The Order of Preachers, commonly known as Dominicans, will soon be celebrating the 800th Jubilee of their approval by Pope Honorius III in 1216. In anticipation for this milestone, the Order has dedicated a website to the event and developed ways to celebrate that will incorporate all members of the Dominican family, including those in cloisters.

One way in which all members of the Dominican family will be able to celebrate is the year-long Rosary Pilgrimage which each monastery within the Order will participate. During the Rosary Pilgrimage, each monastery worldwide will be assigned two days to observe in a special way the holy rosary in whatever way each monastery chooses.

Mother Mary Joseph of the Dominican Monastery of St. Jude said that the Order has been praying a nine year novena in preparation for this 800th Jubilee. She also sees the timing as very fitting because, “When Pope Francis announced the special Jubilee of Mercy for 2016, we saw this as a Providential correspondence, since the proclamation of God’s Mercy is at the heart of the ‘complete evangelization of the word of God’ which is at the heart of our Order.  Our Friars, Sisters, and Laity are to preach this to the world, while we cloistered nuns are supposed to live it out in our own lives as an example of the fullness to which God calls all people.”

The Rosary Pilgrimage is an appropriate celebration of the 800th Jubilee as tradition holds that Our Lady gave the rosary to St. Dominic, “in times particularly dangerous for the Catholic cause.” (Pope Leo XIII) It is also fitting for cloistered Dominican nuns to celebrate by praying the rosary because St. Dominic first founded a community of cloistered women to pray for the Order before establishing the male branch. The prayers from the cloistered nuns today will continue to empower all of the Order as it celebrates its 800th jubilee.