The Franciscan Crown

Happy Immaculate Conception, everyone!

Tonight at ND, I finally consecrated myself to the Virgin in a mass held by Maximillian Kolbe's Knights of the Immaculatta. It was a beautiful mass- a Franciscan priest here on campus at ND gave it in Latin!

Afterwards, I trekked through the snow to my beautiful Mendoza College of Business Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, where I prayed the Franciscan Crown. What is the Franciscan Crown, anyway?

Well, in the 15th Century there lived a wealthy young man who loved to give a statue of Mary a wreath of flowers. When he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he didn't have any more money with which to buy the flowers for the statue, and he became despondent. At one point, he was even questioning his own vocation and began to cry. Miraculously, Our Lady appeared to the young man and asked him, "why are you crying?" He told her it was because he no longer could give her the flowers, an act which gave him much spiritual fulfillment.

Thus, Our Lady told the young man, "Do not be sad and cast down because you are no longer permitted to place wreaths of flowers on my statue. I will teach you to change this pious practice into one that will be far more pleasing to me and far more meritorious for your soul. In place of the flowers that soon wither and cannot always be found, you can weave for me a crown from the flowers of your prayers that will always remain fresh and are always available. Recite one Our Father and ten Hail Marys while recalling the seven joys I experienced. If you recite these prayers as I have directed, rest assured, dear son, you will weave for me a most beautiful and acceptable crown and will merit for yourself innumerable graces."

The novice began at once to pray as directed. Meanwhile, the novice master entered and saw an angel weaving a wreath of roses and after every tenth rose he inserted a golden lily. When the wreath was finished, he placed it on the youth's head.

The master then commanded the youth to tell him what he had been doing; and the novice explained he had been saying the rosary as the Blessed Virgin had instructed him to do.
As a result, the custom of reciting this crown of seven Our Fathers and 72 Hail Marys, in honor of the 72 years which our Lady lived on earth, became widespread.