In the Christian life it is of more than passing significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s Word. It is in the quiet, early hours of the morning that they are led beside the quiet, still waters where they imbibe the very life of Christ for the day.
Phillip Keller

Rosary

Rosary

ROSARY

BASIC R.C. BELIEF The most popular devotion of the Roman Catholic Church. Prayers are recited for each bead. After introductory prayers, the main part of the Rosary consists of 10 Hail Marys and one Our Father repeated five times, during which time five mysteries of the Rosary are contemplated. The mysteries recall joyful, sorrowful and glorious occurrences in the lives of Jesus and Mary. A complete Rosary is 15 decades (each of 10 Hail Marys and 1 Our Father); it is more usual to pray 5 decades.

St. Dominic is credited with preaching the Rosary as an antidote to the Albigensian heresy. He called it “the rampart of the Church of God” and “the Book of Life.” Popes have described it as “The salvation of Christians;” “the dispeller of heresies;” “the scourge of Satan”; and “promoter of God’s Glory.”

The Rosary received great impetus by the words of our Lady at Fatima in 1917.

Msgr. O’Sullivan in EXTERNALS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH says, “Repetition in prayer is a very ancient custom. It would seem natural for man to recite his prayers over and over. The Buddhist has his long string of beads which he uses to measure his eternal repetitions of the praises of Buddha.”

From SACRAMENTALS, Catholic Information Center, page 21. “It is difficult to determine just how this special form opf repeated prayer began. We know that. . . repeated prayer is common in many religions. That is what we would expect since it is natural to human beings.”

From HOW TO SAY THE ROSARY, Imp. Patrick Hayes, Archbishop of New York. “THE FIFTEEN PROMISES OF MARY TO CHRISTIANS WHO RECITE THE ROSARY. (1)Whoever shall faithfully serve Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. (2) I promise My special protection and the greatest grace to all those who shall recite the Rosary. (3)The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against Hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. (4)It will cause abundant virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will left them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. (5)The soul which recommends itself to Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. (6)Whoever will recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortunes. God will not chastise him in his justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God; and become worthy of eternal life. (7)Whoever shall have a true devotion to the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church. (8)Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the penitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. (9)I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. (10)The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. (11)You shall obtain all you ask of Me by recitation of the Rosary. (12)All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by Me in their necessities. (13)I have obtained from My Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death. (14)All who recite the Rosary are My sons, and brothers of My Only Son Jesus Christ. (15)Devotion of My Rosary is a great sign of predestination. (Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan.)”

POST VATICAN II An additional ejaculation, given at Fatima, is often inserted between decades of the Rosary, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Thy mercy.”

From WOMAN CROWNED WITH STARS by Michael Malone (Imp: Bishop Sullivan, Baton Rouge, 1981). “Our Blessed Mother’s Rosary concludes with the Mystery of the Coronation of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as Queen of all creation; however, the crowning of Our Lady is not the culmination, but the actual commencement, of all that has even happened from the very beginning of time.”

From SIMPLICITY, John Michael Talbot. “Personally, I have found praying the Rosary to be one of the most powerful tools I possess in obtaining simple, childlike meditation on the life of Jesus Christ.”

From HEAVEN’S WEAPONS, published by Apostolate of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, St. Martinville, LA. “Ventimiglia, the author of an ancient history of the Carmellite order, revealed how God inspired St. Dominic to prophesy that some day the Blessed Mother would give us two devotions to be known as the Rosary and the Brown Scapular, AND ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR SHE WOULD SAVE THE WORLD.

“In the year 1214 while St. Dominic was trying to convert sinners without success. Our Lady appeared to him, gave him the Rosary and taught him how to use it. Many miraculous conversions resulted!”

From READ ME OR RUE IT by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan. Imp. Joannes Timotheus, Archiepiscopus, Cincinnatenesis, 8/22/25. Re-printed 11/2/74 by National Centre for Padre Pio, 11 N. Whitehall Rd., Norristown, PA 19403.

Blessed John of Massias, a Dominican lay brother, obtained by his prayers (chiefly the recitation of the Rosary), the liberation of one million four hundred thousand souls!

CATHOLIC JOURNALS From THE CHURCH WORLD, 3/26/87. “This brings us to the heart of the matter: The Eucharist and the Rosary! It is generally recognized by the spiritually `advanced’ and by common Catholic consciousness that in Catholic spirituality these are the mpost powerful means of prayer through which one can more deeply enter into the life of God and thereby more seriously confront the reign of Evil. By spiritually `advanced,’ I mean people as Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Padre Pio, Dorothy Day, the Cure d’Ars, Mother Teresa.

“For example, Padre Pio – who appears to be one of the most extraordinary human beings of the 20th century, a stigmatic for 50 years, a healer withour peer, a man who spent innumerable hours a day in prayer – says, `The Rosary is THE weapon.’ Now when a person with such spiritual credentials makes such a definitive statement about how to overcome evil, it seems to me it can only be ignored or dismissed with fear and trembling.

“Beyond this, the major Marian appartition of the 20th century – Fatima – explicitely relates the daily recitation of the Rosary to an ending of war and the obtaining of peace. As described by Lucia, on July 13, 1917, in the Cova da Iria, Mary said, `. . . Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain preace for the world and the end of war. . . ‘ With such endorsements it would seem that the Rosary would be a part of every Catholic peace gathering, small or large.”

From LEAVES, Sept/Oct 1979. “The rosary goes back tho the first century of Christianity. (In fact, legend has it that when the Apostles found that Mary’s body had been assumed into heaven and only roses remained where she had lain, they used the petals to offer psalms of joy to God.)”