C
chaela_may
Guest
there are quite a few threads in this forum that i’ve found that have discussed the fruits of the rosary, a few that deal the the fruits of the rosary specifically, and only one that has specifically asked what i’m asking now and, in that one, the question wasn’t really answered. [forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=708550]](http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=708550])
i’ve also searched google, the rosarium virginis mariae, and anything else i could find, and i haven’t found a single actual source for the specific mysteries of the rosary. did i not search right? or is there not one? are the fruits not defined by actual church teaching because they are meant to be flexible or because the listed fruits themselves are not part of the official instructions?
to confound things, different sources list different fruits and even those that list the same fruits word them differently (e.g., virtue of humility vs. love of humility) which changes their meaning entirely. to confound things further, some virtues are always included in the mysteries (e.g., patience), some never are (e.g., prudence), and some mysteries have a fruit that isn’t a virtue (e.g. love of poverty). (here, i consider virtues to be the three theological virtues, the four cardinal virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins. these lists themselves overlap and, even counting the overlaps, there are probably too many virtues for there to be a 1:1 ratio between mysteries and virtues, but why are some excluded?) i would have expected the fruits of the rosary to all be virtues, since we are asking, “that we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.”
alternatively, am i over thinking all this? i would have expected the church, with all her official lists of things, to have an actual list of official fruits for each mystery of the rosary.
i’ve also searched google, the rosarium virginis mariae, and anything else i could find, and i haven’t found a single actual source for the specific mysteries of the rosary. did i not search right? or is there not one? are the fruits not defined by actual church teaching because they are meant to be flexible or because the listed fruits themselves are not part of the official instructions?
to confound things, different sources list different fruits and even those that list the same fruits word them differently (e.g., virtue of humility vs. love of humility) which changes their meaning entirely. to confound things further, some virtues are always included in the mysteries (e.g., patience), some never are (e.g., prudence), and some mysteries have a fruit that isn’t a virtue (e.g. love of poverty). (here, i consider virtues to be the three theological virtues, the four cardinal virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins. these lists themselves overlap and, even counting the overlaps, there are probably too many virtues for there to be a 1:1 ratio between mysteries and virtues, but why are some excluded?) i would have expected the fruits of the rosary to all be virtues, since we are asking, “that we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.”
alternatively, am i over thinking all this? i would have expected the church, with all her official lists of things, to have an actual list of official fruits for each mystery of the rosary.