WASHINGTON — Thousands of Catholics who gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday got a head start on the approaching month of the rosary by participating in a daylong event featuring prayer and talks centered on the power of the Marian prayer.
The fourth annual Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage drew an estimated 3,000 people, with tens of thousands of others joining via livestream broadcast.
Hosted by the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph, the event included opportunities for joining in Eucharistic adoration and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation.
"Every year the pilgrimage grows. Every year, more people join us and every year those prayers are lifted up to heaven with greater enthusiasm," said Dominican Father Patrick Briscoe, promoter general for social communication of the Province of St. Joseph, which extends from New England to Virginia to Ohio.
"It's such a beautiful event," said pilgrim Lauren Rodriguez, who traveled from Miami. "This is the second time I've come and this year I brought my husband. I just thought it was so impactful to see so much beauty, prayer, and truth in the preaching. It's incredibly peaceful for as many activities that there are throughout the day."
In preparation for the event, an estimated 100,000 Catholics participated in a nine-month novena, beginning on Jan. 31 and ending on Sept. 26, according to Dominican Father John Paul Kern, the St. Joseph province's executive director.
"I think Our Lady brings us closer to him and reveals something to us about her son in a very special way with him here at this event," Kern said.
Dominican Father Peter John Cameron, the event's principal speaker, described the rosary as a gift and a "chain that unites people to God."
"The rosary is something truly unique and indescribably precious," he told EWTN News. "Because more than just a form of prayer, the rosary is a relationship. The rosary is a dynamic experience of our sonship, of our daughtership, in God."
"For someone like me who's so busy, and so many people are busy, it's a day dedicated to prayer, to soak it in, receive the graces," Rodriguez told EWTN News. "You meet so many wonderful people from all over. It really is reaching so many people and touching so many hearts."
The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of October to the most holy rosary and celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7.
