Saints On Series: Vol I - Saints, Popes and Blesseds Speak on the Rosary

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Fox, Rory Michael.

Saints On Series: Vol I - Saints, Popes and Blesseds Speak On The Rosary /by Rory Michael Fox

– E-Saint Library eBook Edition

1. Rosary. 2. Prayer 3. Catholicism 4. Saints 5. Blessed Virgin Mary. 6. Mariology. 7. Marian Devotion. 8. Christian Theology. 9. Christian Spirituality. 10. Title.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ST DOMINIC AND THE TRADITIONAL ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY

15 PROMISES OF THE ROSARY

HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY

THE ROSARY MYSTERIES

The Joyful Mysteries

The Luminous Mysteries

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The Glorious Mysteries

SAINTS, POPES AND BLESSEDS SPEAK ON THE ROSARY

POPE LEO XIII – THE ROSARY POPE – ON OUR LADY AND THE ROSARY

SUPREMI APOSTOLATUS OFFICIO (On Devotion of the Rosary )

SUPERIORE ANNO (On the Recitation of the Rosary)

VI E BEN NOTO (On the Rosary and Public Life)

OCTOBRI MENSE (On the Rosary)

MAGNAE DEI MATRIS (On the Rosary)

LAETITIAE SANCTAE (Commending Devotion to the Rosary)

IUCUNDA SEMPER EXPECTATIONE (ON THE ROSARY)

ADIUTRICEM (On the Rosary)

FIDENTEM PIUMQUE ANIMUM (On the Rosary)

AUGUSTISSIMAE VIRGINIS MARIAE (On the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary)

DIUTURNI TEMPORIS (On the Rosary)

ROSARY MIRACLES

Battle of Lepanto, 1571

Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, 1917

Father Patrick Peyton, the Rosary Priest, 1938

Miracle at Hiroshima, August 6th, 1945

Russians Pull out of Austria, 1955

The Rosary Saves Brazil from Communism, 1962-1964

The Rosary stops a serial killer, 1978

The Rosary Defeats Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, 1986

ALTERNATE ROSARY PRAYERS

Chaplet Of The Divine Mercy

Novena Of The Divine Mercy

The Holy Wounds Chaplet

The Franciscan Crown

Chaplet of Saint Michael the Archangel

A CLOSING PRAYER FROM THE EDITOR

INTRODUCTION

I always enjoy the challenge of conducting deep research into a subject in which I am, at the beginning, perhaps familiar, but certainly no expert. The learning curve such a challenge sets before the writer/editor can be exhilarating, indeed. So, when I agreed to plan, research and compile this first volume of the Saints On Series for E-Saint Library, I expected to learn a great deal about the Rosary. I did not expect to have my life fundamentally changed – yet, to my surprise and delight, that’s exactly what happened.

Before setting to work on this volume, I felt toward the Rosary the way all too many lay Catholics probably do, thinking of it as something of a cherished heirloom of the Church, akin to a great uncle’s antique pocket watch one is glad to know is up in the attic in its dusty old box, but which one rarely, if ever, takes down to wind, polish and put into use as the quality timepiece it was designed to be.

But in the course of researching and compiling Saints, Popes and Blesseds Speak On The Rosary, I set myself the task of actually praying five decades of the Rosary every day, following the traditional method and Mysteries outlined in the How to Pray the Rosary and The Rosary Mysteries chapters of this book. While I cannot profess to have been 100% faithful to that commission, I did try my best, and the outcome has been nothing less than wonderful. My personal devotion to Jesus Christ, the Blessed Mother and the Holy Roman Catholic Church has deepened in ways I did not know could be possible. In the months it has taken to compose this volume, I have drawn more profoundly close to Jesus and Mary than many years of scholarly reading and regular Mass attendance were ever able to drive through my, perhaps, uniquely dull human senses.

There is an extraordinary transformative quality to the Rosary that cannot be captured in the words of any book, least of all this one. The true power of the Rosary to change lives, to change our world, lies less in the knowing: -- knowing its history, techniques, variants, etc., though those are certainly important and interesting – than in the doing," in the hands on, day by day, prayerful personal encounter with Jesus and Mary in the Rosary Mysteries, with that timeless series of events by which they mutually wove our Salvation. You can’t get that in any book, and it is my prayer for you that you will not let the 40,000 or so words in the present volume, however informative or inspiring, serve as the sum total of your encounter with Mary’s beautiful gift to St. Dominic, and through him, to all of us. I pray that this book will bless you with knowledge, of course, but also with the Grace of inspiration to dust off those Rosary beads languishing in your attic, curio cabinet or dresser drawer and embark on an enduring personal journey through the Mysteries, that your life may be transformed.

