Origin of the Rosary

Pray the Rosary
 
Tuesday Morning Rosary is every Tuesday at 8:00 am.  Stay for daily Mass at 8:30 am.
What a great power hour to start your day!
 

 
The following reflection was shared by Don Berghammer with the men of our Wednesday, That Man Is You sessions.
The text is taken from the book A Month of Mary According to the Spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, by Father Gaspar Gill
 

Origin of the Rosary -

The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in its present form was instituted by Saint Dominic. But as early as the year 1094 Peter the Hermit had invented a kind of rosary of beads of wood, upon which the Crusaders, who were generally uneducated men, recited a certain number of Paters (Our Father) and Aves (Hail Mary), varied according to the solemnity of the feasts.

Historians also relate that even before that time pious persons were in the habit of reciting a series of Paters and Aves upon knotted cords. In the East it was the custom to present crowns of roses to persons of distinction. Saint Gregory Nazianzen, moved by ardent piety towards the Mother of Our Redeemer, offered to her, instead of a material crown of roses, a spiritual crown of prayers. It consisted of a long string of the highest praises and most glorious titles and excellent prerogatives of Mary.

Saint Bridget, Patroness of Ireland, who lived in the fifth century, developed this pious idea of Saint Gregory by substituting for those prayers which were unknown to the people the more popular and more beautiful prayers of the Credo, the Pater, and the Ave Maria. And to regulate the number of prayers to be recited, the Saint adopted the method of the anchorets of threading beads of stone or of wood together in the form of a crown or chaplet.

The word 'Rosary' signifies a crown of roses, and the prayers, the expression of the heart's affections, of which it is composed, are spiritual roses with which we adorn the head of our dear Blessed Mother. It is said that a holy solitary was watching one day a poor old woman reciting her rosary with great devotion, when he observed an Angel by her side holding a golden thread, upon which he strung a rose for every Ave, and a lily for every Pater; afterwards he placed this garland in the form of a crown upon the head of the old woman, and disappeared, leaving behind him a sweet fragrance of roses. This fragrance was often perceived in former days in churches, after the recital of the Rosary.


Prayer

- O Mary, my good Mother! obtain for me an ardent love for your Divine Son, my Saviour Jesus Christ. From Him you can obtain all that you desire; obtain, then, for me the grace to be always so united to the Divine Will that I may never again be separated from it. I ask you not, my Mother, for earthly goods, nor honours, nor riches; but I ask of you that which you have much more at heart, the grace to love my God. Is it possible that you should refuse to assist me in a work which is so agreeable to you? No; you will help me, my good Mother - you will pray for me. Pray then, O Sacred Virgin, and cease not to pray for me, until you see me in heaven, out of danger of losing my God, and certain of loving Him throughout eternity. May I be able to thank Him forever, with you, my good and charitable Mother, for so great a mercy.

Amen.