Knights bringing Silver Rose to Diocese

One of five silver roses traveling through North America to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and encourage respect for life is to be in the Worcester Diocese Sept 8-19.
The rose coming here is a new part of a Knights of Columbus program. The program is called “Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose – One Life, One Rose.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and of the unborn.)
The program uses roses because of the importance of roses in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to Robert Haran, treasurer of St. Bernard’s Knights of Columbus Council #13455 at Our Lady of Providence Parish in Worcester. When she appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, she had him pick roses and show them to the bishop, who sought a sign before believing the apparitions. When Juan Diego deposited the roses before the bishop, her image was on his tilma.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe had done so much for her people in Mexico that, in 1960, the Columbian Squires, the official youth organization of the Knights of Columbus, wanted to give something back to her,” says a history of the Silver Rose Program on the website www.runningoftherose.org.
They decided to run a rose to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico, and invited the Squires from Laredo, Texas, and London, Ontario, to participate. The Canadian Squires asked to start the relay there, go through the United States and finish in Mexico.
The bishop in London blessed the rose, which was flown to New York and ultimately taken to Laredo, where it was given to the Squires from Monterrey at the International Bridge. They ran the rose to their basilica on Dec. 12,  the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The natural rose could not be used the next year, so a bronze rose and a silver one were made, silver because it is one of Mexico’s precious metals.
The first “Silver Rose” was sent to New Haven, Conn., the Knights’ international headquarters. Both were sent over the International Bridge to Monterrey.
After 1961, Knights conducted the program until the mid-1990s, when it was adopted as a Supreme Council program which grew to encompass three routes, then four.
This year, for the first time, there is a fifth route – a New England one – the website says. The New England Rose will not travel to Texas, but on Dec. 12 wind up at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, the Knights’ birthplace.
The website says efforts to establish a sixth route, which may be used next year, are under way.
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said this is a perfect program for the Knights.
“Through it we honor not only Our Lady of Guadalupe and express the unity of the Order, but we also reaffirm the Order’s dedication to the sanctity of human life,” he said. “It is to the Blessed Mother that we turn in prayer as we work to end the Culture of Death that grips our society.”
Through this program, the Massachusetts Knights also want to show support for the Church, bishops, priests, deacons and religious, said Deacon Joseph M. Baniukiewicz, a deacon of the Worcester Diocese. He is an aide to the Knights’ state chaplain, Bishop Robert F. Hennessey, auxiliary bishop of Boston, and to the associate chaplain, Father Robert D. Bruso, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fitchburg.
The Knights said they invite everyone to participate by attending the services where the New England rose will be present. Following is the schedule in the Worcester Diocese.
The rose is to be on display at 1 p.m. Sept. 8 at St Anthony of Padua Church, 84 Salem St., Fitchburg, during the Installation of State Officers of Massachusetts Knights of Columbus. It will remain on display until 2:45 p.m.
There is a prayer service at 7 p.m. Sept. 9, at St. Anthony’s.
A private presentation about the Silver Rose is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at St. Anthony Elementary School, across from the church. That program is not open to the public.
There are prayer services at 7 p.m. Sept. 11, 12 and 13 at Our Lady of Providence Parish at St. Bernard Church, 228 Lincoln St., Worcester.
The rose is to travel Sept. 14.
There is a prayer service at 11 a.m. Sept. 15 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 7 East Main St., Milford.
The rose is to be at Masses at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 and 9 a.m. Sept. 18 at St. Augustine Church, 15 Lincoln St., Millville.
There is to be a Mass at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at St. Mark Church, 356 Boston Road, Sutton.
After that the rose leaves the Diocese to continue its journey through New England.
Deacon Joseph M. Baniukiewicz 508-753-5019
Bob Haran 508.852.0551
New Haven: 800-524-3611 (8-4:30 M-F), MA: 781-551-0628 I left mes)
St. Anthony Sch - open to public? Parish Contact Person: Michael Malanson, Phone: 978.660.4203)


One of five silver roses traveling through North America to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and encourage respect for life is to be in the Worcester Diocese Sept 8-19.
The rose coming here is a new part of a Knights of Columbus program. The program is called “Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose – One Life, One Rose.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and of the unborn.)
The program uses roses because of the importance of roses in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to Robert Haran, treasurer of St. Bernard’s Knights of Columbus Council #13455 at Our Lady of Providence Parish in Worcester. When she appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, she had him pick roses and show them to the bishop, who sought a sign before believing the apparitions. When Juan Diego deposited the roses before the bishop, her image was on his tilma.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe had done so much for her people in Mexico that, in 1960, the Columbian Squires, the official youth organization of the Knights of Columbus, wanted to give something back to her,” says a history of the Silver Rose Program on the website www.runningoftherose.org.
They decided to run a rose to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico, and invited the Squires from Laredo, Texas, and London, Ontario, to participate. The Canadian Squires asked to start the relay there, go through the United States and finish in Mexico.
The bishop in London blessed the rose, which was flown to New York and ultimately taken to Laredo, where it was given to the Squires from Monterrey at the International Bridge. They ran the rose to their basilica on Dec. 12,  the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The natural rose could not be used the next year, so a bronze rose and a silver one were made, silver because it is one of Mexico’s precious metals.
The first “Silver Rose” was sent to New Haven, Conn., the Knights’ international headquarters. Both were sent over the International Bridge to Monterrey.
After 1961, Knights conducted the program until the mid-1990s, when it was adopted as a Supreme Council program which grew to encompass three routes, then four.
This year, for the first time, there is a fifth route – a New England one – the website says. The New England Rose will not travel to Texas, but on Dec. 12 wind up at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, the Knights’ birthplace.
The website says efforts to establish a sixth route, which may be used next year, are under way.
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said this is a perfect program for the Knights.
“Through it we honor not only Our Lady of Guadalupe and express the unity of the Order, but we also reaffirm the Order’s dedication to the sanctity of human life,” he said. “It is to the Blessed Mother that we turn in prayer as we work to end the Culture of Death that grips our society.”
Through this program, the Massachusetts Knights also want to show support for the Church, bishops, priests, deacons and religious, said Deacon Joseph M. Baniukiewicz, a deacon of the Worcester Diocese. He is an aide to the Knights’ state chaplain, Bishop Robert F. Hennessey, auxiliary bishop of Boston, and to the associate chaplain, Father Robert D. Bruso, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fitchburg.
The Knights said they invite everyone to participate by attending the services where the New England rose will be present. Following is the schedule in the Worcester Diocese.

The rose is to be on display at 1 p.m. Sept. 8 at St Anthony of Padua Church, 84 Salem St., Fitchburg, during the Installation of State Officers of Massachusetts Knights of Columbus. It will remain on display until 2:45 p.m.
There is a prayer service at 7 p.m. Sept. 9, at St. Anthony’s.
A private presentation about the Silver Rose is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at St. Anthony Elementary School, across from the church. That program is not open to the public.
There are prayer services at 7 p.m. Sept. 11, 12 and 13 at Our Lady of Providence Parish at St. Bernard Church, 228 Lincoln St., Worcester.
The rose is to travel Sept. 14.
There is a prayer service at 11 a.m. Sept. 15 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 7 East Main St., Milford.
The rose is to be at Masses at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 and 9 a.m. Sept. 18 at St. Augustine Church, 15 Lincoln St., Millville.
There is to be a Mass at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at St. Mark Church, 356 Boston Road, Sutton.
After that the rose leaves the Diocese to continue its journey through New England.