I would like to add one scholarly note regarding the traditional story of the origin of the Rosary that opens this volume, as an example of my personal philosophy toward Catholicism, and my editorial philosophy in relation to this series.

As a researcher, I am of course aware that many faithful Catholic scholars scoff at the notion that the Rosary and its associated devotion were delivered intact to St. Dominic from the hand of the Blessed Virgin, Herself, preferring to view that version of the story as a pious fiction innocuously invented to help popularize the devotion. Such scholars generally prefer an evolutionary understanding of the Rosary, sighting the practice of ninth century Irish monks known to recite the 150 Davidic Psalms as a major part of their worship, with the modern structure of the rosary gradually evolving between the 12th and 15th centuries.

First, let me state that I personally and unequivocally believe that the Blessed Virgin gave the Rosary to St. Dominic in the year 1214, precisely as related by St. Louis de Montfort in the opening chapter of this volume. I believe that the scoffers, without questioning their intentions, are simply wrong.

But further, I would like to remind both skeptical and pious readers of this work of a longstanding tradition of the Church in matters of this nature. It has long been the tradition of the Church to favor the faith in such controversies, favoring not those accounts for which there is the greatest supporting natural evidence, as if religion and science were somehow bound by the same Cartesian rules, but rather those versions which most compellingly testify to the uniquely Christian understanding of our human place in a supernatural Creation undergirded by the Grace of a living, personal God.

Perhaps the best known example of this favoring comes from the 1 Kings, 17, in which Elijah is fed by ravens in the desert. Scholars have known from the very beginning that the Hebrew word translated in that passage as raven, those mysterious avian scavengers of the desert sands, can just as accurately be translated Bedouin, i.e., the nomadic tribesmen known to inhabit the area at the time. But in no Bible translation anywhere, at any time, will you find Elijah fed by Bedouin tribesmen. He is fed, in dramatically supernatural fashion, by ravens, commanded by God to care for his Prophet.

The natural evidence may not support that interpretation, but the supernatural evidence is overwhelming. An empirical, rational evaluation of the story points to a man lost in the desert lucky enough to encounter hospitable nomads. The super-rational view, confirmed by the Church in every known translation of the Hebrew text, reveals the love, mercy, Grace and power of God, and demonstrates His ability and willingness to act personally in and on His Creation, for the furtherance of His plan and the benefit of human beings.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfort in the opening chapter ahead, exemplifies this same trait, stepping personally and Grace-fully into History in order to grant St. Dominic the perfect weapon for defeating the Albigensian heresy and preserving the true Church – the Rosary. To be honest, any natural evidence contradicting this account is of no interest to me. The supernatural evidence is overwhelming.

Throughout this work, and in any future volumes of the Saints On Series I am blessed to edit, I promise to consistently favor the faith in all matters in which scholars and skeptics threaten to demystify our beautiful, supernatural Catholic Faith.

If taking that stand makes me, in your estimation, an unscrupulous purveyor of pious fiction, by all means DO NOT buy this book! There are numerous skeptical treatises available that are sure to be more to your liking.

If, however, my pronouncement leaves you cheering (I can almost hear you!) and eager to dive into this study, Bravo! Plunge ahead! I am very grateful for your readership. May this humble work bless you, and bring you closer to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

-- Rory Michael Fox

March 19, 2012, the Feast of the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

ST DOMINIC AND THE TRADITIONAL ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY

An Excerpt from The Secret of the Rosary for Renewal and Salvation by St. Louis de Montfort

It was only in the year 1214... that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book De Dignitate Psalterii, by Blessed Alan de la Roche. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people's sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said, Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?

Oh, my Lady, answered Saint Dominic, you know far better than I do, because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.

Then our Lady replied, I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.

So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for the conversion of the people in that district, he made straight for the cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together, and Saint Dominic began to preach.

At the very beginning of his sermon, an appalling storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning that all were very much afraid. Even greater was their fear when, looking at a picture of our Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God's vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the holy Mother of God. God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the holy Rosary and to make it more widely known.

At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm came to an end, and he went on preaching. So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

The miraculous way in which the devotion to the holy Rosary was established is something of a parallel to the way in which God gave his law to the world on Mount Sinai, and it obviously proves its value and importance.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, instructed by the Blessed Virgin as well as by his own experience, Saint Dominic preached the Rosary for the rest of his life. He preached it by his example as well as by his sermons, in cities and in country places, to people of high station and low, before scholars and the uneducated, to Catholics and to heretics.

The Rosary, which he said every day, was his preparation for every sermon and his little tryst with our Lady immediately after preaching.

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