Because so many of you pray the Rosaryfor the Holy Souls in Purgatory, you will beinterested to read Fr. Donald Calloway’s newbook on the Rosary — Champions of theRosary: The History and Heroes of a SpiritualWeapon — a history of the Rosary from its founding by St. Dominic in the 12th

century to the present day. In his book, Fr. Donald explains that

the Rosary is a spiritual sword given to St. Dominic — also the founder of theDominican Order — to combat the greatheresy of his time, called “Albigensianism.”The Albigensians were a “puritanical sect”who taught that “spiritual realities weregood and everything material was evil.”Father Donald writes that, according to thedoctrine of the Albigensians, “each person’ssoul is imprisoned in an evil body.” But theirdoctrine flies in the face of revealed truth,especially regarding the Incarnation —because Jesus has both body and soul,therefore the body cannot be evil.

Saint Dominic needed to find a way topreach against this heresy and to bringCatholics back to the proper understandingof their faith. But he found that his preach-ing was not bearing fruit, so in 1208, he wentinto the forest in Prouille, France, and askedOur Lady to help him. After three days ofprayer, Our Lady did indeed help him. Andshe told St. Dominic that, although hispreaching was heroic, he should also preachher Psalter, or the Hail Mary. She told himthat it was the Hail Mary that would givehis preaching the power it needed to changethe souls to whom he was preaching. FatherDonald writes:

The Queen of Heaven informed him:“Wonder not that until now you [St.Dominic] have obtained so little fruit

by your labors; you have spent them on a barren soil, not yet watered withthe dew of divine grace. When Godwilled to renew the face of the earth, he began by sending down on it thefertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation.Therefore, preach my Psalter.”

This was the founding of the Rosary, Fr. Donald writes, and it was the “momentthat this [spiritual] sword was unsheathed.”

What differentiated St. Dominic’spreaching of the Marian Psalter from earlierMarian devotions was that the mysteriesof Christ’s life, death, and Resurrectionwere now attached to the Hail Marys.Father Donald continues, “Meditation onthe mysteries became the very soul of thenew Marian Psalter. Prayerful meditationon the mysteries gave the Marian Psalterthe power to change people’s hearts.”

One of the things St. Dominic quicklydid to bolster this new devotion was to

found Rosary confraternities — essentiallyprayer groups centered on the Rosary — ashe and his brother friars traveled from townto town preaching the Gospel and teaching the Rosary.

One of the modern-day outgrowths of theConfraternity of the Rosary is the Legion ofMary. Founded in the early 20th century byServant of God Frank Duff, the Legion ofMary is a “spiritual army” that prays theRosary daily. In fact, Fr. Donald writes in hisbook that the Rosary has been so prominentin the Legion of Mary that “it also went bythe name of the ‘Army of the Rosary.’”

When I was a pastor of a parish, one ofthe first things I decided to try was toform a Legion of Mary group. The ideawas to gather lay people and send themout in pairs to every single house in theneighborhood — sort of canvas the neigh-borhood to see where the Catholics lived.

Dear Members,

VOLUME 7, NUMBER 9 †† SEPTEMBER 2016PrayForSouls.org

Continued on reverse !

ForSake

H e l p i n g S o u l s To H e av e n

Heaven’s

When I first started out in one particularparish, we had 700 families, but only 200of those families were active members. So,I wanted to do a census of the area and seeif there were Catholics in the parish whomight have left the parish because of afamily situation, such as a divorce or adivorce and remarriage. Legion of Marymembers would identify fallen-awayCatholics such as these and help catechizeinactive members in such situations, letting them know that just because theyare divorced doesn’t mean they can’t receivesacraments. And, to inactive members whowere divorced and remarried, our Legionof Mary members would let them knowthere was still a place for them in theparish — that although they may not beable to receive Communion, they couldstill come to Mass to pray and be part ofthe parish community. So the Legion ofMary members were Catholic evangelistsin a sense, reaching out to the lost in the

neighborhood and explaining that they canstill be members of the Church.

