Une Minute avec Marie
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Mary Fiorito, the Cardinal Francis George Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, shares her story about how and when she learned the rosary.
“Like many women, when I hit my mid-20s, I had anxiety about my future. Religious life had crossed my mind, but how was I to be sure it was for me? What about marriage? I had dated a fair bit, but had not met anyone special. During that time, I became friends with a Dominican nun named Sister Natalie. She gave me a gift, a little booklet entitled The 54-Rosary Novena. “I said this right before I entered the Dominicans,” she explained. “I asked Our Lady to help me know for sure this was what God wanted from me. I never missed one day — and I got the assurance I needed.”
Thinking, “It couldn’t hurt,” I began in earnest. Then I missed a day, so I started over again. And quite out of the blue, I was asked out to dinner by a young man at my office — on a Wednesday morning, for a Saturday evening date. Having been cautioned by a friend that I should not be “too available” on such short notice, I replied I wasn’t free, but the following weekend was open. What I didn’t realize then was that the following Saturday was Day 54 of my 54-day Rosary novena. That young man and I have now been married for 26 years!”