Rosary Rallies from 1951
Throwback in Honor of the Month of the Rosary & Our 175th AnniversaryBishop Thomas J. McDonnell had a deep devotion to the Rosary and like the leader of the national Family Rosary Crusade of the 1940s, Fr. Patrick Peyton CSC, McDonnell believed wholeheartedly in the Peyton’s motto, “the family that prays together stays together.”
The two were friends, and in the fall of 1951, Bishop McDonnell invited Fr. Peyton to tour WV on a diocesan/state-wide Rosary Rally campaign.
The photos on this page record those prayerful events attended by hundreds if not thousands of Catholics in each city.
Bishop McDonnell was described as a true missionary, an evangelist and friend to priests, laity, and non-Catholics. A “herald of the gospel… who upon the mountains and in the valleys of this world preached the glad tidings of the Prince of Peace” (as quoted in his eulogy given by friend Bishop Richard Ackerman, of Covington, Ky).
Bishop McDonnell was appointed to serve the people in the Diocese of Wheeling as coadjutor bishop in 1951 for Bishop John J. Swint. He was added to the office of the bishop to assist with Bishop Swint’s duties and travel around the vast diocese.
(A little Canon Law lesson (403-407), a coadjutor bishop is like an auxiliary bishop except that he has the right of succession. When the Bishop (aka the Ordinary) resigns from office or dies, the coadjutor succeeds him. All offices of bishop – ordinary, auxiliary, and coadjutor – are considered successors of the apostles entrusted with the same office and authority our Lord entrusted to them.)
NOTE: the first photo is from Charleston Rosary Rally 1951:
On the makeshift stage at a Rosary Rally in Charleston in 1951, Fr. Patrick Peyton CSC (dressed in the black cassock and shoulder cape), led the faithful in a Rosary to strengthen families and the Church.
Bishop Thomas J. McDonnell is to the left of Fr. Peyton, and Fr. Frederick J. Schwertz, chancellor of the diocese, is left of Bishop McDonnell.
