St Apollonia, Patron Saint of Dentists and Teeth Problems

St. Apollonia is the patron saint of dentists.  This was a piece of information I learned in 2005 when I was traveling with my husband to attend an International Dental conference in Baltimore.  It was then that we visited the National Museum of Dentistry.  Upon entering we came upon a large stained glass window depicting St. Apollonia and under her picture it stated she was the patron saint of dentists and her feast day is February 9th.  This was a surprised to both my husband and I as this is my birthday and I am a dentist.  At that phase of my life, I was just finishing residency training in endodontics and was looking forward to a career practicing dentistry.  As it would turn out my path would not lead far from this beautiful saint as the specialty office I joined was under a general dentist's office named: Apollonia Dental. 

A little over a year later I would find that practicing dentistry was no longer possible through a series of joint dislocations in my hands and a new diagnosis of a genetic condition affecting the joints among other things.  As my professional career as a practicing endodontist came to an early end I found myself often thinking of St. Apollonia.  It seemed a wonderful consolation to me that although I had a short career treating patients maybe my career path had somehow been blessed from the beginning.  Through wonderful blessings from Our Lord and the intercession of St. Apollonia despite the deterioration of my hands I still am able to teach part-time in the Endodontic Division at our State Dental School.

Not a great deal is known about St. Apollonia but it is believed that she suffered torture which included blows that broke her teeth.  Yet despite such cruel torture St. Apollonia refused to renounce her faith.  She was martyred in 249.  She is also considered the patron saint of dental disease. 

(credit) Jean Fouquet: The Martyrdom of
St. Apolllonia

As the Feast of St. Apollonia is on February 9th it seemed a perfect time to begin a novena to her for our Children's Rosary intention. I invite others to pray to her as well.  This is an old prayer to St. Apollonia for her intercession:

0 Glorious Apollonia, patron saint of dentistry and refuge to all those suffering from diseases of the teeth, I consecrate myself to thee, beseeching thee to number me among thy clients. Assist me by your intercession with God in my daily work and intercede with Him to obtain for me a happy death. Pray that my heart like thine may be inflamed with the love of Jesus and Mary, through Christ our Lord. Amen. 0 My God, bring me safe through temptation and strengthen me as thou didst our own patron Apollonia, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Prayer to St. Apollonia, a Catholic prayer card.)

The Children's Rosary intention is included below.  Tonight I will begin a 9 day novena to St. Apollonia all are welcome to join as well.

May the Children’s Rosary, their families, those associated with the Children’s Rosary including our priests, our Bishop, our Holy Father the Pope be the extended hands of Our Blessed Mother and her Son.  May we gather a great many souls especially young people for the Lord.  May we experience renewal of family prayer and spread it across the globe. In a special way we ask Saint Apollonia to choose an individual, family, or priest associated with our Children’s Rosary group to lead in their spiritual journey.  Dear Saint pray for our extended group that we may embody the virtues you exemplified here on earth. Amen.

Both images taken from Wikimedia commons (free media repository)

"Without Humility There is No Holiness" Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Children's Rosary held at the Missionaries of Charity Convent

These were the words Bl Mother Teresa spoke to her sisters.  She would go on to tell them, "Let humility be your strength".  

Prayer and suffering help us to develop this virtue of humility which is integral to progressing in holiness.  It has been my experience that suffering can be a very great gift as it begins to open ones eyes to the reality of our weakness and inability to control things in our lives.  Prayer coupled with suffering opens the heart to the understanding that we are completely dependent on God.  Acknowledging our complete dependence on God for everything is the wonderful blossoming of humility.  The more one embraces this dependence the less one worries, because worry in itself is to think we control things.  

It is beautiful that Bl. Mother Teresa speaks of humility as being a strength. For St. Paul speaks in the same way "for when I am weak then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)

More and more the children and the little in spirit seem to have the wisdom of what Our Lord is calling us to.  Some time ago a little child age 6 told me that the Children's Rosary is important because it shows God we trust in Him.  Indeed to come and kneel in prayer of the Rosary is to acknowledge that we need God.  Instead of doing something else we give our time to Him.  We contemplate His life and pray for the strength to follow in His example.  

