Feast of our Lady of the Rosary
Today the Church commemorates the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary. For us Dominicans especially the sons of the Holy Rosary Province, it is a day of great rejoicing and gratitude.
The Virgin has been the inspiration of a long line of missionaries who left their countries to preach the Gospel in the Far East. Their zeal for souls and their great love for Christ and for the Christian faith even led many of them to offer their lives as martyrs.
This year the Rosary solemnity has another dimension as we celebrate 150 years of our presence in Hong Kong. In 1861, the Province decided to transfer the Procuration House to the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in order to better serve the missions in the Far East. In 1935, the first Dominican Studium Generale in the Far East was founded at Rosaryhill, Hong Kong. Saint Albert's Priory became not only a house of Studies but also a formation house. This great institution though short lived was to be the cradle of many Dominican vocations that would be dispersed in the missions in the region and would later grow and evolve into indigenous Provinces.
When the Studium Generale was transferred to Manila in 1958, the Province decided to transfer the Priory into a School and thus the Rosaryhill School in 1959.
With the foundation of the Philippine Province in 1971, the Provincial Curia which had always been in Santo Domingo Convent Manila had to give in to the new Province. The Holy Rosary Province then decided to transfer the curia to the Procuration House in Kowloon Tong.
In 2004, The Province decided to reopen formation houses in the Far East to accept young men willing to share the common vocation and life as sons of Dominic. Thus the International Novitiate was once again established in Hong Kong. This was later transferred back to St Albert's Priory in 2009.
Filled with hope, we look forward with confidence and courage for the future. We thank the Virgin for her constant help and intercession and we pray that she would always keep us faithful to our vocation and our serve the Church in fidelity.

Queen of the Rosary... pray for us!