The Franciscan Crown Rosary Comes To Our Fraternity

At our Fraternity Council Meeting Saturday, we voted to say the Franciscan Crown Rosary at our May 3 Fraternity meeting.

I was given a Franciscan Crown Rosary years ago, but I have never used it, and, to be honest, was not too familiar with how to use it.

The Franciscan Crown Rosary, or as it is also known, the Rosary of the Seven Joys, has seven decades instead of the traditional five. Each decade focuses on a particular joy from the life of Mary. The Seven Joys are:

1) The Annunciation
2) The Visitation
3) The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ
4) The Adoration of the Magi
5) The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple
6) The Appearance of Christ to Mary after the Resurrection
7) The Assumption and Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven 

You pray it  little differently than the regular Rosary. You start by stating the first Mystery and then praying one Our Father and ten Hail Marys while meditating upon it. This same procedure is then followed for the other six Mysteries. In a regular Rosary we add the Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer at the end of each decade, but with The Franciscan Crown Rosary these are not required. At the end of the Franciscan Crown Rosary you generally add two Hail Marys in honor of the 72 years that Our Lady is said to have lived on earth, and one Our Father and Hail Mary for the intentions of the Pope. 

Apparently the Crown Rosary can be traced back to the early 15th century. There was a pious young man who had a devotion of adorning a statue of Mary with a crown of flowers that he had woven. But then he entered the Franciscans Order, and for some reason he was no longer able to continue this devotion. He considered leaving religious life and returning to the world, but Our Lady reportedly appeared to him and convinced him not to leave the order. She told him that instead of  adorning her statue as he used to do he should honor her in a different way. Instead of a crown of flowers, he was to weave a crown of prayers, and these prayers could be offered at any moment. She then taught him the Rosary of the Seven Joys, adding that these prayers would not only form a more acceptable crown, but they would also yield graces for himself and others. 

This devotion soon spread over the entire Franciscan Order and was officially established in 1422.

I have noticed that a number of Fraternities pray the Franciscan Crown Rosary. And in May 2019, it will spread to our Fraternity.

Pax et bonum