Rosary

“ The devotion of the rosary consists in the recital of a fixed number of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, combined with the meditation on certain mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary. The name rosary is significant. It is a symbol of Mary, also of the devotion to her. We will endeavor to make this clear.
The realm of nature is the symbol of the realm of grace, as the realm of grace is a symbol of the realm of glory. ”

“ And indeed the saint preached it everywhere, and this devotion was embraced by all Catholics, so that, at the present day, there is no devotion more practised by the faithful of every condition, than that of the most holy Rosary. What have not modern heretics, as Calvin, Bucer, and others said, to bring into contempt the use of the Rosary? But the great good is well known, which this noble devotion has brought to the world. How many by its means have been freed from sin! How many led to a holy life! How many have had a good death and are now saved! ”

“ Sight is restored to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, the use of their limbs to the crippled, diseases of all kind are cured, by invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin by means of the devotion of the rosary.
The conversion of a hardened sinner is, after all, a greater miracle than all cures of disease. And such conversions to this day are as numerous as they were at the time the rosary was introduced. Entire nations, provinces and cities have been converted to God through his devotion. ”

“ The devotion of the Holy Rosary is one of the most beautiful which the Catholic Church proposes to her children, and is also probably the one which has been received by them everywhere, without distinction of nationality or class, with the most sincere delight. Catholics, it is true, are for the most part familiar with the general history and significance of this devotional practice, which in itself forms a compendium of popular theology. ”

“ It will be for us a daily intercourse and association with Jesus and Mary that will enlighten our minds, elevate and ennoble our hearts, and powerfully invite our will to a true life of virtue. The Rosary is, therefore, an admirable means to lead a truly Christian life, and an admirable means, consequently to attain eternal salvation. Let us all be zealous to avail ourselves of it and the Rosary will become a bond uniting us intimately with Jesus and Mary, and conducting us to the participation of their glory and happiness for all eternity. ”

“ But there is one circumstance especially, in which we shall derive most abundant fruit from the recitation of the Rosary—in the seclusion of the Church, before our Eucharistic God. There our minds are easily raised above the fleeting joys of this changing life; there we easily close our eyes to the false glamour of this world, which allures us away from God; there our hearts are quickly inspired with holy and lofty aspirations and ideals. ”

“ ROSARY, among the Roman Catholics, is a pretended instrument or help to piety, being a chaplet, consisting of five, or fifteen, decads or tens of beads, to direct the reciting so many Ave Marias in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
Before a person repeats his rosary, he must cross himself with it: then he must repeat the Apostles’ Creed, and say a Pater and three Aves, on account of the three relations which the Virgin bears to the three persons in the Trinity. ”

“ Travelers by land or sea and those in service can gain the Indulgence for visiting the Church or Chapel of the Rosary on all days on which Mysteries of the Rosary are celebrated, if they recite the entire Rosary (i. e., the Fifteen Mysteries) ; the sick or legitimately hindered if they say Five Mysteries.
7 years and 7 forty days, Confession, Communion, visit to Chapel or Altar of the Rosary, with prayers for the Pope's intentions, on Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, Immaculate Conception, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Annunciation, Visitation, Assumption, All Saints. ”

“ When he found how much pleased I was, he took pains to teach me the attributes.
I said to him, "Now that your Excellency has made me understand the solemn and beautiful words of the rosary, I shall be always sorry to hear them said quickly and thoughtlessly." He answered, "You are right, O my sister. God is to be approached with reverence." ”

“ What could Albano object to this Psalmist of the heart? Who can answer a songstress? A praying female stands, as does also an unhappy one, on a high, holy place, which our arms cannot reach. But how miserable must most prayers be, since, although in earlier life possessing the attraction of charms, like the rosary, which is made out of sweet-smelling woods, yet afterward in advanced age they act only as blemishes, and like the relic or the death's-head with which the rosary itself ends! ”

“ We might challenge the world to name a more beautiful, a more excellent prayer. The Church therefore numbers the Rosary amongst her most efficacious prayers, and she has endowed it richly with indulgences to induce the faithful to say it frequently. ”

“ He who hears Mass on a holyday not intending to perform his duty, as he does not know that it is a holyday, has satisfied the law. He who says the rosary out of devotion and then remembers that he has an obligation of saying it because of a promise made or of a penance received, can regard the rosary said as a fulfillment of his obligation. ”

“ The rosary is the most common and readily understood example of this manner of praying. While we are reciting the Our Father and the Hail Marys of each decade of the rosary, we meditate or reflect on some mystery connected with the life of Jesus Christ or of His blessed Mother.
It is also useful, in using the prayers of our prayer-book, to read them slowly and deliberately, making in the meantime practical reflections on their contents, or pausing from time to time to meditate a little and apply the words of the prayers to our own wants. ”

“ O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. ”

“ Then, one day, I don't know why, the little nun said she wanted to give me a rosary. I protested, laughing and saying "It's no use you know. Nothing would ever make me turn."
I shook my head at her but she brought forward the little string of metal beads, laughing too, but persistent. ”

“ That rosary was of famous old pearls that had been in the family a hundred years; but from that moment the good Lord struck it with a curse, and filled it white-hot with hell-fire, so that, if anybody held it a few minutes in their hand, it would burn to the bone. The old sinner made believe that she was in great affliction for the death of her daughter-in-law, and that it was all an accident, and the poor young man went raving mad,—but that awful rosary the old hag couldn't get rid of. ”

