The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Objection: “Why pray the Rosary? It is not mentioned in the Bible.”
The Holy Rosary is a form of popular devotion that has its earliest origins in the Later Middle Ages. Since the time of the Church Fathers, it has been the common practice of laity to recite with clergy and religious the Liturgical Hours commonly known as the Divine Office. The most popular Hour is that of Vespers (6:00 p.m.). For the most dedicated laity, daily recitation of the Divine Office would involve praying all one hundred and fifty Psalms of David per week. According to Cassian and St Benedict of Nursia, certain religious even prayed all one hundred and fifty Psalms per day.
Throughout the Church’s history, however, the Divine Office has been a prayer only for the literate or those who could memorize the Psalms. For the illiterate, the Holy Spirit would inspire a simpler but wonderful alternative. Thus, over time, another ‘psalter’ of one hundred and fifty prayers was developed and adopted by the learned and unlearned alike — the Psalter of Mary. Both the physical form of the Holy Rosary and the type and number of prayers have been changed over the centuries.(1)
Certainly, being a form of prayer first developed in the Middle Ages we do not find the Holy Rosary mentioned in the Bible. But of what ultimate consequence is this? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of excellent prayers used by both Catholics and Protestants that have been written only in recent centuries and not mentioned in the Bible either. Most of these are prayers to Jesus himself or the Holy Spirit, rather than to the Father. Should they, together with the Holy Rosary, be discarded simply because they are “not mentioned in the Bible”?
What is important is whether the doctrines underlying the prayers of the Holy Rosary are found in or are consistent with the Bible. In general, mainstream Protestants would have no objection to the contents of the Apostles’ Creed, which is the first prayer of the Rosary. Nor would any reasonable Protestant object to the Lord’s Prayer, the Trinitarian Doxology (the Glory Be)(2) or the contents of the ‘O my Jesus’ prayer.(3) The only real problems for Protestants are the prayers commonly known as the ‘Hail Mary’ and the ‘Hail, Holy Queen.’ Protestant objection to the Holy Rosary is essentially tied up with Protestant objection to Marian devotion in general. This is not the place to give a detailed defense of Marian devotion. All that needs to be said is that the Hail Mary and the Hail Holy Queen are simply intercessory prayers, having their foundation and legitimacy in the doctrine of the Communion of Saints (1 Cor. 12:26-27; Lk 15:10; Heb. 12:1).
Second objection: “Catholics think that counting beads is going to get them to heaven!”
Those who do not know what the Holy Rosary is often dismiss it as “counting beads.” The Holy Rosary is a prayer that is both oral and mental. The Holy Rosary in its entirety recalls twenty events (otherwise known as ‘mysteries’ because of their sublimity) in the lives of Jesus and Mary that each teach a lesson in faith and virtue. These mysteries are divided into four groups of five. The first group is called the Joyful Mysteries (because of their joyous nature), the second the Luminous Mysteries (because they commemorate Jesus’ revealing of himself and the announcement of his Kingdom), the third the Sorrowful Mysteries (because they commemorate Jesus in his passion and death) and the fourth the Glorious Mysteries (because they commemorate the triumph of Jesus and Mary over the devil, sin and death). Each mystery consists of one ‘Our Father,’ ten ‘Hail Marys,’ one ‘Glory be’ and one ‘O my Jesus’ prayer. While these vocal prayers are recited, the person praying simultaneously meditates on the mystery at hand. Rosary beads are valued not only as a blessed sacramental, but also as an efficacious tool to help keep track of where one is up to in the recitation.
The Joyful Mysteries are:
(i) The Annunciation: This mystery calls to mind the visit of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary in Nazareth. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are purity and obedience.
(ii) The Visitation: This mystery calls to mind the visit of the Virgin Mary to St Elizabeth in the hills of Judea. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is the love of neighbor in service.
(iii) The Nativity of Jesus: This mystery calls to mind the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are love of God and poverty of spirit.
(iv) The Presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple: This mystery calls to mind the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is obedience to God.
(v) The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple: This mystery calls to mind the finding of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem by the Virgin Mary and St Joseph. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are the desire to always be in the presence of God and a love for Holy Wisdom.
The Luminous Mysteries are:
(i) The Baptism of Jesus: This mystery calls to mind the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is fidelity to our baptismal promises through the Holy Spirit.
(ii) The Wedding at Cana: This mystery calls to mind the first public miracle performed by Jesus through the intercession of his holy Mother. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is trust in Jesus through Mary.
(iii) The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Call to Repentance: This mystery calls to mind the proclamation by Jesus of his Father’s Kingdom on earth. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are repentance and trust in God.
(iv) The Transfiguration: This mystery calls to mind the manifestation of Jesus’ divinity on Mount Tabor. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are wonder and contempt of the world.
