Harassed by the Virgin of the Rosary!

Louis Francis Budenz, a prominent Communist activist in the United States, was born into a devout Christian home in the state of Indiana. At the age of 20, he left home for the love of a divorced woman. He then became passionate about social issues, embracing all proletarian causes. He organized workers' strikes and was arrested and jailed more than twenty times. From 1935 to 1945, he was editor of the Daily Worker, a newspaper published in New York by the Communist Party, and a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party of the United States.

One day in 1936, Budenz found himself face to face with Bishop Fulton Sheen (1) in a New York bar. Thinking that friendliness was the surest way to make a convert, Budenz confidently began using his great debating skills. But quite unexpectedly, the priest cut off his tirades and said, "And now let's talk a little about the Virgin Mary!"

This long hour of conversation about Mary brought back for a moment the peace he felt at his first communion, but his full return to the Church would take another 9 years, pressed on by the Virgin of the Rosary. "So many times," he confessed, sketching out his article for the newspaper, "I caught myself reaching into my jacket pocket for my rosary and praying Hail Marys!"

In reality, the priest's words had established a mysterious telepathy between his home state of Indiana and New York. Throughout these thirty years, his family had been praying the rosary on their knees in his childhood home, before the image of the Ecce Homo, saying its 50 Hail Marys each night. After reverting to his faith, the journalist wrote: "This is my story, which is a long journey of thirty-five years guided by the gentle star of Mary." The book is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

Source: converti par le chapelet en famille 

(1) Fulton Sheen was a Catholic bishop known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio.