Silver Rose Program

Action Steps

Identify a program chairman to oversee all action steps and delegate tasks, as needed. If coordinating with the parish, confirm pastor approval and recommendations on conducting a Silver Rose prayer service with grand knight, and then set up subsequent parish ministry collaboration meetings.
Working with your jurisdiction’s Silver Rose chairman, coordinate when your council is scheduled to receive the Silver Rose. (Information on routes for the Silver Roses can be accessed at www.kofc.org/rose.)
Contact your grand knight, financial secretary, or program director to order a good quantity of the Silver Rose Prayer Service Booklets (#4841) and Our Lady of Guadalupe Pledge Cards (#9754) through Supplies Online via Officers Online.
Identify council and parish members to fulfill the various roles required in the service.
Prior to the Silver Rose prayer service, use the News Release (#10722) as a model to create and distribute a tailored release to local media.
Build public interest for the event! Promote the Silver Rose in your parish and larger community through a variety of efforts:
• Prominently display promotional posters
• Bulletin announcements
• Pulpit announcements
• Posting on your council and parish website / social media pages
On the day of the event, consider wearing Knights of Columbus-branded apparel and have the council membership director bring brochures and membership documents (including Prospect Cards #921A). Do not forget that this event is a recruiting opportunity!
Enlist a fellow Knight or community member to photograph the event (i.e., the passing of the Silver Rose or the Silver Rose inside the church).
In keeping with the fraternal nature of our Order, strongly consider hosting a reception or other social event in conjunction with the prayer service celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and a culture of life in our world.
To gain credit for your program, complete the associated reporting forms.
• Immediately after your program is finished, complete the Fraternal Programs Report Form (#10784) • At the end of the fraternal year, complete the Columbian Award Application (#SP-7)

The Silver Rose returns to Arizona on Sunday, May 21, 2023 in Yuma,

making its way across Arizona before being transferred to New Mexico

on Sunday, June 18, 2023.

The Silver Rose will return to Arizona during October 2023.

WDD Roger Molieri is the Silver Rose Chairman.

Please contact him soon to reserve the Silver Rose for your parish.

Brother Roger can be reached at: skrogerm@gmail.com.

Thank you to Former Silver Rose Chairman Bob Julien

for his many years of coordinating the program in Arizona.

A Higher Purpose
Share the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and promote respect for life by participating in this meaningful pilgrimage. The Silver Rose program demonstrates the unity between Knights of Columbus in Canada, the United States and Mexico, through a series of prayer services promoting the dignity of all human life and honoring Our Lady.

Overview
Each year, from early March through mid-December, Silver Roses are stewarded by Knights of Columbus councils along routes from Canada to Mexico. Every stop the Silver Rose makes throughout the pilgrimage is a rosary-centered occasion for Knights, parishioners and community members to pray for respect for life, for the spiritual renewal of each nation, and for the advancement of the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Find out more

History behind the silver rose

by FDD Bob Julien, State AZ Silver Rose Chairman

In 1531, a Mexican peasant, by the name of Juan Diego, was walking to visit his sick uncle. While walking he was confronted by a mysterious lady. She told him to go to the bishop and tell him she wants a church built on the spot where they met. Juan Diego then went to the bishop and told him of the encounter. The bishop proclaimed he could not do that without a more compelling reason.

Juan Diego returned to his home by another route. On another walk, he again was confronted by the mysterious lady. Juan Diego told the lady the bishop explained he could not build a church based solely on the word of a peasant. The lady told Juan Diego to go to the top of the nearby hill and pick the flowers he found there. The flowers were magnificent roses. Nothing like them had ever grown in that region. He picked them, placed them in his tilma and returned to the lady. The lady arranged the roses and instructed Juan Diego to take the flowers, show them to the bishop and again tell him to build a church on this spot.

Juan Diego did as he was told. When in the presence of the bishop he opened his tilma. The roses fell to the floor. On Juan Diego’s tilma was the image of who we now know as Our Lady of Guadalupe. The bishop ordered the construction of the church to begin immediately.

In 1960 the Knights of Columbus began a program to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe by transferring a Rose from the U.S. to Mexico for the feast or Our Lady of Guadalupe. The program began with a single, natural rose, chosen to commemorate Juan Diego and the miracle of the roses in 1531. Since then, the rose has undergone several transformations from natural to wood, bronze and finally silver.

In 2001 Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, labeled the program "Running of the Rose", and adding to it 'One Life, One Rose', symbolizing the commitment of the Knights of Columbus to Our Lady of Guadalupe, for the spiritual renewal of each nation, and restoring respect for the sanctity of human life from conception until natural death.

There are currently eight Silver Roses traveling throughout North America, three of which will make their way every year to the Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica in Monterey, Mexico.

FDD Bob Julien, Former Arizona Silver Rose Chairman