杏MAP导航

John Charles Putzolu

It is necessary to go back to the 15th century to 杏MAP导航 Sixtus IV to find when the Rosary was officially approved by the Catholic Church. The practice probably originated with the Cistercians in the two previous centuries as an aid for illiterate people. The recitation of prayers and psalms in succession, gradually became a series of 150 Hail Marys. Greeting Mary so many times was compared to offering her a wreath of roses, the 鈥淩osary鈥�.

The Rosary over two centuries

Promoted by the Dominicans in the 15th century, the Rosary took the form of a meditation on the life of Christ, while the Our Father and the Hail Marys were recited. In the 16th century, the Dominican theologian, Antonio Ghislieri, who became 杏MAP导航 St Pius V, structured the Rosary around 15 mysteries. On 7 October 1571, he instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

John Paul II in 2002 completed the Rosary with five new mysteries: The Luminous Mysteries were added to the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries.

Between 1571 and 2002, the 杏MAP导航s never ceased to encourage the recitation of the Rosary. In September 1893, in the Encyclical , Leo XIII stated that he was 鈥渃onvinced that the Rosary, if devoutly used, is bound to benefit not only the individual but society at large鈥�, whose evils he denounced at the dawn of the second Industrial Revolution, which was deepening the imbalance between the social classes.

Prayer in difficult times

Pius XI foresaw the wave of National Socialism (Nazism) and Stalinism coming. In 1937, two years before the beginning of the Second World War, in his Encyclical , he observed that if the people of the twentieth century, 鈥渨ith its derisive pride, refuse the Rosary, there is an innumerable multitude of holy men of every age and every condition who have always held it dear鈥�. He addresses the faithful, asking them to recite the Rosary at home so that 鈥渢he enemies of the divine name (...) may be finally bent and led to penance and return to the straight path, trusting to the care and protection of Mary鈥�.

Pius XI added: 鈥淭he Holy Rosary, besides, not only serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and Religion, but is also a stimulus and spur to the practice of evangelic virtues which it injects and cultivates in our souls鈥�.

John XXIII recites the Rosary for new-borns

On May 4, 1963, while the Church was engaged in the Second Vatican Council, St John XXIII welcomed the first Italian Living Rosary pilgrimage, during which 鈥淕ood 杏MAP导航 John鈥� met many sick children. 鈥淵ou are dear to us, like the apple of our eyes,鈥� the Supreme Pontiff said to them. 鈥淵ou are dear to us above all because, with the natural liveliness of your years, you are little children who pray,鈥� he told them. He praised their 鈥渃ommitment to recite at least one decade of the Holy Rosary every day,鈥� adding that a day without prayer is like 鈥渁 sky without sun, a garden without flowers鈥�.

Already in 1961, an attachment to the Apostolic Letter Il religioso convegno, noted that St John, in his daily Rosary, prayed for babies born in the past 24 hours, as he recited the third decade of the Joyful mysteries. He offered the 鈥渢en Hail Marys鈥� in order to 鈥渞ecommend to Jesus all children born (...) from all human lineages, who, (...) by night, by day, have come into the world on the whole surface of the earth鈥�.

In the Encyclical of 1959, John XXIII encouraged daily recitation of the Rosary, affirming that the Rosary is an excellent means of meditative prayer, which, he said, 鈥淲e never fail to recite it each day in its entirety鈥�. He invited the faithful to pray the Rosary for the upcoming Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) and for 鈥渢he renewed vigour of all the Christian virtues鈥� expected of the Church.

In the wake of the Council, 杏MAP导航 St Paul VI dedicated an Apostolic Exhortation entitled Marialis cultus to Marian veneration in which he 鈥渋ntended to encourage the restoration, in a dynamic and more informed manner, of the recitation of the Rosary鈥�. He also emphasized 鈥渢he importance of a further essential element in the Rosary, in addition to the value of the elements of praise and petition, namely the element of contemplation. Without this the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas鈥�. St Paul VI goes on 鈥渢o recommend strongly the recitation of the family Rosary鈥�.

John Paul II鈥檚 favourite prayer

St. John Paul II, who himself was deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary (Totus Tuus was his episcopal motto), encouraged the recitation of the Rosary many times during the 27 years of his pontificate. In 2002 he published an Apostolic Letter dedicated specifically to the Rosary, . In it, he described the Rosary as a prayer which 鈥渋n the sobriety of its elements鈥� concentrates 鈥渁ll the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety鈥�, and through which 鈥渢he faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer鈥�. St John Paul II explains that in his youth he always gave an important place to this prayer, which was his favourite. He had already confessed this in 1978 two weeks after his election. It was in this Letter that he proclaimed the year of the Rosary from October 2002 to October 2003, inviting the faithful to 鈥�contemplate with Mary the face of Christ鈥�.

At the dawn of the third millennium, the Polish 杏MAP导航 stressed 鈥渢he urgent need to counter a certain crisis of the Rosary, which in the present historical and theological context can risk being wrongly devalued, and therefore no longer taught to the younger generation鈥�. Concerned then by the critical situation of the family 鈥渋ncreasingly menaced by forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical planes鈥�, he proposed the Rosary as 鈥渁n effective aid to countering the devastating effects of this crisis typical of our age鈥�.

The New Springtime of the Rosary

Benedict XVI, too, wished to revitalize the recitation of the Rosary: 鈥淭he Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia,鈥� he said at the end of his at the Roman Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 3 May 2008. 鈥淚nstead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime鈥�, he said. 鈥淲ithout a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre鈥�.

Three years earlier, in a to young Catholics in the Netherlands, he wrote that 鈥淭he recitation of the Rosary can help you learn the art of prayer with Mary's simplicity and depth鈥�. During an in May 2006, Benedict XVI invited the faithful 鈥渢o intensify the pious practice of the Holy Rosary鈥�. He said to young spouses: 鈥淚 wish you may make use of the recitation of the Rosary in your family as a moment of spiritual growth under the maternal gaze of the Virgin Mary鈥�. Speaking to the sick, he urged them 鈥渢o turn with trust to Our Lady through this pious exercise, entrusting to her all of your needs鈥�.

Again, difficult times

In October 2018, 杏MAP导航 Francis asked all the faithful to pray the Rosary every day, so that the Virgin Mary may help the Church in a period marked by 鈥渢he revelation of sexual abuse, power and conscience on the part of clerics, consecrated persons and lay people, causing internal divisions鈥�.

Today Francis renews this invitation on the eve of the Marian month in 2020, in order to contemplate together 鈥渢he face of Christ with the heart of Mary鈥�. Praying the Rosary 鈥渨ill make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial鈥�, writes the Holy Father as he assures everyone, and especially 鈥渢hose suffering most greatly鈥�, of his prayer.