritual formation. The Shrine has a rich history of being home to many different ethnic groups in the "Immigrant City" of Lawrence, Massachusetts which continues to this day.

Confession Times

Confession Times

Information about confession times and days and how to make a good confession.

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How to Pray the Rosary

How to Pray the Rosary

The Rosary Center & Confraternity. Promoting devotion to the Rosary for more than 500 years.

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Rosarium Virginis Mariae

Rosarium Virginis Mariae

Letter from St. John Paul II about the importance of the Holy Rosary.

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From the Friars: Our Lady of the Angels

There is much debate and turmoil in New York City these days about rent control. St. Francis of Assisi founded his order in 1209 at the little church of Our Lady of the Angels. He did not want to own anything, so he agreed to pay the Benedictine monks who owned the property rent of one basket of fish per year. This same amount is paid to this day. The Feast Day in honor of Our Lady of the Angels, aka the Portiuncula, is August 2nd. It is not celebrated liturgically this year because it falls on Sunday but should be remembered during this Franciscan Jubilee Year.

Being one of the three churches he personally rebuilt, St. Francis loved the Portiuncula above all other places in this world. There he received his vocation as a mendicant preacher, founded his order under the inspiration and protection of Our Blessed Mother, received St. Clare into the consecrated life, gathered the friars every year at Pentecost, and there he gave his soul back to God 800 years ago this year.

St Francis Experimenting a Vision of Jesus and Mary with several angels around them

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In July of 1216, St. Francis was praying at Our Lady of the Angels when he saw a vision of Jesus and Mary with a multitude of angels. They granted him the extraordinary favor that anyone who visited that little church would be granted a plenary indulgence. The saint went to the Pope confident that he would approve what Our Lord had promised. This seemed extremely unlikely since at that time the only way to gain a plenary indulgence was to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land or Santiago de Compostela. But convinced it was God’s will, Pope Honorius III approved the indulgence on August 2, 1216.

Cardinal O’Malley gave a good explanation of an indulge, which is not forgiveness of sin but the remission of temporal punishment due to sin. During his youth, he once came home very late. His mother forgave him because he was repentant but made him wash the dishes as a punishment. As he was doing the chore, his grandmother came in to help him. This is an indulgence.

By the way, the original name of the city of Los Angeles, CA was “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Portiuncula River.”

God bless you.
Fr. Peter