Pauline was born 10 years after the French Revolution had trampled the doctrine, dogma and devotion of the Church underfoot. The revolution, lauded by the secular world in the name of liberty, equality and fraternity, brought much selfindulgence, cruelty, inhumanity and godlessness into the world. It sought to extinguish the light of Christian truth.
The Living Rosary Association was founded by Pauline in 1826 to save the Church in France. It was born of Humility, Obedience and Immolation. Pauline Jaricot was a victim soul who, beauty, radiant charity and overflowing serve the suffering, was advised by her spiritual director to separate herself from the world and live a contemplative life.
She enclosed herself for three years inside the walls of her home where she prayed, read and suffered in loving obedience and patient resignation. The fruit of those three years of isolation and martyrdom was The Living Rosary Association. It was formally approved and richly indulgenced by Pope Gregory XVI, and accorded canonical status on January 27, 1832.
The Living Rosary Association was her inspired plan to restore the reign of Christ the King to France and the entire world. Her plan, quite simple and within the reach of all, was that of “Prayer-Penny-Propagation."
Pauline’s triune plan embraced all that was Catholic. Regardless of station in life or financial means, all could participate.
People throughout history have failed to understand the power of association. Satan, however, understands well the almost limitless power of association. The assemblies of the wicked derive their power, their strength, from the secret ties and oaths that unite their members. By association, these satanic forces spread division and disorder. That is their goal.
For 20 centuries, the Earth has been the battleground, situated as it is between Heaven and Hell. For 20 centuries, good and evil have struggled for dominion over this “middle earth.”
Jaricot understood intuitively the strength and the power of association. So it was that "The Living Rosary Association" was conceived. "We will be united in prayer with all of the peoples of the universe," she once said. "Let us form a group of 15 souls which will consist of the good, the mediocre, and those who simply have only good will; 15 coals: one well-lighted, three or four partially lit, the others with no warmth at all. Bring them together and you have a furnace!"
Pauline Marie Jaricot took her mission to the factories, where she assembled the workers, prayed a decade of the Rosary, and collected a penny for the apostolic works of the Association. Good Catholic literature was distributed in order to combat the voluminous writings of error in her day. By 1831, membership in The Living Rosary in France grew to 200,000. By 1837, some l,000,000 were members, and 2,000,000 had joined before her death.
The prayer of the Rosary (often ridiculed then as now, many complaining that he Rosary is repetitious and childish) is mankind’s greatest spiritual weapon — the rampart against which the forces of evil have no defense. It is the most highly indulgenced and recommended prayer. It is a weapon “without: equal” that will crush the enemies of Holy Mother the Church, and finally bring peace to our very sick world.
"There is nothing more excellent than that numerous voices pray without interruption from all parts of the world, simultaneously lifting up supplications to the Blessed Virgin Mary as they meditate on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary," Pope Led XIII once said. "Many Christian nations seek the protection of the Mother of God with an ardor that grows greater every day; may they cling more and more to the practice of the Holy Rosary, not only as a remedy for their misfortunes, but as the very badge of Christian piety! The Rosary is the protection of the Mother of God against the enemies of the Catholic Church. To Mary we must fly. We wish to see it offered more widely in all places and at all times! The great Virgin of the Rosary is the most potent help of Christians."
As in the time of Pauline, the Church in the 20th century was betrayed by many of her own servants, and continues to he betrayed in the 21st century! She (Holy Mother Church) is attacked by her servants as well as by her enemies. Our Blessed Mother appeals to all men to "Pray the Rosary" and to unite in prayer against the powers of darkness which are bent upon the destruction of the Catholic religion.
The Living Rosary is not a new devotion but a continuation of the Rosary preached by St. Dominic and announced by our Blessed Mother for centuries. In these days of confusion, evil, chaos and modernism, the Living Rosary can be a mighty force in every family because the Holy Rosary is a gift to us from the Queen of Heaven.
On December 8, 1986, Richard and Patricia Joann Melvin (married for 31 years), in an effort to honor St. Philomena and win her favor, began a revival of Pauline Jaricot's Living Rosary ministry. With great hope, 30 people were gathered to pray a daily decade for the common intention: The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the honor of St. Philomena. By September of 1987, 300 members had been enrolled. The Living Rosary started a small periodical in 1987 entitled Dedicated Decades, a copy of which was sent to the principal shrine of St. Philomena in Mugnano, Italy.