(v) The Institution of the Eucharist: This mystery calls to mind the institution of the Holy Eucharist by Jesus at the Last Supper. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is adoration.
The Sorrowful Mysteries are:
(i) The Agony in the Garden: This mystery calls to mind the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are obedience to God’s will and sorrow for sin.
(ii) The Scourging at the Pillar: This mystery calls to mind the cruel scourging that Jesus received at the hands of the Romans. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are the practise of penance and sorrow for sins of the flesh.
(iii) The Crowning with Thorns: This mystery calls to mind the crown of thorns that was placed on and pierced the sacred head of Jesus. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is the practise of moral courage.
(iv) The Carrying of the Cross: This mystery calls to mind Jesus carrying his Cross to Mount Calvary. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is perseverance in the love of God and in the spiritual life.
(v) The Crucifixion on Mount Calvary: This mystery calls to mind the crucifixion and death of Jesus on the Cross. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are the love of God and the desire for a happy and holy death.
The Glorious Mysteries are:
(i) The Resurrection: This mystery calls to mind the resurrection on the third day of Jesus from the dead. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are faith in God and hope of heaven.
(ii) The Ascension: This mystery calls to mind the ascension of Jesus by his own power into heaven. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is a desire to be with Jesus.
(iii) The Descent of the Holy Spirit: This mystery calls to mind the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles on Pentecost Day. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is a zeal for spreading the Faith.
(iv) The Assumption of the Virgin Mary: This mystery calls to mind the assumption of the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heavenly glory by God. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery are a love of Mary and true devotion to her.
(v) The Coronation of the Virgin Mary: This mystery calls to mind the coronation of the Virgin Mary as Queen of heaven and earth. Included among the virtues exemplified by this mystery is a confident trust in the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
Simply counting beads certainly gets nobody into heaven, but the Holy Rosary is not about bead counting. It is about praying and meditating on the lives of the two greatest persons in history. Meditating on the deeds of the Lord is certainly an action praised by Scripture (Ps. 77:12; Lk 1:49). The sublimity of the first Joyful Mystery alone (the Incarnation) is a truth so awesome that it goes to the heart of God’s own love for humanity. Catholics have, for over eight centuries, obtained many spiritual and temporal benefits from the faithful recitation of the Holy Rosary and know that, together with their baptism, faith in Jesus and obeying the Ten Commandments, it will help them get to heaven.
Third objection: “The Bible condemns repetitious prayer, so how can repeating Hail Marys be right?”
This objection is usually raised by those Protestants who use the King James Version of the Bible which incorrectly translates Matt. 6:7 as follows: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
The critical Greek word in Matt. 6:7 is battalogesete. It literally means to “babble.” The Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition of the Bible more appropriately renders this verse in these words: “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases (babble) as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Jesus was not intending to condemn repetitious prayers per se but rather the use of many empty phrases. We know this also from the fact that Jesus himself repeated the same prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane three times: “So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words” (Mt 26:44).
Furthermore, it was the custom of the Jews to praise God singing the Psalms in the Temple, in the synagogues and in Jewish homes. Jesus himself would have often sung the Psalms in public and in private. St Paul in Col. 3:16 exhorts Christians to continue in the singing of psalms. Jesus and the early Christians therefore would have often sung Ps. 136, a wonderful example of a prayer that praises God with the words “for his steadfast love endures for ever” repeated twenty-six times! Likewise, the heavenly court of angels continuously recite repetitious prayers before the throne of God: “and day and night they never cease to sing, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8).
Finally, Martin Luther had fond words for the Hail Mary, and certainly recommended his followers to recite it:
We can use the Hail Mary as a meditation in which we recite what grace God has given her. Second, we should add a wish that everyone may know and respect her … He who has no faith is advised to refrain from saying the Hail Mary.(4)
Fourth objection: “Why ten Hail Marys and only one Our Father! Is Mary ten times more important for Catholics?”
No, she is not. There is only one God for Catholics and he is infinitely “more important” than any creature, even one as great as the Virgin Mary. Listen to the words of St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort (1673-1716), perhaps the greatest Marian devotee in the Church’s history:
I avow, with all the Church, that Mary, being a mere creature that has come from the hands of the Most High, is in comparison with his Infinite Majesty less than an atom; or rather, she is nothing at all, because only he is ‘He who is.’(5)
It is erroneous to look at the Our Father and Hail Mary as if they were ultimately prayers to two different persons. The Our Father is a prayer directly to God the Father through Christ our Lord. The Hail Mary is a prayer indirectly to God the Father through the intercession of the Virgin Mary: “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Who does the Virgin Mary pray to in heaven but God the Father; and through whom does she go to the Father but her son Jesus? If those in heaven are “a cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) then why is it wrong for Catholics to ask the Virgin Mary to pray for them, given that St Paul could ask for the prayers of his fellow earth-bound Christians who yet did not possess the vision of God (Rom. 15:30; Heb. 13:18)?
