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Sandalwood
Guest
oh! I love that! Thank you!!
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patrick457
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Which brings us back to: which Dominic?
Blessed Alanus claimed the devotion began with the founder of his order two centuries after the latter died - a view that did become popular in later ages due to the efforts of other Dominicans who were also devoted to the Rosary. Historically, however, whether this is the case is unclear and rather doubtful, since no contemporary source makes any explicit connection with Domingo de Guzmán and the Marian Psalter: there is a total silence in the records, biographies, hagiographies, and even the iconography of St. Dominic before Alanus de Rupe.
That being said, as I’ve mentioned, it seems to be more likely that a Carthusian named Dominic of Prussia was the originator of the practice of meditating on at least fifty moments on Our Lord’s and Our Lady’s lives while reciting 50 Hail Marys, with clauses referencing the event being meditated on sandwiched within the prayer (“blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, whose birth was announced by the angel…”) Now, Alanus was publically a critic of the Carthusian Dominic and his increasingly-popular devotion: he didn’t like the idea of meditating on just fifty events - he believed that it should retain the number of 150 - and he also disliked the name rosarium for the prayer: his preferred named for the rosary prayer was the “New Psalter of the Virgin,” highlighting thus that the rosary had 150 Aves, not only fifty, just as the Psalter numbers 150 Psalms and not fifty. Alanus’ opposition to the name ‘rosary’ stems from the “vain and worldly” origins of rosarium, corona, or sertum. Even so, Alanus also found himself making use of the devotion in actual practice, whether consciously or unconsciously.
So, why did Blessed Alanus come up with St. Dominic (O.P.) receiving the Rosary from Our Lady? Perhaps it was just a practical one: Alanus wanted to attribute the prayer to someone venerable; and what better “author” can there be for the prayer than our holy father St. Dominic (perhaps Alanus noticed that Dominic of Prussia and Domingo de Guzmán share the same name…
)? Or perhaps, Alanus read Dominic of Prussia’s autobiography (the Liber experientiarum), where Dominic wrote of a fellow (Carthusian) monk having a vision of Our Lady reciting the Psalter; in which case, he mistook the monk of the story to be a reference to Dominic (O.P.) Alanus himself also claimed to have visions of Mary, who ordered him to preach the method she taught to ‘Saint’ Dominic. The method that Mary teaches to Alanus - or so he says - based on the description (meditating on the “articles of the life and Passion” of her Son), is actually suspiciously close to Dominic of Prussia’s method.Now, despite Alanus’ protests that Dominic’s fifty Aves is unacceptably short, this is actually the main disadvantage of his devotion: fifty events is just too many for a lot of folks to remember by rote, and while versions of his narrative Rosary persisted into the 17th century, it ultimately lost to still shorter ones. The narrative form, however, remained and became successful in these shorter formats. Because of this disadvantage, a number of authors sought to revise and adapt Dominic’s method, merging it with Alanus’ three-part division of the Marian Psalter, for example by Justus Landsberg (d. 1535). But even this version was still too long for people to remember, which led to further adaptation and condensation by other writers, until the prototype of our modern Rosary - fifteen mysteries, punctuated by fifteen Our Fathers, with 150 Hail Marys - came out as a result.
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patrick457
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This is actually not the only time in history that a prayer was misattributed to someone else: remember that prayer usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace…”)? There are actually no pre-20th century prayer books in which it appears in any form! The first known printed copy of the prayer appears in a small 20th century Italian prayer book and therein the prayer is ascribed to ‘William the Norman’. A holy card from later on has it ascribed to William the Conqueror (!) It was not until sometime in the middle of the 20th century that it was first attributed to the founder of the Friars Minor.
Also, the Anima Christi, which some say was composed by St. Ignatius of Loyola. While the prayer was indeed a favorite of his - he includes it in his Spiritual Exercises for one, a copy actually appears in a document from 1334, a good century and a half before St. Ignatius was born. Others have attributed it to Blessed Bernardine of Feltre, O.F.M. (1439-1494), but again the prayer was around for at least a century before his time as well. Still others have attributed it to St. Patrick or at least to 7th century Ireland, but no copy which are that early are known to exist.
