For about a year before our little shrine at St. Xavier High School was built, I was Brother Sylvan's stenographer and clerk.   I treasure the memory.
     Across the hallway from the Rosary Club room at the old St. Xavier High School on Broadway, there was a small utility room with wooden steps leading down into a very small cellar that was used to store the wine for Masses.  Brother Sylvan was inspired to furbish this little niche or alcove into a shrine for the Blessed Mother.  One Saturday he requested that I help him clear the room and make it ready for his plan to set up pews and thus have "the first shrine of Our Lady of Fatima" by the Rosary Makers.
     All Saturday we moved out debris.  I can remember Brother Sylvan vigorously sweeping as we got ready to set up the shrine.  It was near his evening dinner hour, so he hastily took a large empty barrel--one in which our beads and other material came to us--and placed it in the alcove. We covered the top of the barrel with a linen cloth we had handy.
     Then he took a little statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which had been a gift to him for his 50th Anniversary as a Xaverian Brother and after a few words of dedication, he proceeded with great solemnity and with an almost boyish eagerness to place this statue of our great Mother on this makeshift pedestal.  I watched all of this with wonder.  This was one of the most moving scenes I have ever witnessed.
     After Brother placed the statue of Our Lady on the Shrine, he tearfully addressed Mary! He told her of his love and devotion; he told her of his thankfulness for being able to accomplish this work for her and of having the opportunity to share with others the art of making Rosaries. He was tearful and his voice trembled. I didn't know it then, but this was a special moment in my life. I am grateful for the memory.
      Then Brother Sylvan spoke to Our Lady about all of you who were rosary makers and all of you who were to come. He begged her to intercede for all of you; to guard you and to protect your families so that one day all would meet together in heaven at her throne.  You were in the thoughts of this great man at one of the most beautiful moments of his life. When you are in need...pray to him. You are very special to Brother Sylvan.
      After Brother concluded his prayer, he then said that he would have to hurry to be on time for his evening meal with his Brothers. He went up the four steps that brought us to the little utility room, and I followed. He commented that this was the beginning of the very first shrine to Our Lady.  As he hurried out the door, he paused and said, "Thank you and God bless you."  I gathered my things, locked up and hurried for the bus that took me home.
     That night Brother Sylvan died in his sleep.
     This is a tremendous legacy of the Xaverian Brothers in Louisville, Kentucky; Our Lady's Rosary Makers was founded in 1949 at St. Xavier High School by Brother Sylvan Mattingly, C.F.X.  This graceful symphony of words was penned by Teresa Robertson, who served as Brother's secretary and Mission Secretary of Our Lady's Rosary Makers for nearly 50 years.  Under the continued guidance of Fr. Bert Rapp, this Rosary apostolate flourished and involved tens of thousands of laity making tens of millions of rosaries for missions and missionaries throughout the world over the past sixty years. Please visit Our Lady's Rosary Makers, 4611 Poplar Level Road, Louisville, KY 40213 or our website www.olrm.org