Author: Lawrence Lew

When our church was being planned in 1873, shortly after the apparitions in Lourdes were approved, the intention was that this church, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and St Dominic, would become a surrogate Lourdes for Londoners, especially the sick, who could not get to France without considerable expense and difficulty. Being located near the Royal Free Hospital, this seemed an ideal location for a “Lourdes of London”, and so our church was designed with separate chapels for each of the mysteries of the Rosary, the first in world to be distinguished in this way and completed in 1883; the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes also has separate Rosary chapels but it dates to 1889.

The link with Lourdes continues with annual pilgrimages from St Dominic’s parish to Lourdes. This year, the 160th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to St Bernadette, a group of 26 travelled to Lourdes and made their pilgrimage there from 25-29 June. A large candle was lit in the new ‘Chapels of Light’ in Lourdes, burning for the intentions of the friends, benefactors, pilgrims, and parishioners who come to our church, London’s Rosary Shrine.

The Grotto of Massabielle in 1858 at the time of the Apparitions (above) and as it is now (below):

The Torchlit Rosary Processions in Lourdes are a beautiful way to honour Our Lady. Here in our Rosary Shrine, we have torchlit Rosary Processions every Saturday during the month of October, straight after the 6pm Mass.

Below, an excursion to Bartres, near Lourdes, where St Bernadette spent time as a shepherdess:

Blessing with the relic of St Bernadette at Bartres:

Reading of prayer intentions, followed by the Blessing of the Rosary Shrine candle (above), and the candle burning in the Chapel of Light in Lourdes (below): 

Father Thomas lights a candle in Lourdes for mothers who have lost a child (below):

Celebrating the birthday of two of our group in Lourdes:

We thank Our Lady for a beautiful pilgrimage to her Shrine in Lourdes, and we ask the Immaculate Virgin to pour out her blessings on her Rosary Shine in London, and on all who come and pray here. The next Rosary Shrine pilgrimage is currently being planned for June 2019, and it will take us to the Shrines of St Francis and St Padre Pio in Italy – watch this space!

Each year on the 24th of May, the Dominican Order marks “little St Dominic’s day” which is the feast commemorating the moving of St Dominic’s relics into its Shrine in Bologna. As a mark of the friendship between our holy fathers St Dominic and St Francis, there is a venerable custom of inviting a Franciscan friar to preach at the Mass of St Dominic. This year, we will welcome Fr Jacob Marie Hausman CFR, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal based in Canning Town, London. Sung Mass is at 6pm followed by a reception in the Priory.

Commencing this week, the Lady Chapel restoration will be proceeding, and the church’s sound system will be completely overhauled. In order for this work to be done as efficiently as possible, it has been necessary to make some changes to our Mass schedule, and daily morning Adoration will not be held until further notice:

Mon 2 April: Mass at 10am only. Church closed after Mass.
Tue 3 – Fri 6: Mass at 6pm only but on Thur 4 April, there is Adoration at 5pm as usual.
Sat & Sun schedule as normal; Pro-Life Mass & Guadalupe devotions on Saturday 7 April.
9 – 13 April: Mass at 7:30am & 6pm only (no 10am Masses).

Thank you for your kind understanding.

The Rosary Shrine had the joy of welcoming Dr Scott Hahn and his wife Kimberly last Friday, 16 March 2018. Dr Hahn was in London especially for this event: the inaugural Rosary Shrine lecture. A packed church of over 600 people listened to Dr Hahn’s talk entitled “Hail, Holy Queen: The Mystery of Mary in Scripture”. Combining light-hearted autobiographical anecdotes with a fluent exegesis of Scripture, Dr Hahn helped us to appreciate the profound Scriptural roots of Catholic doctrines of Our Lady, from her Immaculate Conception to her Assumption into heaven, and her Coronation as Queen.

At the end of his talk, Dr Hahn prayed for the Rosary Shrine and he said that he believed it would become a centre of Catholic culture and wisdom not only for London but for the whole country; a focal point for the New Evangelisation. Dr Hahn’s words certainly resonated with the hopes of the Dominican friars and of our parishioners who were present at the talk.

The talk was recorded by the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), and we will share the link to the video as soon as it is made available online. We are grateful to EWTN for this service, and we thank all who came and supported this event.

Forthcoming talks at the Rosary Shrine:

Fr Cassian Derbes OP (St Joseph Province Dominican based in Rome) will give Holy Week retreat talks after the 10am & 6pm Masses (Mon-Wed) and after the 10am Tenebræ service (Thu-Sat).

Fr Paul Murray OP (Irish Dominican author and teacher at the Angelicum in Rome) will give a talk entitled ‘Paradise on Earth: Early Irish Nature Poetry and the Canticle of Saint Francis’ at 7:30pm on Sat 14 April in the Parish Hall.

A Conference on the writings and thought of Fr Vincent McNabb OP on Sat 28 April (11am – 4pm) in the Parish Hall. This conference marks the 150th Birthday of McNabb. Talks will be given by Fr Aidan Nichols OP, Fr Richard Ounsworth OP, Fr Oliver Keenan OP, and Hugh Walters.

Pre-registration is essential for this Conference: email <[email protected]>.

The restoration of our Lady Chapel begins its final phase this week. We are grateful for your support and contributions that have made it possible for us to restore the ceiling and brick walls of the Lady Chapel, thus completing the works on this beautiful part of the Rosary Shrine church. The work will take about three weeks and during this time we endeavour to maintain access to the church via the Lady Chapel door. The daily Mass schedule is not affected by the works, although weekday Adoration will cease during this period. Adoration will, of course, resume once the works are completed.

We invite you to join us in a special Novena of Masses from 16-23 December 2017, celebrated at 7:30pm every night in that period. Known as ‘Simbang Gabi’ (meaning “Church-going at Night”), this is a much-loved Filipino custom that we are introducing at St Dominic’s. Come, join our Filipino community in these celebrations! Mass will be celebrated in English but the music for the Mass will be in Tagalog. Afterwards, there will be a sharing of Filipino foods in the parish hall.

In addition, the Filipino image of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag, home to the most popular Marian shrine in the Philippines, will be enshrined on the Sanctuary during the Simbang Gabi Masses. This statue was specially made in Manaoag for our Rosary Shrine, and it was a gift to us from the Dominicans who run the Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag.