The Rosary in Honor of Saint Philomena
The rosary also known as the chaplet or Little Crown of Saint Philomena is made up of red beads to signify her martyrdom and white beads; a token of her virginity and purity.
This Rosary is one of the simplest ways of praying to the Saint.
First the creed is recited on the Crucifix or medal of St Philomena; to ask for the gift of faith.
Then three Our Fathers on each of the white beads; to thank the Blessed Trinity for the gifts given to the Holy Virgin, for in whose honor, laid down her life.
The red beads are thirteen in number and signify the 13 years our martyr lived on earth, and this prayer is recited on each bead:
Hail, O Holy Saint Philomena, my dear patroness. As my advocate with thy Divine Spouse, intercede for me now and at the hour of my death.
Saint Philomena, beloved daughter of Jesus and of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.
Conclude with…
Hail, O Illustrious Saint Philomena, who so courageously shed thy blood for Christ, I bless the Lord for all the graces He has bestowed upon thee, during thy life, especially at thy death, I praise and glorify Him for the honor and power with which He has crowned thee, and I beg thee to obtain for me from God the graces I ask through thy intercession. Amen.
Santa Filomena
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Whene'er a noble deed is wrought,
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts, in glad surprise,
To higher levels rise.
The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.
Honor to those whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,
And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low!
Thus thought I, as by night I read
Of the great army of the dead,
The trenches cold and damp,
The starved and frozen camp,--
The wounded from the battle-plain,
In dreary hospitals of pain,
The cheerless corridors,
The cold and stony floors.
Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
And slow, as in a dream of bliss,
The speechless sufferer turns to kiss
Her shadow, as it falls
Upon the darkening walls.
As if a door in heaven should be
Opened and then closed suddenly,
The vision came and went,
The light shone and was spent.
On England's annals, through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song,
That light its rays shall cast
From portals of the past.
A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.
Nor even shall be wanting here
The palm, the lily, and the spear,
The symbols that of yore
Saint Filomena bore.
Santa Filomena was first published in The Atlantic Monthly magazine in the very first issue, November 1857