Last Sunday we had the first meeting of the Children's Rosary at a Parish named after Bl. Mother Teresa.  This Parish is a sister Church and located relatively close to our established Children's Rosary group at Assumption Church in Nairobi Kenya.  This new group will be meeting each Sunday.  
Over the next week we have many Children's Rosary groups meeting.  Please consider joining them in prayer either in person or from your home.  The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.

Friday January 30th
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's School in Orange TX 7:05 AM CT
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Saturday January 31st
Children's Rosary of St. Michael the Archangel Parish and held in the Kibera slum in Langatta Nairobi Kenya 10 local time
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's Church in Corvallis Orgon 12 PM PT
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at the Daughters of Charity Convent in Bridgeport CT 2:30 PM ET
Sunday February 1st
Children's Rosary at Our Lady and St. Patrick's Church in Nottingham, England 9AM local time  (4AM ET)
Children's Rosary at Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Nairobi, Kenya 6 AM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Luke's Church in Ogallala, Nebraska at 8:30 AM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, CT 11AM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Trinity Church in Harlan Kentucky 11:30 AM 
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lago Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Bernard Church in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania at 2PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Anthony Church in Lorain, Ohio 3PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Children's Rosary at St. Joachim Parish in Madera, California 5:30 PM ET
Children's Rosary at Assumption Church in Umoja, Kenya 2PM local time 
Children's Rosary at Immaculate Conception Church North Delta, British Columbia 6PM ET
Monday February 2nd
Children's Rosary at Our Lady of Grace Home for Children in Meru, Kenya at 10 AM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Trinity Academy in Shenandoah, PA 12:20 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Family Church in Gladstone Michigan 4:30PM  ET
Children's Rosary at St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac, New York 4:30 PM ET
Children's Rosary at Rose of Mystica House in Edmeston, NY 4:30 PM ET
Tuesday February 3rd

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Redeemer Parish in Menominee, Michigan 6PM EST

Children's Rosary at St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross ub Lawrenceberg, Indiana 6:30 PM ET

Wednesday February 4th

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET

Thursday February 5th
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
The Children's Rosary at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Brentwood, California will meet at 6:30 PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Children's Rosary at St. Martin Church in Kingsville, Texas will meet at 6:30 PM

First Meeting of the Children's Rosary at Immaculate Conception Church

A new Children's Rosary will meet today at Immaculate Conception Church in Shelbyville, Ilinois.  It is beautiful to see each new Children's Rosary group form.  Each one is a special gift from Our Lord.  

At the first meeting of each new Children's Rosary, the group is Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. In this way the group is under the protection and guidance of Christ and His Mother.

Please consider joining the children in prayer today at 4:30 PM CT.  The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.

May We Be One

"I am praying for them" (John 17:9)

Indeed we know that Our Lord is praying for us but what is His prayer?  This too he shares with us:

"Holy Father keep them in thy name, which thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:11)

Indeed the Children's Rosary seeks to joined children together around the globe in prayer of the Rosary.  A prayer that allows each of us to ponder and contemplate the life of Our Lord.  
Through faithful time in prayer, Our Lord allows us to see that our world is actually very small indeed. Children are children whether they be in Singapore, Africa or here in the USA.

In an effort to continue to share our faith we have a wonderful opportunity. Recently a women named Maria contacted the Children's Rosary.  She had stumbled on our site and felt moved to reach out.  She wanted to feature the Children's Rosary on her blog.  In speaking with her she shared that she is originally from Mexico and was named after Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She is now a dressmaker in California.  As she speaks Spanish I mentioned that we are trying to reach out to the Spanish community and that we have a Spanish website www.rosariodenino.org  

After visiting our Spanish site she wrote us with a very generous offer.  She wanted to give the Children's Rosary a gift.  She wanted to offer one child per month for Feb, March and April 2015 the opportunity to pick one item free from her website.  Her site features beautiful dresses and boys suits from small sizes through teens.  The link provided is to the first communion section of the site but she also has many other things. Maria was very generous indeed as she indicated that the chosen child per month could choose any one thing on her website and she would ship anywhere in the world.  