A final example is the Memorare, supposedly penned by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. While some of his writings do indeed echo the words of the Memorare, he did not in fact compose it. The prayer was first popularized not by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, but by a French priest named Fr. Claude Bernard (1588-1641), who even then, was not the one who composed it. First, Fr. Bernard stated that he learned the prayer from his own father. Secondly, the prayer was known to and used by St. Francis de Sales who is 21 years older than Fr. Bernard. Thirdly, the prayer appears as part of the 15th century prayer, Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria.
Also, the Anima Christi, which some say was composed by St. Ignatius of Loyola. While the prayer was indeed a favorite of his - he includes it in his Spiritual Exercises for one, a copy actually appears in a document from 1334, a good century and a half before St. Ignatius was born. Others have attributed it to Blessed Bernardine of Feltre, O.F.M. (1439-1494), but again the prayer was around for at least a century before his time as well. Still others have attributed it to St. Patrick or at least to 7th century Ireland, but no copy which are that early are known to exist.
A final example is the Memorare, supposedly penned by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. While some of his writings do indeed echo the words of the Memorare, he did not in fact compose it. The prayer was first popularized not by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, but by a French priest named Fr. Claude Bernard (1588-1641), who even then, was not the one who composed it. First, Fr. Bernard stated that he learned the prayer from his own father. Secondly, the prayer was known to and used by St. Francis de Sales who is 21 years older than Fr. Bernard. Thirdly, the prayer appears as part of the 15th century prayer, Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria.
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Sandalwood
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thank you so very much for this. I’ve been doing some research on this and found there’s a whole instruction on how to pray this on the rosary beads with prayers to Jesus and not the Marian devotion. There’s also a book out but I’m having trouble finding it in stores in my small area.
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Alexander_Roman
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Dear Sandalwood,
The rosary began as 150 Our Father’s where an Our Father replaced a psalm. Others memorized one psalm and then said it 150 times. The same with the Hail Mary.
The Hail Mary celebrates, first and foremost, the Incarnation of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He came to us through His mother, Mary. This is also why the early Church defined the term “Theotokos” or 'Mother of God" (Birthgiver of God) for Mary as a touchstone of orthodox faith in Christ.
You might wish to try the early form of the Marian rosary in the West where the Hail Mary was said without the invocation, “Holy Mary etc.”
The Protestant Reformers, especially Oecolampadius, always said the Hail Mary in this form, ending with “the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.”
Catholics would often include a few words or one word after the Name of Jesus to indicate the mystery of the life of Christ that was being considered. For example:
The Hail Mary is also a “Jesus Prayer” because it begins with Mary and, with her, we go to Jesus Whom she holds on her arms, under whose Cross she stood (and was completely covered with His Blood, according to the Fathers) and Whose resurrection she glorified.
Alex
The rosary began as 150 Our Father’s where an Our Father replaced a psalm. Others memorized one psalm and then said it 150 times. The same with the Hail Mary.
The Hail Mary celebrates, first and foremost, the Incarnation of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He came to us through His mother, Mary. This is also why the early Church defined the term “Theotokos” or 'Mother of God" (Birthgiver of God) for Mary as a touchstone of orthodox faith in Christ.
You might wish to try the early form of the Marian rosary in the West where the Hail Mary was said without the invocation, “Holy Mary etc.”
The Protestant Reformers, especially Oecolampadius, always said the Hail Mary in this form, ending with “the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.”
Catholics would often include a few words or one word after the Name of Jesus to indicate the mystery of the life of Christ that was being considered. For example:
- Annunciation: “Jesus, Whom you conceived by the Holy Spirit”
- Visitation: “Jesus, Whom your soul magnifies”
- Nativity: “Jesus, Whom you adored in the manger at Bethlehem”
The Hail Mary is also a “Jesus Prayer” because it begins with Mary and, with her, we go to Jesus Whom she holds on her arms, under whose Cross she stood (and was completely covered with His Blood, according to the Fathers) and Whose resurrection she glorified.
Alex
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