The Most Holy Rosary

The Sorrowful And Immaculate Hear Of Mary

The Rosary is, in form, a meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother.

The Rosary  is made up of two things:

• Mental Prayer - the meditation on the mysteries.

• Vocal Prayer - the recitation of the 15 decades.

Each decade is headed by an Our Father followed with 10 Hail Marys. With the recitation of the Rosary, one should  meditate on and contemplate the 15 principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practiced in the 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

The Three Mysteries

• Joyful Mystery
• Sorrowful Mystery
• Glorious Mystery

Origin of the Rosary

Saint Dominic withdraw into a forest near Toulouse when he saw the gravity of the people's sins that hindered the conversion of the Albigensians. He prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. He wept and did harsh penances to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated and he fell into a coma.

Our Lady appeared to him with three angels. She said, "Dear Dominic, do you know  which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to be  used  to reform the world?"

"Oh, my Lady," Saint Dominic anwered, "You know far better than I do because next to your son, Jesus Christ, you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation."

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

So he arose, comforted with so much zeal for the conversion of the people in that district, he made straight to the Cathedral. At once, unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together and Saint Dominic began to preach.

At the beginning of his sermon, an appalling storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun darkened and there was so much thunder and lightning that all were much afraid. Their fear was greater when they looked at the picture of Our Lady, exposed in a prominent place, saw her arms raised to heaven three times to call down God's vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted and to amend their lives and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.

God wished by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of The Holy Rosary and  make it more widely known.

At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm stopped and he started preaching. So fervently and compellingly, he explained the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. In a very short time, a great improvement was seen in the town. People began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

(Note: The picture of the SORROWFUL AND IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY  was somewhat mysterious in its origin. This was discovered at the time of the 1918 armistice in the cellar of the boarding school where Berthe Petit, a humble Franciscan Tertiary, had been educated. After the troops had departed, a Bernardine nun found a pornographic picture which she tore to pieces and threw to the flames.  To her astonishment she found this beautiful representation of the Blessed Virgin! It seemed to be a combination of the art of both the Eastern and the Western Rites. The facial features resembled those of the well known Pieta. Prayer before this picture has brought signal favors.

Confided by Our Lord to Berthe Petit, "Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced by the very sorrow which pierced Mine." (December 25, 1909).

"The Heart of my Mother has the right to be called Sorrowful and I wish this title be placed before that of Immaculate because she has won it herself. The Church has defined in the case of My Mother what I, myself, had ordained - Her Immaculate Conception. This right which My Mother has to a title of justice, is now, according to My express wish, be known and universally accepted. She has earned it by her identification with My sorrows; by her sufferings; by her sacrifices and her immolation in the Calvary endured in perfect correspondence with My grace for the salvation of mankind." (September 6, 1911).

"It is the heart that must be changed. This would be accomplished only by the Devotion proclaimed, explained, preached and recommended everywhere. Recourse to My Mother, under this title I wish for her universally, would be the last help I shall give before the end of time." (July 2, 1940).