Being Saved by the Rosary Runs in the Family

On August 3rd, 2010, the Telegraph reported that "Guardsman Glenn Hockton, 19, asked for a rosary to take with him before being deployed to Afghanistan on a seven-month tour of duty with the Coldstream Guards in Helmand Province."  Little did he know it would save his life.  He dropped the rosary, reached down to retrieve it only to find himself atop a ;and mine.It's enough to drive a man to prayer, I tell you.  He had to stand, very still mind you, for three quarters of an hour while his mates got him out of that rather sensitive situation.

This could become a family tradition.  Hockton's great-grandfather, Joseph Sunny Truman, served in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers during World War II. Having been captured, he and other prisoners of war were being marched ahead of the Allied advance.  As Hockton's mother tells it, "He was walking across a field with half a dozen of his platoon....He bent down to pick something up and was the only one to survive a sudden bomb blast. He had picked up a rosary."

This year, 2017, being the hundredth anniversary of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, is a great time to brush off those beads.  We are in a special time.  May 13th, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, was the anniversary of Mary's first appearance in 1917. This October 13th will be the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun during her last of seven appearances. John Paul the Great was convinced that Our Lady played a role in preventing his death from Mehmet Ali Agca's assassination attempt. Agrca shot him on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima in 1981. Agrca, an agent of the Bulgarian KGB, shot the pope four times.  Usually when the Russians send one of their client country's agents, these professionals know where to shoot.