“ The mere recitation of the prayers is closely connected with meditation, and each mystery has more or less reference to some feast of our Lord or of our Lady, and so is brought into relation with the different liturgical seasons. It can thus to a certain extent be connected with the whole cycle of festivals of which indeed it was a sort of summary.
In its completed form the Rosary became the favourite devotion of all, high and low, clerical and lay, and a special confraternity, favoured by the popes and endowed with indulgences, was formed for its spread and encouragement. ”

“ Pope Pius IX, as also Pope Leo XIII, have declared the rosary to be that weapon, and have exhorted Christianity to resort to the zealous use of it. If all Christians would follow the advice of these supreme Pontiffs, we should soon see the Catholic faith and good morals come into their own again, and ample blessing would, through this devotion, be bestowed upon private and public life. All the insistent endeavors of world-wise scholars and reformers will be of no avail if God's blessing does not rest upon their work. ”

“ Preceding the processional cross, the magnificent beadle, all blue and silver, was already rearing the level of the Rosary cupola, the spacious esplanade formed by the roof of the lower church, across which the pilgrimage deputations began to wind, with their bright-coloured silk and velvet banners waving in the ruddy glow of the sunset. Then came the clergy, the priests in snowy surplices, and the priests in golden chasubles, likewise shining out like a procession of stars. ”

“ Many acts and prayers contained elsewhere in this book may be substituted occasionally for those given in the following methods of assisting at Mass, especially such as relate to the Passion, the Blessed Sacrament, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
You may also very appropriately recite the Rosary during Mass, and in particular the Eucharistic Rosary in which we meditate on the life, passion, and death of Our Lord in connection with the sacred mysteries of the altar. Formulate your own prayers occasionally.
Converse with God in a familiar manner. Prayer is the elevation of the soul to God. ”

“ For, according to the public understanding and report, they graduate from that college better prepared than from others; and although they are lads, they attribute it to the special protection of the most holy Mary, because they recite to her every day in chorus their whole rosary. All live under that impression, and accordingly, although they petition for dispensation from other exercises, they never ask dispensation from that exercise of the rosary, because they have understood that that is what maintains them and keeps them in the progress of their studies. ”

“ The devotion called the Rosary consists of fifteen ‘‘ Pater nosters” and "Glorias,” and one hundred and fifty “ Ave Marias,” divided into three parts; each containing five “Decades,” or tens; a decade consisting of one ‘‘ Pater,” ten "Aves,” and a “Gloria.” ”

“ Like scenes of some wondrous drama these Mysteries set before us the joys of the life of our Saviour. One by one the scenes are unfolded—each telling its story, conveying its Gospel lesson to the human soul. Before our mental view pass the personages mentioned in God's Book. Here are Mary the humble, Joseph the obedient, Elizabeth the prayerful, Simeon the just, the angels on earth and in heaven—all bending in lowly reverence before Jesus, the grand central figure of the Rosary devotion. ”

“ While the confessor is occupied with his priestly functions the catechists instruct the children and the negroes, sing canticles, and recite the rosary, etc. To in a manner fill the vacancy caused by their absence, the priests recommended public prayer in families, catechism, and nightly examination of conscience; Mass prayers, devotions of S. Bridget, the litanies, spiritual reading on Sundays and feast-days. Pious persons add to this the rosary, and their devotion to the Blessed Virgin causes them every day to recite some special prayer in her honor. ”

“ When I am called to a sick man of whom I know that he is averse to making his peace with God, on the way I pray my rosary, and when I reach him I am sure to find him desirous to receive the Sacraments. ”

“ Let them betake themselves more and more to the protection of Mary, and trust in Her. Let them cling more and more to the practice of the Rosary, to which our ancestors had recourse as an ever-ready refuge in misfortune, and as a glorious pledge and proof of Christian faith and devotion.
"The heavenly Patroness of the human race will receive with joy these prayers and supplications, and will easily obtain that the good grow in goodness, and that the erring repent and be brought back to salvation ”

“ The flowers which we weave are not of this earth, but are indigenous to Paradise, and were transplanted by an angel's hand from their native soil to bloom and flourish among the weeds and thistles of this miserable and sinful world.
There is no form of prayer more efficacious, or more excellent and acceptable before Heaven than Mary's own devotion, the Rosary. There is nothing that the great Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII, urged more upon the Church than the devout practice of reciting the beads in her honor. ”

“ Care should be taken that the prayers for unity already established amongst you Catholics on certain fixed days should be made more popular and recited with greater devotion. Especially that the pious practice of the Holy Rosary, which We Ourselves have so strongly recommended, should flourish, for it contains as it were a summary of the Gospel teaching, and has always been a most salutary institution for the people at large. Moreover, We are pleased of Our own will and authority to add still another to the sacred Indulgences which have been granted from time to time by Our predecessors. ”

“ Any one of these mysteries furnishes sufficient material to occupy the mind of man for hours. These mysteries contain the whole history of the Redemption. The prayers and meditations of the Rosary satisfy the minds of the humblest, while they are sufficient to occupy the attention of the most exalted and most cultivated. The Angelus is a beautiful prayer, said morning, noon, and night. In Catholic countries the bell is rung, when all cease their occupations, kneel, and recite: "The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Ghost"—a Hail Mary. ”

“ If we continue to urge this, as we have more than once done already, none of you will be surprised, understanding as you do of how much moment it is that the practice of the Rosary of Mary should flourish among Christians, and knowing well, as you do, that it is a very beautiful form and part of that very spirit of prayer of which we speak, and that it is suitable to the times, easily practiced, and of most abundant usefulness. ”