28 April 2011: The origin of the Rosary

St Louis de Montfort tells the story of how St Dominic received the Rosary from the Blessed Virgin.

St Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

Our Lady appeared, accompanied by three angels, and said: ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’

‘Oh, my Lady’, answered St Dominic, ‘you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation’.

Our Lady replied: ‘I want you to know, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Thus, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.’

He arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for conversion of the people in that district he went directly to the Cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people and St Dominic began to preach. At the start of his sermon a storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning.

Everybody was very scared. Even greater was their fear when looking at a picture of Our Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God’s vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.

God wished, through these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it widely known. At last at the prayer of St Dominic, the storm ended, and he went on preaching.

So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. Soon a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

Ref: St Louis M de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary”, 1954, 18-9

“Virgo fidelis” -- “Faithful Virgin, pray for us! Teach us to believe as you believed! Make our faith in God, in Christ, in the Church, always be limpid, serene, courageous, strong and generous.” (Pope John Paul II, “The Pope Speaks on Mary”, 1979, p19)

“We ought to perform all our actions through Mary, with Mary and in Mary in order to perform them better through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort (In Rev Joseph A Viano,SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19)

“The Holy Spirit, upon entering a soul and finding there Mary, His beloved Spouse, communicates His life to that soul and fills it with gifts.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort

Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19

The peace Our Lord gives His disciples

‘Peace be to you’, are our Lord’s first words to his apostles on the evening of his resurrection. Peace of the soul and of the heart; the only true happiness in this life. And he repeats them three times in two successive visits.

Why three times? To make us understand the three kinds of peace he desires for us -- peace with God, our neighbor, ourselves.

How much do we value this highest of heavenly gifts, ‘peace with God’? This peace consists in the full and entire conformity of our will with that of God. His will is manifested through the commandments and counsels, the orders of our directors.

All we need do, then, is to ask, “How have I conformed my words, thoughts, and actions to these standards?”

“... after eight days, again his disciples were within, with Thomas. Jesus came, the doors being shut, stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be to you’.” (cf Jn 20:26-7)

Peace with God should always be united to peace with our neighbors. The fulness of this peace, based on charity and fraternal union, is what our Lord desired for his disciples. It was vital to them, for the least division can cause failure of their mission to reunite all nations of the earth by mutual faith, hope, and charity.

The conditions for preserving this peace are: 1) to bear with the defects of others; and 2) to give others nothing to bear from us. Does our rudeness disturb peace and union?

“He said, therefore, to them again, ‘Peace be to you’.” To possess the fulness of peace Jesus desires for his disciples, we must acquire ‘peace with ourselves’. This interior peace consists in a good conscience; the senses and passions subject to reason, and of reason to faith.

This peace is impossible in this world where the flesh and self-love always rebel against the will of God. The peace of our souls must be sought in a perpetual and resolute combat “... resisting the passions, not by serving them, that true peace of heart is to be found.” (Thomas à Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ”)

Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp224-6

• St Peter Chanel, priest and martyr -- A religious of the Society of Mary (Marists). (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1513)

• St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort -- Founder of the “Missionaries of the Company of Mary” (Montfort Fathers) and “Daughters of Wisdom”. A great lover of Mary, he wrote “The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary”.

• Our Lady of the Oak, near the town of Sable, in Anjou. This image has wrought so many miracles, that it is at present very famous in the country; Marshal de Bois-Dauphin built a fine church for it, and a house of reception for the pilgrims.— (Triple Couronne, n. 50.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Oak (“Notre-Dame du Chêne”). Near Sable, Anjou, France. In the Middle Ages. A Druidic custom absorbed by Christianity. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Oak, Anjou, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Oak (near Sable: Anjou, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534) “Our Lady of the Earthquake”. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) NB: See 29, 30 April.
• “Nuestra Señora de Quito” (Our Lady of Quito); Our Lady of the Earthquake. Quito, Ecuador. 1534. Discussed in the visit of John Paul II to Quito. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)