In 1960, the Columbian Squires, a youth organization of the Knights of Columbus, wanted to give Our Lady of Guadalupe a gift for her patronage of Mexico. They were in Monterrey, Mexico, and decided to run a rose to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe there. The rose commemorated St. Juan Diego and the miracle of the roses. The first rose was blessed by a bishop in London, England, and flown to New York followed by a trip to Texas. It was then presented by a KC in Laredo to the squires in Monterrey on the International Bridge.

 The effort was so successful the squires asked their counterparts in Texas and Ontario, Canada, to join them in the international endeavor. The first rose died between years and an attempt was made to make a bronze rose. The squires decided on silver because it was a precious metal in Mexico.

In 1961 the program became a joint operation of Texas and Mexico. Today, all three North American countries participate. In 2001, U.S. Supreme Grand Knight Carl Anderson said, this is “a perfect program for the Knights of Columbus. Through it, we honor not only Our Lady of Guadalupe and express the unity of the Order, but we also reaffirm the Order’s dedication to the sanctity of human life.”

This year the Silver Rose was handed to the  South Dakota KC Council during the middle of May and it continues to travel throughout the state to councils and parishes that signed up for the Silver Rose Program during the last state convention at the end of April. The South Dakota time will end, June 15, in Sioux Falls at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and St. Joseph Cathedral. The Silver Rose then travels to Iowa as it continues onward toward The Basilica in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Blessed Sacrament Church Knights of Columbus Council 8844, Rapid City, hosted a Silver Rose Program on Sunday, June 2. The program started in the church then concluded with a procession out across the parking lot, to the Memorial for the Unborn.

The St. Therese the Little Flower Knights of Columbus Council 8025 had a Silver Rose Program on the same day after the parish Corpus Christi benediction at Horace Mann Park.