This is the month of the Rosary and so it comes as a timely reminder to read from a new book about yet another modern Rosary wonder.
The book is With Mary to Jesus, by Father Joseph M. Esper, and in it is related that 'in 1978, the Rosary saved a college girl from dying at the hands of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy.
'He had just murdered or fatally injured all the other girls in a college sorority house, and then entered her room -- but some unexplainable force made him stop, drop his weapon, and flee.
'That particular girl had promised her grandmother she would pray the Rosary every night, and when Bundy entered her room, she was still clutching the Rosary beads in her hand.'
The date was January 15, the time approximately 3 a.m., when the horrific serial killer -- on the loose after a prison escape -- entered a sorority house and killed two sleeping women, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, before searching for other victims.
The unnamed girl awoke to a man standing over her with a bat. When she opened her hands, Bundy looked at the rosary beads in them, and fled, notes another account; such is the power of our Mother’s protective mantle!
This was related to a priest, Monsignor William Kerr, of Tallahassee, Florida, who was called by police to accompany them to the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University -- where the girl was found catatonic and in fact would only speak to the priest (who died in May of 2009). Monsignor in his turn had related it to a priest named Gabriel Gillen, OP.
When Monsignor Kerr approached the near-catatonic girl, she told him her grandmother had made her promise before going off to college for the first time that she would pray the Rosary every night before bed for protection, even if she fell asleep praying it -- which she had that night; thus, when he entered, the beads were still clutched in her hands.
Bundy eventually confessed to over thirty murders, although the actual total remains unknown, with estimates of twenty-six to over a hundred (the general figure set around 35). Typically, notes a web biography, 'Bundy would bludgeon his victims, then strangle them to death,' sometimes along with sexual assault.
'Ironically, when Ted Bundy was on death row, awaiting execution for his crimes, he asked Monsignor Kerr to serve as a spiritual counselor, and the priest took the opportunity to ask about that terrible night,' notes the book's reference section. 'Bundy explained that when he entered the girl's room, he had fully intended on murdering her; some mysterious power was preventing him.'
'There are very powerful promises attached to praying the Rosary,' notes Father Esper. 'And not only does it aid our own spiritual growth -- it also undermines the kingdom of Satan. The famous Vatican exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth testified, 'One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, 'Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end.'' Padre Pio, who called the Rosary an extraordinarily powerful weapon against Satan, once said, 'The Rosary is the weapon for these times.''
And so we pray.
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