The History of the Rosary
How it all started
Back in the very early days of the Church, communities of Monks began to recite the 150 Psalms each day. As many could not read or write, reciting them was a good way to remember the Psalms and to pass them on to their successors. In order to keep count of where they were, some Monks and hermits started to use Prayer-Ropes, which was a cord with a series of knots in.
Saint Dominic, who was the Founder of the Dominican Order, was distressed by the Albigensians who were misguided and very sinful. Accounts of the exact year are divided, but in or around 1214AD, Dominic wished to bring about their conversion, so retreated to a forest in southern France and prayed constantly for them for three days and nights. During this time, he carried out many harsh penances as an offering to God, to such a degree that he was covered in cuts and wounds and eventually passed into a coma. At this point, Our Lady appeared to Dominic, giving him the Rosary as a weapon to convert sinners and battle evil.
There have been many accounts of the Rosarys miraculous powers throughout the years. One of the most famous is the Battle of Lapanto, which happened in 1571 and was a sea battle off the coast of Greece. There were two parties involved, Spanish and Italian Christians and the vastly superior Turkish Navy. The Turkish Navy had been threatening to dominate the Mediterranean Sea, and thus gain a strategic advantage, in which to invade Europe. The Pope at the time, Pope Pius V requested that Christians pray the Rosary, asking Our Lady of the Rosary to intercede in order that the invading forces be defeated. Though greatly outnumbered, the Christian forces were victorious. This was a monumentous event, and paved the way for Pope Pius to dedicate October 7th to the feast day of Our Lady of Victory, which was later to be renamed as Our Lady of the Rosary.
In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, asked the children to add the ‘Fatima Prayer’ after the ‘Glory Be,’ at the end of each Rosary decade. This is a request to Jesus that he sends your soul to heaven and to aid the poor souls in purgatory. Our Lady also emphasised the importance of praying the Rosary every day.
Today, the complete Rosary is made up of 20 decades, split into the four sets of Mysteries. The Joyful Mysteries covering the early years of Jesus from the Annunciation, to the Finding in the Temple. The Luminous Mysteries were added in 2002 by Saint John Paul II, as a suggestion, because he felt there was an absence of Mysteries covering the ministry of Jesus. The Sorrowful Mysteries which contemplate the passion of Christ and The Glorious Mysteries from the Resurrection, to the Coronation of our Blessed Mother the Queen of Heaven.
More usually, the Rosary may be prayed as 5 decades daily, following one set of Mysteries, though many pray the full 20 decades daily, or the traditional 15 decades.
The Rosary is a powerful weapon in the battle against evil and should be carried at all times during the day, and placed under your pillow at night.
The 15 Promises of Mary to those who recite the Rosary
As disclosed in private revelation by Our Lady to St. Dominic in the 12th century, and later to the Blessed Alan de la Roche.
- To all those who shall recite my rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces.
- Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my rosary shall receive signal graces.
- The rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and dispel heresy.
- The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world to the love of God, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. How many souls shall sanctify themselves by this means!
- Those who trust themselves to me through the rosary shall not perish.
- Those who shall recite my rosary devoutly, meditating on its mysteries, shall not be overwhelmed by misfortune. The sinner shall be converted; the just shall grow in grace and become worthy of eternal life.
- Those truly devoted to my rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
- Those who faithfully recite my rosary shall find during their life and at the hour of their death the light of God, the fullness of his graces, and shall share in the merits of the blessed.
- I shall deliver very promptly from purgatory the souls devoted to my rosary.
- The true children of my rosary shall enjoy great glory in heaven.
- What you ask through my rosary, you shall obtain.
- Those who propagate my rosary will be aided by me in all their necessities.
- I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
- Those who recite my rosary faithfully are all my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
- Devotion to my rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Quotations about the Rosary
“If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never fading crown of glory. For even if you are now on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil…sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul. If – you say the Rosary devoutly every day of your life.”
~ St. Louis de Montfort (Author of ‘The Secret of the Rosary.’)
“There is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”
~ Sister Lucia dos Santos, (one of the three shepherd children of Fatima, to whom Our Lady appeared.)
“It is impossible to meditate with devotion upon the Mysteries of the Rosary and live in a state of sin.”
~ Saint John Vianney
“The Rosary is a long chain that links Heaven and earth.”
~ Saint Therese of Lisieux
“Honour Me through My Rosary”.
