October is a month dedicated to praying the Holy Rosary, which Pope Pius XII established back in 1884. It is known that Pope St. Pius V introduced October 7 as the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1573 to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto, a victory accredited to the praying of the rosary. The name “rosary” was coined from the Latin word “rosarium” which means “rose garden”.
A rosary is widely considered a gift of roses to Our Blessed Mother in heaven.
The rosary has a long history and has gone many changes. When Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1214, she encouraged him to spread devotion to the rosary.
He spent the rest of his life encouraging others to pray the Rosary and founded a Rosary
Confraternity to aid in this task. Hindus used the rosary to help keep track of prayers said throughout the day. In the Christian tradition, early monastic orders would pray the 150 psalms daily. At first, they would use 150 pebbles in a small pouch in order to keep track. This later developed into a string with 150 knots and finally a rope with 150 wooden beads. Members of the laity who did not necessarily know the psalms by heart wanted to have a comparable version of this practice and so the tradition
of praying 150 “Our Fathers” each day was born. A similar string of beads was used to keep track of this as well. In time, the “angelic salutation” of Gabriel has added before each “Our Father”: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Later on, Elizabeth’s greeting was added to this: “Blessed are you among women.” Still, later, the prayer of “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death” was added and the “Hail Mary” as we know it was developed.
One hundred years later, Blessed Alan de la Roche picked up where St. Dominic’s work had ended. He divided the rosary into 10 “Hail Mary” decades preceded by the “Our Father.” In the 15th century, the mysteries of the rosary were assigned to each of the decades. In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three young shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. She declared herself to be “Our Lady of the Rosary” and repeatedly urged the children to recite the rosary daily. In more recent times, Pope John XXIII taught that the Rosary must have a threefold purpose: “mystical contemplation, intimate reflection, and pious intention.”
On October 16, 2002, Pope St. John Paul II added a new set of five mysteries to the rosary. Known as the “Luminous Mysteries” or “The Mysteries of Light,” they focus on Jesus’ public ministry. In his apostolic letter “The Rosary of the Virgin Mary”, he wrote that “The rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at a heart a Christ-centered prayer. It has all the depth of the gospel message in its entirety. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb.”
Article by: Jizelle Juntayas
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