Legion of Mary members also helped to identify shut-ins in our neighborhood — those who could no longer get to Massbecause they were ill or too frail to get there.Members would ask shut-ins if they neededrides to Mass on Sunday, or, if they couldbring Communion to them. I know some-one in that particular parish who is still visiting shut-ins 27 years later. She goes tothem every week to distribute Communionand visit with them, except for First Fridayswhen the priest visits them.

Legion of Mary members pray theRosary daily, so they are among the best people to teach others to follow suit. We should all take a page from St.Dominic and encourage fellow parish-ioners, family, and friends to pray theRosary daily, particularly for the HolySouls in Purgatory, but also for the members in the parish who are getting

confirmed, for the catechumens who willenter into the Church at Easter Vigil, orfor the couples in the parish who will begetting married this year.

This is the heart of the Fatima message.While going to daily Mass is the ideal forthose who can, it would not be practical foreveryone. That's why Mary did not insistthat we go to Mass every day, but she didask us to pray the Rosary every day, becausesaying a daily Rosary is possible for almosteverybody. You can pray the Rosary as anindividual. You can do it as a family. It’s theperfect prayer of the Church. In fact, manypopes have endorsed the Rosary as the sec-ond best prayer after the Mass.

Do like St. Dominic did and preachMary’s Psalter. Preach and teach OurLady’s Rosary.

For Heaven’s Sake • Helping S ouls To Heaven September 2016

Father Dan Cambra, MIC

As a patron of the Holy Souls Sodality, you are committed to helping the Holy Souls to Heaven through your daily prayers and sacrifices. This isone of the greatest acts of charity because they cannot pray for themselves. The Marian Fathers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy offera daily Mass for the Holy Souls and for your intentions. You receive this newsletter, published by the Association of Marian Helpers, to deepen

your devotion to the Holy Souls and to offer you ways to encourage your family and friends to assist the Holy Souls in Purgatory.Holy Souls Sodality, Association of Marian Helpers,

Eden Hill, Stockbridge, MA 01263 Editor: Joan Lamar ● 1-800-462-7426 ● email: holysouls@marian.org

Visit us online at PrayForSouls.org for additional resources or membership information.© 2016 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.

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UNITE WITH THE VIRIGIN MARY AND PRAY FOR THE HOLY SOULSMany people worry that there will be

nobody to pray for them, should they findthemselves in Purgatory. When we thinkabout our loved ones who have died, weshould pray for them. Or we can pray forsouls who are not being prayed for, soulswho died without the knowledge of God or the knowledge that our souls live on.

Grandparents should start to teach theirgrandchildren to pray the Rosary for theHoly Souls in Purgatory and hand on totheir grandchildren this idea that even whenwe die, our souls live on — but they maynot be in Heaven yet. They continue to need our prayers. Andthe perfect gift from grandparents for their grandchildren toaid this effort is a Holy Souls Rosary.

When one prays using this particular set of rosary beads,one begins by praying the first decade on the black beads, con-scious that the soul is in Purgatory. This is a place of darkness.

And as you pray the Rosary, you move intothe dark gray beads, then to the light gray,and finally to the white beads, conscious ofthe fact that, by our prayers, the souls arebeing released from darkness and given thelight of the Holy Spirit.

When we talk about Purgatory, some-times people will talk about the fire ofPurgatory. We have to remember that thefire of Purgatory is really the fire of theHoly Spirit, purging us of that which is not already perfected in Christ. And this fireis of a metaphysical nature, not a harming

nature, the same kind of fire that brings dross out of metal. So, by praying the Rosary, we are uniting ourselves with theVirgin Mary, but also with all others who consecrate them-selves to the Blessed Virgin Mary and her holy Rosary.

To order an Holy Souls Rosary, visit ShopMercy.org or call1-800-462-7426 (Product Code: AI-HRS1).