After prayer and reflection this is how we would like to choose the recipient of this beautiful offer.  We would like to invite all children who are a part of the Children's Rosary to send in a drawing of a mystery of the Rosary.  Each month will have a theme:

February Annunciation
March Resurrection
April Descent of the Holy Spirit/Pentecost

Each child who submits a picture will be entered in a drawing.  There will be three drawings one per month.  Three children total will be selected. We would also like to highlight some of the drawings submitted on our Children's Rosary website so please only submit if you are comfortable with your drawing being featured.  Please include in pencil on the back the child's first name, city and state with country and child's age. Please also send us your email address so we can contact you if your child is chosen.

The deadline for submission is:
Annunciation drawings Feb 25th
Resurrection drawings March 25th
Pentecost drawings April 25th
One can include in the submission all three pictures and the child will be entered each month.
Please send pictures to

Children's Rosary 
PO Box 271743
West Hartford CT 06127 USA
or if you live outside the United States and postage would be a hardship, pictures done by a child can be scanned into a jpeg format and emailed to contactchildrensrosary@gmail.com
If you live outside the US and one does not have access to a scanner one can take a digital picture of the child holding the drawing and mail it to contactchildrensrosary@gmail.com

Example of artwork sent previously to the
Children's Rosary "Nativity"

Different mediums are encouraged for the hand done pictures of the mysteries: crayon, marker, watercolor, paint etc.  White or colored paper would be wonderful.  We truly would like to see how children from all around the world envision these beautiful mysteries.  To see into the eye of children praying around the world is a blessing indeed.  Paper size approximately 8.5 x 11 inches. 

Regarding how one defines a member of the Children's Rosary.  This would be any child who attends a Children's Rosary prayer group or a child who has told the Lord in his heart he would like to be a part of the Children's Rosary and has unified prayers with one of our groups when they are meeting.  We usually have a schedule of when groups are meeting up each week on this website.

Other Posts you may enjoy:
St. Apollonia
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Start the New Year By Blessing Your Children

Mass Offered Today for Members of the Children's Rosary

Children's Rosary at St. Patrick's Church
 in Tacoma, WA 

A Mass was offered today by the Capuchin Friars for all the members of the Children's Rosary and all those who help the Children's Rosary.  We continue to have a Mass said for the this intention on the 25th of each month. The Eucharist is such a powerful gift from Our Lord and that when I wanted to extend thanksgiving to you all I knew of no better way to express my gratitude.  May Our Lord's love be poured down on all of you this day through the powerful sacrifice of the Holy Mass. 

Thank you all and God Bless you!

"Make Friends with Angels.." St. Francis de Sales

“Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.”- St. Francis de Sales

This is one of my favorite quotes of St. Francis de Sales.  This may be as a result of my fondness for the angels. 
I began a deeper friendship with the angels several years ago on my daily walk to Mass.  It became a routine to pray the Chaplet of St. Michael during this quiet walk to Mass.  My prayer always included asking them to protect my family and also the Children's Rosary.  Recently I have also asked them to attend all our Children's Rosary meetings around the world.  If there is ever space present in a chapel or Church that is not taken I humbly have asked that the space be filled with angels.