Lastly, as the Holy Rosary is a devotion honoring and invoking the Virgin Mary it should not be so surprising that it has such a pronounced Marian flavor to it. The fact that there are ten Hail Marys also gives ample time to the devotee to meditate on the mystery in question, mysteries which all relate to the lives of Jesus and Mary.
Fifth objection: “The Rosary is a legacy of paganism; therefore the Catholic Church is pagan for promoting it!”
This type of objection is often raised by those who habitually oppose Catholic practices not because there is anything intrinsically wrong with them, but simply because they are distinctly Catholic. Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) showed that many pagan practices have entered both Catholic and Protestant cultures — such as the use of wedding rings in marriage — without bringing with them elements of the pagan religion that begot them. The use of beads in prayer is also found in Islam and in Buddhism, for example, but there is no connection between such usage and the use of Rosary beads in Catholicism. Even if there were any connection, it could not be shown that any peculiar Islamic or Buddhist beliefs have thereby been incorporated into Catholicism. The claim that the Holy Rosary has pagan origins and is simply a mask to bring about the paganization of Christianity has no foundation whatsoever. In any case, the Holy Rosary is not based on the beads, but upon the prayers said and the mysteries meditated upon.
St Louis de Montfort relates the real origin of the Holy Rosary in his book The Secret of the Rosary:
It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.(6)
The Albigensians were Gnostic heretics who believed in the existence of two Gods — one good God who created the spiritual world and one equally powerful evil god who created the physical world. The Albigensians were extremely violent and possessed a distinct hatred for Catholicism.
Saint Louis de Montfort continues:
I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book De Dignitate Psalterii, by Alan de la Roche. Saint 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 continuously for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma … At this point our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said, ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’ ‘Oh, my Lady,’ answered Saint 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’… Then our Lady replied, ‘I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon 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 (Rosary).’(7)
St Dominic then proceeded to preach the Holy Rosary and its popularity spread rapidly. However, due to the subsequent laxity of the people, it slowly fell out of popular use. It was not until the fifteenth century, after Blessed Alan de la Roche received a heavenly vision, that the use of the Holy Rosary was revived. In two separate revelations from Jesus and Mary, Blessed Alan was told of the great power that the Holy Rosary possessed to convert people and cultivate virtue. Jesus clearly teaches that a tree is known by its fruit (Lk 6:44). Nobody can deny that the greatest Catholic saints since the time of St Dominic were those who faithfully recited the Holy Rosary.
Sixth objection: “The Catholic Church admits that the Rosary was invented by St Dominic in the thirteenth century. However, how is this consistent with the Church’s teaching that there cannot be any new revelation after the death of the last Apostle?”
In answering this objection one must first make clear the Church’s distinction between public and private revelation. The Catholic Church certainly admits that public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle, St John. Nothing can be added to the Deposit of Faith finally delivered once and for all by Jesus to the Apostles. All Christians without exception must accept and believe entirely what is contained in public revelation. What is allowed, however, is a legitimate ‘development of doctrine,’ that is, a deeper and greater understanding of truths already revealed and believed. One finds an example of this in the history of the doctrines of the Blessed Trinity and the divinity of Jesus. It was not until centuries after the Apostolic age that clear and unequivocal formal solemn definitions were made by the Church, delineating the precise parameters of these beliefs. None of these formal pronouncements, however, contradicted the explicit and implicit statements found in the Scriptures. The same is the case with regards the Marian dogmas.
Private revelation is another matter. Many apparitions of Jesus, Mary, and so on, are alleged to have occurred over the centuries. Often one or more individuals also claim to receive messages meant either for them or for the whole world. Such is the case with the apparitions of the Sacred Heart (1673-1689), Rue du Bac (1830), Lourdes (1858) and Fatima (1917), for example. Whether an apparition is from God or otherwise is a matter for the Church to determine. Even if the Church looks favorably upon an alleged apparition, it will simply declare that it is “worthy of belief.” This does not constitute a formal positive declaration that the apparition did occur and that it is from God, but rather a negative declaration that the apparition and its purported messages contain nothing contrary to formal Church teachings and that the evidence for it has been carefully investigated. Consequently, there is no obligation on Catholics to believe in private apparitions even when approved.
Such is the case with the apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Dominic and the Rosary. The Catholic Church does not regard the Rosary and its recitation as being a part of or required by public revelation. The Church recommends the praying of it as worthy and beneficial for her children; she does not insist on its recitation as necessary for salvation. In any case, the Rosary is a pious devotion, not a doctrine.
