THE HOLY ROSARY
There is no point in talking about The Holy Rosary unless we have
learned to love Our Lady. How do we learn to love her? By knowing that
she loves us with a love greater than we can ever understand. By knowing
that Our Lady is the Mediatrix between Jesus and ourselves. There is an
understanding that all our prayers go to Jesus through her. By knowing
that at the foot of the cross she offered herself as a Co-Redemptrix
along with her Son who she saw die in appalling agony. Then there was
that most poignant moment when from his agony on the Cross Jesus spoke
to St John and said “Here is your mother”. At that moment she became the
mother of us all and she deserves our love.
What can we say about Mary? When God created her soul he kept it pure
and devoid of original sin. So from the very first she was given special
heavenly blessings. But her Free Will was the same as ours. She was free
to make whatever choice suited her. And when the Angel Gabriel told her
of God’s plan she had to make a choice. We thank God that she chose to
be His Mother and the Mother of us all. In doing that she replaced Eve
as Jesus, her Son, replaced Adam. It is only when we love Our Lady that
we can prepare ourselves for trying to understand her Holy Rosary.
How did the Rosary commence and how did I come to its present form of
twenty decades made up of a total of two hundred Hail Mary’s spilt into
four Mysteries; Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious?
Until October 2002 the Rosary was made up of fifteen decades which
totalled One Hundred & Fifty Hail Mary’s and as far as can be discovered
the use of ‘one hundred and fifty’ came from the early Monasteries where
the monks obeyed the strict rule of St Benedict by daily recitation of
King David’s one hundred and fifty Psalms. In those early days, some of
the monks were illiterate so to either read or memorise the Psalms was
beyond them. To enable them to take part in the prayer of the community
they were allowed to recite an appropriate number of Our Fathers (known
as Paternosters) and to keep track of the numbers they used a knotted
string. People from the neighbouring villages would attend the services
and they too followed the monk’s example and so the use of beads was
accepted by the laity.
The next stage in the story takes us to the eleventh century and to St
Anselm who was Archbishop of Canterbury. He composed a prayer to Mary
which was based on the Psalms and consisted of one hundred and fifty
verses, which he divided into three, each verse commencing with the word
‘Ave’. This prayer became know as ‘Our Lady’s Psalter’. Now we move
forward to the fourteenth century when a famous Carthusian monk, Henry
Egher, claimed to have had a remarkable vision of Our Lady in which she
taught him to say the ‘Psalter’ in her honour. He described this
occurrence to one of the Priors and in a short space of time the prayer
became known throughout the country.
In the same century Eton College was founded by King Henry VI which
Included in its statutes that the students were required to recite,
every day, ‘the complete Psalter of the Blessed Virgin consisting of a
Credo, fifteen Paters and one hundred and fifty Ave Marias’. This was in
accordance with the instructions given by Our Lady to the Carthusian
monk. Gradually, from being based on the psalms, the Ave-Psalter began
to develop a clear character of its own, and the division into the
fifties came to represent the three moods that make up the rosary.
But why the name ‘Rosary’? In the early days of the church statues of
Mary (Our Lady) would have roses put on her head in the shape of a crown
or halo. It seems very credible that it is from those roses has come the
name Rosary.
Some of the Joyful Mysteries are attributed to St Thomas a Becket who
was Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King Henry II. He composed a
hymn on the seven joys of Our Lady. Some of his themes are now used as
Joyful Mysteries. Over many centuries there followed a natural
progression. Having prayed and meditated on the Joyful mysteries is was
a natural to want to pray and meditate on the Sorrowful and then the
Glorious themes in the life of Jesus and Mary so the other mysteries
came into being.
There is a tradition that Our Lady gave the Rosary in its present form
to St. Dominic. It is believed that on 16th July 1251 Our Lady gave the
brown scapular to St Dominic so it is not hard to believe the tradition
that she also gave the Rosary to him. The church often accepts
tradition. It has always done so in the case of the Sixth Station of the
Cross. There is nothing in the Bible regarding Veronica Wiping the Face
of Jesus – it is ‘tradition’. That St Dominic was a man of remarkable
character is not in doubt. He had the deepest compassion for every sort
of human suffering. It is possible that he prayed the Rosary when
working with the sick and it is from that the tradition began of him
having being given the Rosary by Our Lady.
To complete the history of the Holy Rosary it is necessary to mention
the Mysteries of Light which The Holy Father John Paul II introduced in
October 2002. It was always possible to meditate on The Marriage Feast
at Cana and The Last Supper. Now we have the authority which makes it
very acceptable.
In thinking about the Holy Rosary we come to realise that Our Lady
follows on from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, The Judges, and The
Prophets. Those Patriarchs and Spiritual Leaders of their time have been
replaced with one Perfect Prophet, the Mother of God. John the Baptist
was the last of the Prophets and we can recall what Jesus said of him;
“In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never
been anyone greater than John the Baptist”. Now there is one who is
greater, Mary, and God sends her to us to guide us on our way to
Everlasting Life in Heaven. She is greater than all the Patriarchs and
Prophets put together. That being the case why is it that many, even
good Catholics, find the Rosary difficult to pray and refuse to even
make a start by taking up the beads and trying.
The answer must be that not much has changed. As the Old Testament
Prophets were ignored by the people of their time so now Our Lady is
equally ignored. At Lourdes and Fatima she has made her request
perfectly clear ‘Pray the Rosary’. If we were to only pray one decade a
day then we are putting her request into practice. But to turn one’s
back on Mary’s request and not even attempt to carry out her request is
very sad. When Mary comes to us she is surely doing so at the behest of
her Son. Therefore to ignore Mary is to ignore Jesus.
It all comes down to devotion. If we are devoted to Jesus then it
follows that we are devoted to His Sacred Heart. If we are devoted to
Mary then it follows that we are devoted to her Holy Rosary.
In October 2002. John Paul II declared ‘A Year of the Holy Rosary’ from
October 2002 to October 2003. He also announced five New Decades to be
known as the Luminous Decades (Or Decades of Light).
The forty decades are:-
The Joyful Mysteries
1. The Annunciation
2. The Visitation
3. The Nativity
4. The Presentation in the Temple
5. The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple
The Mysteries of Light
1. Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan
2. The Marriage Feast of Cana
3. Christ’s Proclamation of the Kingdom an His Call to Conversion
4. The Transfiguration
5. The Last Supper
The Sorrowful Mysteries
1. The Agony in the Garden
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
3. The Crowning with Thorns
4. Jesus Carries His Cross
5. The Crucifixion
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection
2. The Ascension
3. Descent of the Holy Spirit on Our Lady and the Apostles
4. Our Lady is Assumed Body and Soul into Heaven
5. Our Lady Crowned Queen of Heaven and Glory of the Saints
The Holy Father suggested that the days for praying the decades can be:
Monday. The Joyful Mysteries
Tuesday. The Sorrowful Mysteries
Wednesday. The Glorious Mysteries
Thursday. The Mysteries of Light
Friday. The Joyful Mysteries
Saturday. The Sorrowful Mysteries
Sunday. The Glorious Mysteries
The Fifteen Promises of Mary to those 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 graces to all those
who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armour against hell, it will destroy
vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for
souls the abundant mercy of God; it will with- draw the hearts of men
from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift 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 shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the
consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by
misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not
perish by an un-provided 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 for 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 plentitude 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 the 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)
Imprimatur: Patrick J. Hayes, D.D.
Archbishop of New York
.