“In union with the perfect confidence and hope that the Holy and Blessed Virgin placed in Thee, do I hope O Lord.”​

~ Pope Saint Pius V

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   October is devoted to Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, the feast of which is celebrated on the 7th of the month, commemorating the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, a victory which Pope Saint Pius V attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Mother through the prayer of the Holy Rosary.

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   The Formulation of the Rosary finds its roots in several early prayer traditions of the Church.  Third century hermits and monks - the Desert Fathers - used stones, and later, prayer ropes, to mark off their praying of the 150 Psalms that comprise much of the Divine Office today. Short prayers, like the Jesus Prayer, uttered over and over again using beads as a meditation, also became popular, as was a similar recitation of the Our Father.

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   The development and inclusion of the Hail Mary that we pray today took place over a thousand years, the earliest of which added Mary's name to the message delivered to her by the Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1: 28). By AD 1050, the words Elizabeth used to greet her cousin during Mary's visitation were added (Luke 1: 42), and in AD 1261, Pope Urban IV added the name of Jesus to Elizabeth's words.  In AD 1555, St. Peter Canisius published a Catechism that included the Hail Mary prayer, adding the petition: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners", and 11 years later, at the Council of Trent, the final petition was lengthened to include: "now and at the hour of our death." The complete prayer as we know it today was given official approval by the Church, under Pope Saint Pius V, in AD 1568.

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   Overall, the Rosary is a Scripture-based devotional prayer, in spite of many popular opinions to the contrary.  It begins with the Apostles' Creed, which summarizes the great mysteries of the Catholic faith.  The earliest written form of this creed (then known as the Roman Creed) is found in a letter to Pope Julius in AD 341, and its authorship had long since been attributed to the Apostles themselves, who composed its content together in the time following Pentecost, before the left Jerusalem to preach.  Saint Ambrose, great doctor of the West, refers to it as the Apostles' Creed by AD 390, calling it "the creed of the Apostles which the Church of Rome keeps and guards in its entirety." The Our Father, which introduces each mystery, is taken from the Gospels.  Finally, the Mysteries of the Rosary center on the Scriptural events of Christ's life, organized into four categories: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, & Luminous.  The repetitious nature of the Rosary is meant to lead one into restful and contemplative prayer related to each Mystery, inviting us to enter into the silence of our hearts, where the Spirit of Christ dwells.

 

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O Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary,

Pray for us!

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Oremvs Pro Invicem!

Father Albert Beltz, KHS, Pastor

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