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The Rosary
- By Anne Van Tilburg
- Published 08/9/2009
- Blessed Virgin Mary
- Unrated
The history of the Church is full of instances of the intervention of Mary the Mother of God on behalf of men; and amongst the most remarkable are the favors connected with the Rosary. The Office of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary enumerates three such instances. The first was the overthrow of the formidable heresy of the Albigenses in the 12th Century, when St. Dominic - instructed as we are told by the Blessed Virgin herself - preached the devotion of the Rosary for the first time, with such success that faith, piety and union were at once restored to the churches of Southern France.
The second was the great victory gained by the Christian forces over the Turks at Lepanto in the 16th Century, on the very day that the Confraternities at the bidding of Pope Pius V filled the churches of Christendom with their prayers. The third victory was over the Turks in Hungary in the 18th Century. These were attributed to the Rosaries offered in solemn supplication by the people of Rome at the very hour of the battles. In memory of these triumphs, October 8 is dedicated to Our Lady, under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Pope Leo the XIII, confronted with the grave perils that threatened the Church of his day, could find no surer means of relief than the Rosary. Hence he introduced the daily recitation of the Rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament during the whole month of October, and he added to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin the invocation "Queen of the Most holy Rosary, pray for us."
Principal Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
The Rosary has come to be the principal devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and the ordinary channel for the favors which Mary has the power to bestow. With the Mass it is the most distinctive exercise of Catholic worship, and the "Beads" are the recognized emblem of the Catholic.
The Rosary is the Breviary of the layman, the Book of Prayers of the unlettered, and the Manual of Meditation for simple souls. No devout Catholic would miss its daily recital; and it is the night-prayer which binds together in holy union the members of the Catholic household. Saintly souls may make much progress in the ways of prayer - they may even "be caught up into paradise and hear secret words which is not granted to men to utter," but the Rosary is not laid aside; to such as these it grows more dear. With the Church's prayer the murmur of the Rosary is the last sound that falls on the ear of the dying; and when the body is laid out in death the "Beads" are entwined about the lifeless fingers.
The Rosary is a unique devotional exercise in that it happily combines mental and vocal prayer. It has a 3-fold benefit.
1. The best form of vocal prayer.
2. An easy method of religious instruction.
3. A sure way of spiritual perfection.
The vocal prayers employed, the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary" are the first of all prayers, and the church would have us never weary of their repetition. The objection of non-Catholics that more petitions are addressed to Mary than to the Eternal Father gives no difficulty to those of "the household of the faith." They are taught to revere Mary as the Mother in "God's House," and so to turn to her first in their needs. The Rosary but follows the rule of supplication and conciliation expressed by one of the saints.....that every grace communicated by God has a 3-fold course; - from the Father it is dispensed to Christ, from Christ to Mary and from Mary to us. We do not shrink from that loving Father who "who knows how to give good things to his children," but we believe that our prayers will find greater favor with Him, if they are commended by her "whose voice sounds ever sweet in His ears." We multiply our AVES with filial insistence both for the honor of our mother and for our own good. These AVES remind Mary of her glory as Mother of God, and at the same time of her office as Mother of men.
As the series of the Mysteries is unfolded, with all that they mean for Mary, the gladness of her Motherhood, the anguish of her suffering, the glory that crowns her brow, we cannot conceive what sweet forces constrain the heart of our Mother to plead to her Son for us. The Mysteries are more than a mere garland of incidents from our Savior's life, and twined with loving Aves for the honor of His Mother. These Mysteries are a summary of the doctrines of the Incarnation and Redemption, which are thus brought clearly before us each time that we pray the Rosary. As ignorance of the truths of faith may be said to be the root of all evils that afflict the Church, so it has been found since the days of St. Dominic's preaching that there is no greater safeguard for the faith than the Rosary.
The Rosary has the advantage that it can be prayed in any place and at any time. It has the advantage too, of enabling us to contemplate our Blessed Lady as well as her Divine Son and to see in her the virtues which He teaches.
Source: Father Timothy Harris.
An excellent book to read is "The Secret of the Rosary" By St. Louis De Montfort.
The second was the great victory gained by the Christian forces over the Turks at Lepanto in the 16th Century, on the very day that the Confraternities at the bidding of Pope Pius V filled the churches of Christendom with their prayers. The third victory was over the Turks in Hungary in the 18th Century. These were attributed to the Rosaries offered in solemn supplication by the people of Rome at the very hour of the battles. In memory of these triumphs, October 8 is dedicated to Our Lady, under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Pope Leo the XIII, confronted with the grave perils that threatened the Church of his day, could find no surer means of relief than the Rosary. Hence he introduced the daily recitation of the Rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament during the whole month of October, and he added to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin the invocation "Queen of the Most holy Rosary, pray for us."
Principal Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
The Rosary has come to be the principal devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and the ordinary channel for the favors which Mary has the power to bestow. With the Mass it is the most distinctive exercise of Catholic worship, and the "Beads" are the recognized emblem of the Catholic.
The Rosary is the Breviary of the layman, the Book of Prayers of the unlettered, and the Manual of Meditation for simple souls. No devout Catholic would miss its daily recital; and it is the night-prayer which binds together in holy union the members of the Catholic household. Saintly souls may make much progress in the ways of prayer - they may even "be caught up into paradise and hear secret words which is not granted to men to utter," but the Rosary is not laid aside; to such as these it grows more dear. With the Church's prayer the murmur of the Rosary is the last sound that falls on the ear of the dying; and when the body is laid out in death the "Beads" are entwined about the lifeless fingers.
The Rosary is a unique devotional exercise in that it happily combines mental and vocal prayer. It has a 3-fold benefit.
1. The best form of vocal prayer.
2. An easy method of religious instruction.
3. A sure way of spiritual perfection.
The vocal prayers employed, the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary" are the first of all prayers, and the church would have us never weary of their repetition. The objection of non-Catholics that more petitions are addressed to Mary than to the Eternal Father gives no difficulty to those of "the household of the faith." They are taught to revere Mary as the Mother in "God's House," and so to turn to her first in their needs. The Rosary but follows the rule of supplication and conciliation expressed by one of the saints.....that every grace communicated by God has a 3-fold course; - from the Father it is dispensed to Christ, from Christ to Mary and from Mary to us. We do not shrink from that loving Father who "who knows how to give good things to his children," but we believe that our prayers will find greater favor with Him, if they are commended by her "whose voice sounds ever sweet in His ears." We multiply our AVES with filial insistence both for the honor of our mother and for our own good. These AVES remind Mary of her glory as Mother of God, and at the same time of her office as Mother of men.
As the series of the Mysteries is unfolded, with all that they mean for Mary, the gladness of her Motherhood, the anguish of her suffering, the glory that crowns her brow, we cannot conceive what sweet forces constrain the heart of our Mother to plead to her Son for us. The Mysteries are more than a mere garland of incidents from our Savior's life, and twined with loving Aves for the honor of His Mother. These Mysteries are a summary of the doctrines of the Incarnation and Redemption, which are thus brought clearly before us each time that we pray the Rosary. As ignorance of the truths of faith may be said to be the root of all evils that afflict the Church, so it has been found since the days of St. Dominic's preaching that there is no greater safeguard for the faith than the Rosary.
The Rosary has the advantage that it can be prayed in any place and at any time. It has the advantage too, of enabling us to contemplate our Blessed Lady as well as her Divine Son and to see in her the virtues which He teaches.
Source: Father Timothy Harris.
An excellent book to read is "The Secret of the Rosary" By St. Louis De Montfort.