By Sr. Sara Kowal, SCTJM

It is probably fairly certain that you have heard this famous phrase: “The family that prays together stays together.” However, do you know its origins?

The famous (and true!) slogan came from Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, often referred to as “the rosary priest.” Fr. Patrick was born in Ireland in 1909 to a devout Catholic family who faithfully prayed the rosary every evening together as a family. His desire for the priesthood germinated in his early childhood. When he was 18 years old, he decided to immigrate to the United States, where some of his other siblings had already moved. Before his departure, his father asked him the following: “Go down on your knees and make me a promise here before the picture of the Sacred Heart. From now on there will be nobody but yourself to advise you and to decide for you. But your first responsibility will always be to save your soul, and so I want you to promise to be faithful to Our Lord in America.”

When Patrick was 20 years old, he and his brother Tom both joined the Holy Cross Fathers at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, in the hopes of becoming religious priests. However, when he was 29, he was diagnosed with an advanced case of tuberculosis and given little chance of survival. A priest friend encouraged him to ask Our Lady for a miracle: “What she asks for and insists on she obtains. She has never failed anyone who had recourse to her with faith and perseverance. Since you have your faith, why don’t you use it!”

Patrick complied, asking Our Lady to heal him, and on October 31, 1939 she did. He recounts, “She didn’t forget that ever since I had been a little child and could open my mouth, I had used that power to say the Rosary; so when I needed her friendship, she was glad to give it to me.” He came away also convinced that he was healed for a purpose: to foster in the heart of others devotion to Our Lady. Two years later he was ordained. Of his ordination day he relates, “That day I gave my heart and soul in love to Mary.”

Over time, a dream began to grow in his heart — to reach 10 million people and get them to commit to saying a family Rosary. He knew the only way at the time to reach this many was through radio. He convinced a non-Christian woman at the national radio to air his Rosary program — but only if he could get a big star to join him. He made a cold call to Bing Crosby, who was convinced by the sincerity of the young priest and agreed. His first nationally broadcasted radio program, on May 13, 1945, featured Bing Crosby, President Truman, Archbishop Spellman, and the Sullivan family (who had lost 5 sons in the war) all praying the Rosary. Fr. Peyton begged people to pray the family rosary and to pray for peace, famously quipping, “A world at prayer is a world at peace.” The program garnered the largest following of any radio program by that broadcasting company to date!

In the years to come, Fr. Peyton became a well-known figure in Hollywood and had hundreds of Hollywood stars take part in his 22-year-old radio program. “The family that prays together stays together” became the famous motto of the star-studded program. Radio eventually gave way to television and included stars like Grace Kelly, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. One of his productions included 15 films – one for each mystery of the rosary – a gift he desired to give Our Lady on the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Despite his international success in both film and radio, Fr. Peyton was not satisfied. He wanted to reach more families, especially internation ally. In 1948, he began his first rosary campaign and rally in the Diocese of London, Ontario. The rally was a great success, at which 80,000 families (95% of the diocese) pledged to pray the family rosary. This became the first of 540 rosary rallies that he conducted all over the world. The largest one in Spain was attended by 2.5 million people. His message at the rallies was simple: family unity comes through family prayer — “The family that prays together stays together.”

After years of tireless work for the Lord and Our Lady, Fr. Peyton passed away in California on June 3, 1992. His last words were, “Mary, my Queen, my Mother.” Fr. John Murphy, C.S.C, eulogizing Fr. Peyton said, “Father Pat was unique, he was charismatic, he was seemingly tireless, and in his lifetime, he did more to inspire devotion to Our Lady and the Rosary than anyone in history.” His cause for canonization was opened in 2001, and he was declared Venerable on December 18, 2017.

Ten years after the death of Fr. Patrick in 2002, St. John Paul II called for a “Year of the Rosary,” promulgated an encyclical on the Rosary, and gave the Church the gift of the Luminous Mysteries. In that encyclical (Rosarium Virginis Mariae), he gave three reasons for these initiatives: there is a crisis of the Rosary (not enough people are praying it), there is a crisis of peace, and there is a crisis in the family. Just like Fr. Peyton, the pope believed that “only an intervention from on high” would solve these deep crises of our time.

During this month of May we would be remiss not to return to this great well-spring of grace, the Rosary (and particularly the family Rosary). Countless saints have reminded us throughout history that the Rosary is the most powerful prayer after the Sacraments. Our Lady herself asks for the prayer of the Rosary in virtually all her apparitions: in Fatima, her request for a daily rosary is the only request that she repeats in every one of her six appearances. Fr. Peyton dedicated the entirety of his life to encouraging families to pray this powerful prayer together. It is as if he instinctively understood the crisis of the family that was impending in the future.

May we not ignore this treasure. May we open our hearts to the call of so many men and women in the history of the Church, inviting us to use this “weapon” to protect our spiritual lives, our families and our nations. How many miracles have come about through the recitation of the Rosary! May this be an encouragement today for you and your families to commit to praying the Rosary. Will it be easy? Might there be resistance? Yes, it is likely that you will encounter various obstacles in taking up this powerful prayer and devotion. However, will it be worth it? Yes, it will. And we can be certain that Fr. Patrick will aid with his intercession any family that endeavors to do so because he, above all, knows its importance: “The family that prays together stays together.” Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, pray for us. For those interested in knowing more about the story of Venerable Fr. Peyton, please visit: www.fatherpeyton.org.