As an altar boy at his home parish, Fr. Don Loskot, SDS, met monthly with other servers for training and activities. One month, a religious sister arranged for them to help an elderly parishioner make rosaries to send to the Africa Missions. “This is where I first learned how to make a chain rosary.”
As a student at the Salvatorian Seminary in St. Nazianz, WI, supporting the Salvatorian Mission in Tanzania was a focus for all who attended. Using his rosary-making skills, Fr. Don joined a group dedicated to repairing donated broken rosary parts and packing the restored rosaries for distribution to the Salvatorians in Africa. He always kept a pair of rosary pliers on his desk to repair rosaries for students or faculty. However, graduation ended his rosary work and, after his ordination to the priesthood, other ministry priorities continued to keep rosary making on hold.
Years later, as a parish priest in Tennessee, he started making rosaries again. His inventory grew, allowing him to start selling them and making them a part of his ministry in the formation process for new members of the Society. He began selling the rosaries at several church festivals and craft fairs annually. “I’ve become identified as a rosary maker,” he said. “I make them as much as I can.”
Recently, Fr. Don was asked to make a rosary for a young woman struggling with a substance addiction. “I chose specific beads, centerpiece, and crucifix: rainbow-colored beads as a sign of God’s enduring promises to his people; a centerpiece of St. Jude, the patron of difficult causes; and a Crown of Thorns crucifix to remind the user of the Divine Savior’s sanctifying love for us,” he said. “I later learned that the young lady loved the rosary. That was a profound moment to learn that the rosary I made helped her during a difficult time in her life.”
