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Blessed Abbot Marmion chose Rosary Sunday for his reception of the Abbatial Blessing in 1909, and commemorated this event each year with a procession in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Here is an example to help you understand the efficacy of the Rosary. You remember the story of David who vanquished Goliath. What steps did the young Israelite take to overthrow the giant? He struck him in the middle of the forehead with a pebble from his sling. If we regard the Philistine as representing evil and all its powers: heresy, impurity, pride, we can consider the little stones from the sling capable of overthrowing the enemy as symbolizing the Aves of the Rosary.

The ways of God are entirely different from our ways. To us it seems necessary to employ powerful means in order to produce great effects. This is not God's method; quite the contrary. He likes to choose the weakest instruments that He may confound the strong: "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong -- Infirma mundi elegit ut confundat fortia" (1 Cor 1:27).

Have you not often met poor old women who are most faithful to the pious recitation of the Rosary? You also must do all that you can to recite it with fervour. Get right down, at the feet of Jesus: it is a good thing to make onself small in the presence of so great a God.

Dom Columba Marmion, Christ, the Ideal of the Priest

Declarations on the Holy Rule

It is customary among Benedictines to have Declarations on the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict as opposed to the Constitutions by which most modern Institutes are governed. Declarations follow the Holy Rule, chapter by chapter, adding, wherever necessary, a concrete application to life as it is today, or an adjustment to the text of the Rule. This means that there are 73 Declarations, one for each chapter of the Rule. In this way, the Rule of Saint Benedict remains the primary and indispensable reference for life in the monastery.

On Chapter 36

Our own Declarations, prepared for Silverstream Priory, are still taking shape. Nonetheless, we have this beautiful explanation of Chapter 36, Of the Sick Brethren. I was reminded of it today because I am laid low by illness and had to keep to my bed while Dom Benedict looked after my needs. With such good care I will be up and about quickly. Here is the text from our Declarations:

82. The community will show their sick brethren the most tender compassion in both word and deed. Believing that, save in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Our Lord is nowhere more present in the monastery than in the person of a monk brought low by infirmity, the monks will treat him with the greatest charity, making allowance for his weaknesses and bearing his

Blessed Abbot Marmion on the Rosary

Of the Sick Brethren