Silver Rose History

A Higher Purpose
Share the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and promote respect for life by participating in this meaningful pilgrimage. The Silver Rose program demonstrates the unity between Knights of Columbus in Canada, the United States and Mexico, through a series of prayer services promoting the dignity of all human life and honoring Our Lady.

Overview
Each year, from early March through mid-December, the Silver Roses are stewarded by Knights of Columbus councils along routes from Canada to Mexico. Every stop the Silver Rose makes throughout the pilgrimage is a rosary-centered occasion for Knights, parishioners and community members to pray for respect for life, for the spiritual renewal of each nation, and for the advancement of the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A Short History

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose has been a Knights of Columbus tradition for 58 years. In 1960, groups of Columbian Squires in Mexico, Canada and the United States decided to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe by carrying a rose across North America from Canada to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico. In 2001 Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, at the 119th Supreme Council Meeting in Toronto, addressed the effort in culture of life terms, referring to the Our Lady of Guadalupe - One Life, One Rose Program. He urged that it be expanded to every North American jurisdiction. In recent years the program has expanded to eight silver roses traveling the western, central, and eastern corridors of North America, with Knights of Columbus from Canada to Mexico carrying the roses from destination to destination, and finally to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico.