The daily recitation of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin must be our constant preoccupation. It is the Gospel in a nutshell, and a concise life of Christ as witnessed by His Mother. I’m setting up this page as an introduction to the whole drama of this vital institution of the Church, which has prospered for some eight hundred years and is still today a notable feature of our visible communion with heaven. Our great Saints are not to be seen in their icons without their rosary beads and our holiest priests and Religious are forever fumbling with their chaplets. This page will dwell upon the repeated instruction of our Blessed Lady to various visionaries that they take up themselves and propagate the devotion to daily recitation of the rosary, and should hopefully be a small encouragement to the same.
The fifteen promises
made by our Lady to Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche
- Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.
- I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
- The Rosary shall be a powerful armour against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
- The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
- The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
- Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
- Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
- Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
- I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
- The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
- You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
- All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
- I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
- All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
- Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
The Saints on the Rosary
“One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.”
Saint Dominic of Guzman (1170-1221)
“If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I assure you that in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if, and mark well what I say — if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon of your sins.”
Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort (1673-1716)
“The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.”
the Holy Father Leo XIII (1810-1903)
“There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessing upon the family than the daily recitation of the Rosary. The Rosary is the most beautiful and richest of all prayers to the Mediatrix of all grace; it is the prayer that touches most the heart of the Mother of God. Say it each day.”
the Holy Father Saint Pius X (1835-1914)
“If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labours.”
the Holy Father Pius XI (1857-1939)
“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (aka. Padre Pio, 1887-1968)
“The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.”
the Venerable Mgr. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
“The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results. If you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son’s path. Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary’s which purifies the monotony of your sins! You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God.”
Saint Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)
“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
Sister Lúcia dos Santos (one of the shepherd children of Fátima, 1907-2005)
The Rosary in art
The Mysteries of the Rosary
I. Joyful mysteries
- The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin
- The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin to Saint Elizabeth
- The Nativity of our Lord
- The Presentation of our Lord in the Temple
- The Finding of the Lord in the Temple
II. Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary
- The Agony of our Lord in the Garden
- The Scourging at the Pillar
- The Crowning of our Lord with Thorns
- The Carrying of the Cross
- The Crucifixion and death of our Lord
III. Glorious Mystery of the Rosary
- The Resurrection of our Lord
- The Ascension of our Lord to Heaven
- The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin
- The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven
- The Crowning of the Blessed Virgin as Queen of Heaven and Earth
IV. Luminous Mystery of the Rosary (optional)
- The baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan
- The miracle at the wedding-feast at Cana
- Our Lord’s proclamation of the Kingdom
- The Transfiguration
- The Institution of the Eucharist
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 