Hundreds Gather on Bond Quad to Pray the Rosary
Notre Dame hosted its 75th annual Father Patrick Peyton Rosary Rally on September 7, filling Bond Quad with hundreds of attendees for an afternoon of Marian devotion. The rally included a solemn procession of a Marian statue, reflections from Holy Cross priests and Catholic entrepreneurs, and the recitation of the Rosary.
At the beginning of the rally, Father Pete McCormick, C.S.C., Vice President of Campus Ministry, greeted the crowd. He explained the significance of the history of the Rosary Rally, saying, “This year marks the 75th anniversary of Father Patrick Peyton’s first Rosary Rally here at the University of Notre Dame. That rally in 1949 drew 35,000 people. But it was only the beginning. Father Peyton, a Notre Dame alumnus and Holy Cross priest, founded Holy Cross Family Ministries, and went on to lead Rosary rallies that drew a total of 28 million people worldwide.”
“Fr. Peyton would not want today’s spotlight to be on himself,” Fr. McCormick continued. “He would say that it is Mary, the Mother of God, who has gathered us here. That is why our theme is the mission of Our Lady, which is to draw us into a deeper relationship with her son, Jesus Christ.”
Alex Jones, founder and CEO of the Hallow prayer app and Notre Dame alumnus, gave the rally’s keynote address. “Everything in life tends to come back to the simplest things, the things you’ve heard 1000 times,” Jones opened. “God is with you. He loves you. Go to Mass, pray the Rosary.”
“I used to think prayer was just all about ecstasies and visions and mystical experiences, but it’s not really about those things,” Jones continued. “It’s just about love. Not love for what you do, not love for what you’ve accomplished, just love—no matter what you’ve done. Prayer is about sitting and letting the Lord love you, letting Him fill you so much that you really have no choice but to go and share it with the world.”
Jones then described how the Rosary in particular has affected his life. Thanks to the guidance of a spiritual director, Jones shared, “I started to fall in love with our Lady and with the Rosary.”
Such devotion for the Rosary, he said, is shared by many on the Hallow app. “Of the 100,000 prayers we have on the app, what is the most prayed?” he asked. “The Rosary. Nothing today even comes close to those four little audio files we recorded seven years ago, where over 100 million rosaries have now been prayed. All glory be to God and Our Lady!”
“Please, please, pray the Rosary,” Jones exhorted the crowd, “The world needs it. Saint Carlo, and Pier Georgio, pray for us!”
After Jones concluded his remarks, the rosary began. Each decade was prefaced by a short meditation, and led by members of the community.
One of the Rosary leaders, Notre Dame senior Martha Cleary, later told the Rover, “It was just beautiful to have all three of the tri-campus universities represented, and to have so many families and people from the South Bend community participate.”
During the second decade, a family of seven came to the podium. As a baby clutched her mother’s arm, two boys, in matching blue shirts, changed places around their father, while their sister clung to her mother’s skirts. Directly afterwards, a small boy led the third decade, praying “Padre Nuestro” in a timid voice.
At the conclusion of the Rosary, seminarians from the Congregation of Holy Cross united the crowd in song once more by singing the latin chant Salve Regina.
Afterwards, President of Holy Cross Family Ministries Father Fred Jenga, C.S.C. addressed the crowd. “Brothers and sisters,” he remarked, “The mission Fr. Peyton founded has never been as urgently needed as it is right now, in our times. Family life has become missionary territory.”
Fr. Jenga continued, “Our key message is that ‘the family that prays together, stays together,’ and ‘a home at prayer is a home at peace.’ When we allow God to become an active part of our families, especially through family prayer, these are the fruits of the graces that we ask to come into our families and our homes.”
The Very Rev. Mark A. Gunther, J.C.D., Vicar General of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, offered a final blessing, followed by an outdoor time of fellowship.
When asked why she decided to attend the Rosary Rally, a young mother, Angela, told the Rover, “I’m here to help pass on the love of the Rosary. I thought, ‘What a beautiful thing to gather here today, and to give my children an opportunity to pray with other people outside.’ The Rosary has been so powerful for our family through the generations and I wanted to pass that along to them.”
Auxiliary Bishop of Chosica, Peru, Bishop Arthur Colgan, C.S.C., also testified to the familial nature of the Rosary Rally. “Many years ago, I had the grace of meeting Fr. Peyton. I remember being moved by his holiness and his devotion to Mary, and the wonderful work that he has done in promoting the prayer of the Rosary and family prayer,” he said.
Juan Lawas, a Notre Dame senior and president of the on-campus Marian devotion group Militia Immaculata, commented, “As a president of the MI, I’m a huge proponent of the Rosary. It was so beautiful just to see so many people praying to Our Lady and moving culture in such an intimate fashion.”
Alex Jones, in an interview with the Rover, offered his concluding thoughts on the rally, saying, “The Rosary has changed my life, so anything I could do to help encourage folks to pray and follow the mission of Our Lady is such a blessing and a privilege.”
Elizabeth Mitchell is a junior majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies and theology. When she’s not enjoying golden hour near the lakes (hopefully to Fleetwood Mac) or singing with the Magnificat Choir (hopefully not to Fleetwood Mac), she can be found vigorously raving about her latest philosophical fascination or procrastinating on her editorial duties by reading Substack posts about the beauty of writing. To join her in such pursuits (or to complain about her excessive use of parentheses), email Elizabeth at emitche8@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Image by the Irish Rover
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