Read this book and learnall about the greatest heroes of the rosary in Church history, prepare yourselfto join their ranks, and respond to the challenges of the present age by taking up the spiritual sword of the rosary!
Internationally known speaker and author Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, loves Our Lady and her favorite the rosary. But he's not the only one! Throughout the life of the Church, many men and women have become great saints and helped change the course of human history by the power of the rosary. In 26 Champions of the Rosary, Fr. Calloway presents the outstanding heroes whose trusting dependence on Our Lady and her rosary have brought peace and divine help to the world.
Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, a convert to Catholicism, is a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
Before his conversion to Catholicism, he was a high school dropout who had been kicked out of a foreign country, institutionalized twice, and thrown in jail multiple times. After his radical conversion he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, M.Div. and S.T.B. degrees from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, and an S.T.L. in Mariology from the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, Ohio.
This book starts with the originator of the devotion to the rosary, St. Dominic, and covers champions through the centuries all the way up to Pope Benedict XVI. Each story is just a few pages long and ends with numerous quotes attributed to that particular person. At the end of the book there are step-by-step directions of how to pray the rosary, including all four sets of mysteries. As an author, I appreciate the research that Fr. Calloway put into this book. A couple things that stuck with me after reading this is the most reverent way to pray the rosary is on your knees and that all of us should be praying at least one rosary every day to truly benefit from this powerful prayer and the intercession of the Blessed Mother.
Prepare for Spiritual Warfare!!! Prepare for change!!!!
Let me first say that I am not an avid reader of books. I have a huge collection of books that I have not fully finished. I met Fr Calloway in February of 2020 at a Catholic Men’s conference. At the conference I purchased (with guilt oof adding more books to my collection without reading them) No Turning Back & Consecration to St Joseph. I listened to him speak of his conversion from juvenile hoodlum to priest.
After speaking about the consecration to St. Joseph (which I highly recommend) he turned his attention to the rosary. His words are still echoing in my ears telling us that we live in a world engulfed in spiritual warfare. Beginning with the attack on moral values and marriage, children with no fathers or moral influences, pornography, drugs and human trafficking; we are locked in a battle with dark forces led by Satan. Since that time I have just completely finished my 3rd book and ordered a 4th.
The good news is that we have a spiritual weapon that has proved effective throughout the course of history. The 26 Champions of the Rosary takes us through the presentation of this spiritual weapon to St. Dominic and the history of some of the many saints and clergy who have championed its use to end wars, fight heresy, change hearts and provide family stability.
Each of the 26 chapters begin with a brief biography, continued with the history of their Marian devotion and then followed by their role as a Champion of the rosary. Each chapter ends with quotes of rosary importance and use of the rosary made by or about the champion. Each chapter can be read a day at a time if you’re not an avid reader as myself. The book ends with the promises of the use of the rosary and the validation that the rosary is not a string of repetitive prayers but a love poem to the mother of our Lord and our savior. It is a view of the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary.
Let me finish by saying that I was raised Catholic, I received a rosary at my first communion, went through 12 years of Catholic school. I had a collection of rosaries in my night stand that found their way to the bottom of the drawer. I’m not going to say that I thought the rosary was for old people but maybe just for other Catholics. I try to say a rosary every other day but learned that many of the champions often said just a decade whenever they could when “life got in the way”. This once Jewish mother has pointed me closer to her son. Prepare for change.
I can say that I read this amazing book and put it to practice and it has brought miracles and blessings to my life that I contemplate writing a book on the rosary. I can say that the rosary draws you away from sin to the sacraments. For all those skeptics try it out for a week and prove it to yourself. So get those beads and fight for your Self and your family.