rosary

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PeteZaHut

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How did we get the rosary? It is attributed to Mary, but how did she give it to us?
 
Mary gave it to St. Dominic.

“Saint Dominic had for many years preached against the errors of the Albigenses and other heretics, with such zeal and profound ability that they were often convinced. But nevertheless the results were unimportant; but few returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church. In this discouraging state of things Saint Dominic redoubled his prayers and works of penance, and in particular besought Mary for support and assistance. One day Mary appeared to him and taught him the Rosary. He zealously labored to introduce everywhere this manner of prayer, and from that time preached with such success that in a short period more than one hundred thousand heretics and sinners were converted. The divine origin of the Rosary is testified to by the bull of Gregory XIII of the year 1577.” (saints.sqpn.com/gdi237.htm)
 
  1. All Catholic prayer is derived from the Scriptures, in particularly the Psalms and Gospels.
  2. FT Monks and hermits in the Early Church would pray the entire Book of Psalms in one day. Many traditiosn developed associating the Psalms with the life of Christ.
  3. St. Benedict and others lauded this practice, but worried that it was too prone to mere recitation, and recommended picking a specific Psalm–or, better yet, a specific verse–to meditate on each day, all day.
  4. For those who could not read or memorize the Psalms, or simply didn’t have the time to do all 150, a practice developed of substituting for the 150 Psalms the recitation of the Greatest Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer, 150 times. Alternatively, another way of doing it was to recite the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
  5. In the Eastern Church, the “Jesus Rosary” is “the Rosary.” “The Jesus Prayer”/Kyrie is the foundation of all Byzantine prayer, and is also the source of Roman litanies (Byzantine Litanys are more like general intercessions).
  6. Whether it was the 150 Our Fathers or the 150 Jesus Prayers, the prayers needed to be counted. People devised different methods of counting out their prayers, including small piles of rocks or tying nots on strings.
  7. By the Middle Ages, it was common practice to count out one’s prayers on a string of knots or other counters. Interestingly, “bead” was the Old English word for “prayer.” People would say, “I’m counting my beads” when saying the rosary. This led to “bead” becoming a synonym for "small round object.
  8. No one is certain when people started using the Angelic Salutation as a substitute for the Pater Noster, but there is evidence that the Marian rosary predated St. Dominic.
  9. However, “the Rosary”, as we know it, was promulgated by St. Dominic. Tradition says that the BVM gave it to him in a vision, but it was certainly an evolution of long-standing traditions.
  10. The 150 Our Fathers were replaced with 150 Angelic Salutations. In addition to the 150 prayers matching the 150 Psalms, there were 3 more prayers to match the 3 Gospel Canticles: the Magnificat, Benedictus and Nunc Dimittus. Alternately, the 153 total Angelic Salutations harken to the 153 fish in John 21.
  11. As the Marian rosary became popular, other Mendicant Orders developed their own forms. The Franciscan Rosary (or “Franciscan Crown”) has 72 Angelic Salutations, supposedly because the BVM lived 72 years. The seven mysteries are basically the seven joys of Mary.
The Brigittines (order founded by St. Bridget of Sweden) and Carmelites say a 6-decade Rosary, making 63 total (again, they claim Mary lived 63 years). This has 6 Joyful Mysteries, 6 Sorrowful, and 6 Glorious.

So, basically, the Rosary has evolved over time.
 
*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

From The Secret of the Rosary, by St. Louis Mary de Montfort. catholictradition.org/Classics/secret-rosary.htm
(who is most known for writing True Devotion to Mary) (theworkofgod.org/Library/Links/Trud_lnk.htm + 33 day consecration: fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html)

Second Rose: Origin
Since the Holy Rosary is composed, principally and in substance, of the Prayer of Christ and the Angelic Salutation, that is, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, it was without doubt the first prayer and first devotion of the faithful and has been in use all through the centuries, from the time of the apostles and disciples down to the present.

But it was only in the hear 1214, however, that Holy Mother Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by Saint Dominic who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book “De Dignitate Psalterii” by Blessed Alan de la Roche. (De Dignitate Psalterii. The importance and Beauty of the Holy Rosary by Blessed Alan de la Roche, O.P., French Dominican Father and Apostle of the Holy Rosary). Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but week and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said:

“Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”

“Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, “you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.”

Then Our Lady replied:
“I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preacy my Psalter.”

So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for the conversion of the people in that disctrict he made straight for the Cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together and Saint Dominic began to preach.

At the very beginning of his sermon an appalling storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning that all were very much afraid. Even greater was their fear when looking at a picture of Our Lady exposed in a prominent place they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God’s vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.

God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it more widely known.

At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm came to an end, and he went on preaching. So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

May we all persevere in the Holy Rosary! 🙂
For the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary!!

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *
 
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