The Fathers(8)
St Ephrem of Edessa, Songs of Praise 1, 1; 1, 2 (ante AD 373)
“Awake, my harp, your songs
in praise of the Virgin Mary!
Lift up your voice and sing
the wonderful history
of the Virgin, the daughter of David,
who gave birth to the Life of the World.
Who loves you is amazed
and who would understand
is silent and confused,
because he cannot probe the Mother
who gave birth in her virginity.
If it is too great to be clarified
with words the disputants
ought not on that account
cross swords with your Son.”
St Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin 71:216 (ante AD 373)
“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all, O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.”
Liturgy of St James the Less (ante fifth century AD)
“Our most holy, immaculate, and most glorious Lady, Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary.”
St Epiphanius of Salamis, Prayers in Praise of Mary (ante AD 440)
“God alone excepted, she was superior to all … to Cherubim and Seraphim, and the whole angelic host … Hail full of grace, who satisfies the thirsty with the sweetness of the eternal fountain. Hail most holy Mother Immaculate, who didst bring forth Jesus.”
The Akathist Hymn I, Oikos, Alpha (inter fifth-sixth century AD)
Hail! by whom true hap had dawned.
Hail! by whom mishap has waned.
Hail! sinful Adam’s recalling.
Hail! Eve’s tears redeeming.
Hail! height untrodden by thought of men.
Hail! depth unscanned by angel’s ken.
Hail! for the kingly throne thou art.
Hail! for who beareth all that thou bearest?
Hail! O star that bore the Sun.
Hail! the womb of God enfleshed.
Hail! through whom things made are all new made.
Hail! through whom becomes a Babe their Maker.
Hail! through whom the Maker is adorned.
HAIL! BRIDE UNBRIDED.
St Germain I of Constantinople, Sermon on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 (ante AD 733)
“Let death pass you by, O Mother of God, because you have brought life to men. Let the tomb pass you by, because you have been made the foundation stone of inexplicable sublimity. Let dust pass you by; for you are a new kind of formation, so that you may be mistress over those who have been corrupted in the very stuff of their potter’s clay.”
St John Damascene, First Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin 14 (inter AD 725-749)
“We today also remain near you, O Lady. Yes, I repeat, O Lady, Mother of God and Virgin. We bind our souls to your hope, as to a most firm and totally unbreakable anchor, consecrating to you mind, soul, body, and all our being and honoring you, as much as we can, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles.”
The Roman Catechism (1566)(9)
Pt. IV, Ch. VI: To this sort of prayer belongs the first part of the Angelic Salutation, when used by us as a prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. For in these words we render to God the highest praise and return him gracious thanks, because he has bestowed all his heavenly gifts on the most holy Virgin; and at the same time we congratulate the Virgin herself on her singular privileges.
To this form of thanksgiving the Church of God has wisely added prayers and an invocation addressed to the most holy Mother of God, by which we piously and humbly fly to her patronage, in order that, by her intercession, she may reconcile God to us sinners and may obtain for us those blessings which we stand in need of in this life and in the life to come. We, therefore, exiled children of Eve, who dwell in this vale of tears, should constantly beseech the Mother of mercy, the advocate of the faithful, to pray for us sinners. In this prayer we should earnestly implore her help and assistance; for that she is most desirous to assist us by her prayers, no one can doubt without impiety and wickedness.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)
No. 2678: Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the litany called the Akathistos and the Paraclesis remained closer to the choral office in the Byzantine churches, while the Armenian, Coptic and Syriac traditions preferred popular hymns and songs to the Mother of God. But in the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of St Ephrem or St Gregory of Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the same.
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1 For example, the second half of the Hail Mary (“pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”) only reached its final form in the Breviary promulgated by Pope St Pius V in 1568; the ‘O my Jesus’ prayer was added at the injunction of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917; Pope St John Paul II in October 2002 released Rosarium Virginis Mariae, adding the five ‘Mysteries of Light.’
2 “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”
3 “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.”
4 Weimer, The Works of Luther, Pelikan, Concordia, vol. 43, pp. 39-41.
5 St Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, TAN Books and Publishers, Rockford, Illinois, 1985, ch. 1, #14.
6 The Secret of the Rosary, TAN Books & Publishers Inc., Rockford, Illinois, 1987, Second Rose.
7 Ibid.
8 Being a development of medieval piety, the Holy Rosary was unknown to the Fathers. Nevertheless, the Fathers make countless references to the Blessed Virgin Mary and composed prayers praising her and invoking her intercession.
9 The Roman Catechism made no reference to the Holy Rosary, but it did refer to the Hail Mary and highly extolled the value of Marian Prayers.