The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-03
THE HOLY ROSARY.

tS he 7OLH hOSHhH.
In the beginning of the thirteenth
century, the south of France was raw
aged by the impious and immoral
Albigensian heretics. Like all here
tics, the Albigensians attacked the
Mother of God. st. Dominic, who had
recently founded the great Dominican
Order, applied himself to the task of
Kidding the world of the dreadful pest.
That he might be able to accomplish
this task, he had recourse to fervent
prayer to the Blessed Virgin, whose
dignity was impiously attacked by the
heretics, and to whom it is given to
destroy all heresies in the whole world
The Mother Of God, as tradition tells
us, told him to preach to the people
the devotion of the Rosary, as a pro-
lection against heresies and vices.
He fulfilled the commands of the
Queen of Heaven with wonderful zeal,
and his efforts on behalf Of religion
and morality were crowned with
marvellous success. From that time
Saint Dominic endeavoured to spread
the devotion Of the Holy Rosary every
where, and the great Order that bears
his name has always followed in his
footsteps in this respect. The
Popes in their Apostolic letters have
frequently attributed to st. Dominic
the glory of originating this devotion.
Christendom has been blessed with
countless faVOurS, obtained through
saved from Turkish tyranny and bar
baFisn5' may be attributed to" the,
powerful intercession of the Mother
of God, in answer to the rosaries said
by her devout clients. The wonder
full naval victory of Lepanto which
was gained by the Christians under
Don John of Austria on the first Sun
day Of October in the year 1911, and
which broke the power of the Turks
on sea, responded wonderfully to the
professions made at Rome on the
same day by the members of the Holy
Rosary confraternity. st. Plus V, the
reigning Pope, thereupon ordered
that a COmmemoration of the Holy
Rosary should be made on that day,
and at the request of the Dominican
Order, Pope Gregory XIII in 1873 al
lowed this feast to be kept in all
churches which possessed an altar
dedicated to the Holy Rosary. On the
fifth of August, 1716, the feast of our
Lady of Shows, when all Christendom
was once more in terror of the Turk
ish peril, and the faithful clients of
Mary at r me were saying their Ros-
airy to obtain the aid of the Help of
Christians against the infdel hosts.
Prince Eugene at the head of the
Christian army defeated the Turks at
Peterwardein in Hungary. ThereupOn
Pope Clement XI commanded the
feast of the Holy Rosary to be cele-
brated by the whole Church. Pope
Benedict XIII ordered that these glor-
les of the Rosary be included in the
Roman Breviary in the Office for the
feast. Leo XIII raised the rank of the
festival and added to the Litany of
the Blessed Virgin the invocation
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" He
also granted to the Universal Church
a proper or special Office for the
Feast. Keenly aware of the manifold
the souls of men, he repeatedly called
upon all the faithful to take up this
devotion with zeal, especially during
the month of October. Many indul-
gences are attached to the recitation
of the Rosary. On the feast of the
Holy Rosary, the first Sunday of Oc-
tober, in every church in which the
Rosary Confraternity has been duly
erected, a plenary indulgence totes
QUOTES is granted upon certain con-
ditions to all who visit therein the
Rosary chapel or statue of our Lady
This has been called the "Portiuncula"
of the Rosary.
The Word Rosary" means a gar
land or bouquet of roses and was Of
ten used as in a figurative sense, as
for example in the title of a book, to
denote a collection of extracts of I'M
usual literary excellence. An early
legend. known all over Europe, tells
that Our Lady was seen to take rose
buds from the lips of young monk
when he was reciting Hail Marys and
to weave them into a garland which
she placed upon her head. And the
Rosary properly said is crown of
Roses laid at the feet of the Queen
of Heaven.
The Rosary consists of fifteen de-
cades or tens of Hail Marys with an
Our Father between each ten, while
at each decade we recall in pious
meditation one of the Mysteries of our
redemption The Lords Prayer and
the Hail Mary contain matter for the
meditation of a lifetime as the ex-
plantations of them by holy and
learned men show. Meditation on the
mysteries is the essential point, how
ever, in the correct recitation on the
Rosary. Daily experience of faithful