L'INDEPENDANT - FRENCH PAPER
OF WOONSOCKET, RI

"This morning, at Rose's funeral, we have seen one of the most magnificent tokens of esteem and veneration that can be imagined.  We see such demonstrations for the great and powerful of this world.  It was an eloquent tribute paid to the memory of a little girl who became famous by suffering silently and joyfully for God's holy love."

LE MESSAGER - FRENCH PAPER
OF NEW BEDFORD, MA

"Although Miss Ferron belongs to the laboring class and though she was sick and bedridden for the ten years that she lived in Woonsocket; still, never was there such a number of mourners to visit the house of a deceased.  The extraordinary deeds of her life are too numerous to be mentioned here, nor have we the talent to do justice to a person, who in many ways, was above human understanding.  She died at thirty-three, just as her Jesus told her, seven years before, in an ecstasy which lasted over an hour and in the presence of competent witnesses."

AND IN THE TRIBUNE -
                         A SECULAR PAPER

"More than 4,000 persons today attended the funeral of Miss Rose Ferron, who according to the popular belief, bore the stigmata of Christ upon her body.  The funeral of the devoutly religious invalid drew as much attention as the mysterious nature of her affliction. The large church was filled long before the cortege left the Ferron home.  Six ladies bore the casket; it was an unusual spectacle that attracted no little attention; the ladies were children of Mary, all dressed in white, each had a lily in one hand and with the other assisted in carrying the casket.  When the hearse arrived at the church and the body was borne into it, hundreds unable to get in to the edifice for Mass, knelt on the steps or sidewalks, as the body passed before them."

On the day of Monday, May 11, 1936 "Little Rose" drew her last breath.

From Tuesday noon, when her body was laid out in the casket, right up to the time of the funeral, mourners continued to visit the Ferron home. Most of them had visited "Little Rose" during her lifetime.  They had been helped by her prayers, and comforted by her counsels.  As each person entered the house he was requested to sign a guest book; nearly 15,000 signed, but thousands came in without doing so.  It was estimated without exaggeration that over 20,000 had visited her remains.  The throng was so great that a special police detail was maintained and traffic was re-routed, and this lasted until the funeral was over, Friday morning.

Outside, as far as you could see, cars from all parts of New England, were lined up along the street and the cross roads.  A stranger, standing near the gate, alone, and looking intently at the throngs that were coming from all directions, broke out in admiration; and said: "Where are they all coming from?". . . And in a loud crescendo:  "Look at the crowds! . . . Who has ever seen anything like it? . . .No one can tell me that these people are here for nothing!" . . . This admirer, speaking to himself, and seemingly forgetting he was speaking aloud, was unconsciously voicing what was in everybody's mind.  

Those who knew Rose were attracted to her and loved her virtuous life.  Now that she was dead, they were coming, urged by a spirit of gratitude to thank her for the help she had given them and to honor the virtues she had practiced.  They came by the thousands to see her.  

Excerpt from "She Wears a Crown of Thorns" written by Rev. O.A. Boyer, S.T.L.

 

FUNERAL OF  "LITTLE ROSE"
CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY, WOONSOCKET, R.I.