Over the next week please consider joining the children in prayer of the Rosary.  The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.
Friday January 23rd
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's School in Orange TX 7:05 AM CT
Children's Rosary at St. Mary's School in Pontiac, IL at 9AM CT 
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Saturday January 24th (Memorial of St. Francis de Sales)
Children's Rosary of St. Michael the Archangel Parish and held in the Kibera slum in Langatta Nairobi Kenya 10 local time
Children's Rosary at St. Michael's Church in Garden City, South Carolina 10:30 AM ETChildren's Rosary at St. Mary's Church in Corvallis Oregon 12 PM PT
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at the Daughters of Charity Convent in Bridgeport, CT 2:30 PM ET
Sunday January 25th
Children's Rosary Group at Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Nairobi, Kenya (First Meeting)

Children's Rosary at Our Lady and St. Patrick's Parish in Nottingham, England 9AM local time (4AM ET)
Children's Rosary at Assumption Church in Umoja, Kenya 7AM ET

Children's Rosary at St. James Church in Madison, GA 10:30 AM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, CT 11AM ET

Children's Rosary at St. John the Evangelist Hopkinton MA 11:15 AM ET

Children's Rosary at St. Patrick's Church in Tacoma, WA 11:30 AM PST

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET

Children's Rosary at the Daughters of Charity Convent in Bridgeport ,CT 2:30 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Anthony Church in Lorain, Ohio 3PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament
Monday January 26th
Children's Rosary at Our Lady of Grace Home for Children in Meru, Kenya at 10 AM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Trinity Academy in Shenandoah, PA 12:20 PM ET
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Family Church in Gladstone Michigan 4:30PM  ET
Children's Rosary at St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac, New York 4:30 PM ET 
Children's Rosary at Rose of Mystica House in Edmeston, NY 4:30 PM ET

Tuesday January 27th

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
Children's Rosary at Holy Redeemer Parish in Menominee, Michigan 6PM EST

Wednesday January 28th

Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate Lagos, Nigeria 1PM ET 

Children's Rosary at Immaculate Conception Church in Shelbyville, Ilinois 4:30 PM CT (FIRST MEETING)
Thursday January 29th
Children's Rosary at St. Augustine Church in Iba Estate, Lagos Nigeria 1PM ET
The Children's Rosary at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Brentwood, California will meet at 6:30 PM ET in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Children's Rosary at St. Martin Church in Kingsville, Texas will meet at 6:30 PM

Little Ones Helping Others From Around the World

Recently an email came from a mom and her 7 year old son.  They were interested in helping the Children's Rosary by making rosaries.  The timing was perfect as we had just sent out several boxes of rosaries to our Children's Rosary groups in Kenya at Christmas time and our supplies were low. In writing back to this lovely mom and her son, I asked where they were located and the response came as a surprise.  She wrote we are from Southeast Asia-Singapore to be specific.  

Even though we have groups sprinkled around the globe reaching all the way to Australia I am always taken aback when I receive a note from someone so far away from where we live in Connecticut USA.  Indeed Our Lady and Our Lord have a way of making the world feel very small.  

Today an email comes with pictures of the rosaries that have been made and the little man behind much of the work.  The rosaries were sent out today to the Children's Rosary. It is a beautiful thought to contemplate a child somewhere in the world meeting in a Children's Rosary prayer group holding a Rosary that was made on the other side of the world. What connects these children is a love of Our Lord and a desire to be the moving hands of Our Lady and her Son.  Whether making rosaries or using them to pray we are helping to further the Kingdom of God right here, right now.

If you would like to help the Children's Rosary by making a donation to help our work this can be done online or donations can be mailed to us.  These donations help to cover the expense of shipping materials and providing materials to Children's Rosary groups that cannot afford them around the world.  Donations can be made out to Children's Rosary Inc. and mailed to: 

Children's Rosary  
PO Box 271743 
West Hartford, CT 06127
Donations can also be made online Here.

  

Donations of used or new rosaries are always welcome and can be sent to the address above.  We recommend one uses packaging that cushions the Rosaries when they are mailed to avoid damage.
Thank you all so much.  As a special thank you please know that all our Children's Rosary groups pray for those who help the Children's Rosary in any way.  We also have a monthly Mass offered for members of the Children's Rosary and those that help the Children's Rosary on the 25th of the month..  Thank you all and God Bless!