“Great is the strength of an army that holds in its hands,
not the sword, but the ROSARY!” Ven. Pope Pius IX
34
The tremendous supernatural worth
of the Rosary does not stem from the
revelations or the request of Our Lady
at Lourdes or at Fatima, authentic
though they are. NO! The true and
substantial worth of this devotion comes
principally from the very essence of
its Doctrine and from the solemn
teaching and formal recommendations
of Holy Mother the Church.
Pope Leo XIII promulgated twenty-
three pontifical documents, among
them eleven Encyclicals, to establish
the Rosary as a prayer for individuals,
for the family, for society and for the
whole Church. “I consider nothing
better or more opportune,” he said,
“than to recommend and promote
this method of prayer so that, by
the Rosary and as a result of the
frequent consideration of these
Mysteries of Salvation, faith may be
made more alive in the hearts of
men, and the sacred fire of prayer
may be enkindled anew and glow
as a pledge of peace, of moral
elevation and of prosperity.”
The fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary
form an admirable and complete
synthesis in the form of meditation of
the whole dogma of the Redemption.
The Rosary is a masterpiece of evangelical
simplicity, delightfully filial in
manner and winningly childlike, as a
prayer uttered by little ones who pour
forth their love to a tender Mother.
The filial piety of Catholics, always
regulated and guided by the authority
of the Church, has made the Rosary
the pre-eminent devotion to Mary: a
devotion as strong in doctrine as it is
fervent in piety. Doctrine and piety,
dogma and love, and truth and life
lay at the supernatural core of this
wonderful devotion.
T
he meditations of the Rosary link
up in a wondrous chain the joys,
sorrows, and glories of Jesus and
Mary, which are always divinely interlocked.
The center, whether visible or
invisible, of all the Mysteries is always
the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ.