“Great is the strength of an army that holds in its hands,
not the sword, but the ROSARY!” Ven. Pope Pius IX
10
The tremendous supernatural worth
of the Rosary does not stem from the
revelations or from 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 preeminent devotion to Mary: a
devotion as strong in doctrine as it is
fervent in piety. Doctrine and piety,
dogma and love, truth and life lay at the
supernatural core of this wonderful
devotion.
The 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.