Published in Greenwich Time on Monday, March 9.
Greenwich faithful organize Rosary sessions for peace amid coronavirus anxiety
GREENWICH — The faithful are invited to pray the Rosary together in a Greenwich church in an effort to bring peace to a world full of panic and anxiety over the coronavirus.
The Rosary will be prayed for the victims of the disease and all who suffer from fear and anxiety over the pandemic. The prayers will be held at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Roch Church in the Chickahominy section of Greenwich.
Organizer Mikel Amigot, a Greenwich resident, hopes the idea will catch on regionally, nationally and internationally. He said it is the first in a series of rosaries dedicated to the spread of coronavirus nationwide.
“It’s a simple initiative,” Amigot said Sunday. “We don’t know the reach yet. We just want to see what happens.”
The Rosary is a Scripture-based prayer practiced by some Roman Catholics, who use a string of knots or beads to count the prayers. The prayers that make up the Rosary are arranged in sets of 10 “Hail Mary” recitations, called decades. Each decade is preceded by one “Lord’s Prayer” and followed by one “Glory Be.”
During the recitation of each set, thought is given to one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which recall events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Five decades are recited per Rosary.
The repetition in the Rosary is meant to lead one into restful and contemplative prayer, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Amigot invoked Sister Lucia dos Santos, who once said that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.
“Because of the moment, with all this craziness, the panic and anxiety, when things look like they cannot be solved, we say, as Sister Lucia said, the Rosary is the solution,” Amigot said. “We invoke the Virgin Mary, and we’ll see what happens.”
