“A Rosary Congress will never work, Father! Not here! People will not come to the Basilica in the middle of the night for Adoration and the rosary. It’s too dangerous and irresponsible!”

Those were some of the objections I heard in the Fall of 2017 as I planned to host the first Rosary Congress at America’s First Catholic Cathedral in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. As the city’s murder count was skyrocketing, I told my people, “Only Jesus can help this city. We need Him. For one week, we will open our doors for 24/7 Eucharistic Adoration, hourly recitation of the Rosary, special Masses and talks. Watch what Our Lord will do!”

I went full steam ahead in planning this Congress. My one worry: would I have enough people to cover all the hours for Adoration? With days to go before we launched, I still had many hours in the middle of the night open. No adorers.

One young adult in the parish (who was very successful in the business world) felt sorry for me as I continuously pleaded for adorers. He took many of the “open hours” -- agreeing to come in from Midnight to 3 or 4 or 5 in the morning. With his generosity, we made it. The Congress began and all the hours of adoration were covered. For the first time in known history, the Basilica was open every hour day and night for one whole week.

Cries of “It’ll never work,” were hushed. People were drawn to the holy.

Not only did hundreds of people get to pray, experience the Mass, go to confession, participate in a Marian procession and listen to a great speaker, but they also saw a couple miracles…

For most days of the week, there was not a single murder in the City of Baltimore. This was so “miraculous,” that the Baltimore Sun (the main secular newspaper of Baltimore) took note and came to the Basilica to see what was happening. I jokingly told my parishioners that I considered this the “second great miracle of the Sun associated with Our Lady!” (The first, of course, being the dancing of the Sun on Oct. 13, 1917 at Fatima!)

Not only did the violence in the city decline that week, but that young man who took all of those late- night adoration hours experienced a miracle of his own. In those quiet hours alone with Our Eucharistic Lord, he heard the great High Priest calling him to the priesthood. And while it took several years to respond to this call, respond he did! He quit his high-paying job in the city and entered the seminary. He recently began his 3rd year of formation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Needless to say, another miracle happened as well. My parishioners couldn’t wait for the next Rosary Congress! Every year I was the rector, we hosted a full Rosary Congress at the Basilica. The miracles from these graced weeks are too many to count now—but I will tell you about some of them. Before I do, though, you need to know that the Basilica parish is tiny. On a weekend, we had about 300 people (not families...people) attend Mass. And yet, because of the great devotion we all had to Mary and the Eucharist I would argue that, pound for pound, we were one of the mightiest parishes in the archdiocese.

In just a few short years, the Basilica had four men studying for the priesthood, three young women enter religious life and countless marriages—holy marriages. We had thousands of confessions. And we cultivated a great love for the Eucharist and the Mass—so much so that on May 31, 2021 the impossible happened…

On the Feast of the Visitation (which also happened to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of the Assumption), the Basilica opened its doors for Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. We became the first parish in the history of the city of Baltimore to host perpetual adoration. Just as Mary brought Jesus to Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea over 2000 years ago, so now she was bringing Jesus to the people of Baltimore.

This is the greatest fruit of the Rosary Congress: Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.

To conclude, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one more grace: a personal grace. At my final Rosary Congress as Basilica rector, I began hearing God calling me through Mary to enter her order—the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In so many words, I heard Mary saying to me (then and later in the year), “I want you to adore Jesus for the rest of your life on my mountain.”

On August 14, 2022 I entered the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Currently I am a postulant—learning to love Jesus and Mary in the silence of Mt. Carmel.

All of this is the fruit of the Rosary Congress. Praise be Jesus Christ!

May the Peace of the Lord be with you,

Fr. James Boric