A tradition at parishes staffed by Dominican friars is to distribute blessed roses at Masses on the first weekend of October when Rosary Sunday is observed by the universal Church. Each person who attends Mass is invited to the altar to receive a rose to take home. At. Somerset St. Joseph Church, where the Dominicans have a long history of service dating to the 1800s, roses were distributed by Father Andre-Joseph LaCasse, OP, the parish pastor, on Sunday, Oct. 5.
All weekend Masses in Somerset are currently being held at St. Joseph Church while Holy Trinity Church is being renovated. A rosary was also prayed nearby in a rosary garden at the site of the first Mass in Ohio. Father Donald Franks, a retired diocesan priest, joined Father LaCasse and parishioners for the rosary, a prayer that was given to St. Dominic, the founder of the order bearing his name, in a vision by the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1214. St. Dominic made it his mission to spread devotion to the rosary.
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