Rosaries

Archive for June, 2007

The first description of a practice that resembles the modern rosary prayer has be found in the Meditations on the Joys of the Blessed Virgin of the Cistercian Stephen of Sallay (died 1252) who worked out an exercise of prayer for 15 Marian “joys” divided into 3 sections. While the number 15 and the joys connect the writing to the Rosary, the complexity and length are different. More important for the spirit of the Rosary were the “Meditations on the Life of Christ” that from the beginning of 1300 were attributed to St Bonaventure. The meditations on the public life of Christ begin with his Baptism and end with the Last and they are attentive to the presence of Mary. Even more determining for the Rosary was the Life of Jesus Christ compiled from the four Gospels and orthodox authors of Life of Christ of Ludolph of Saxony (died 1377) published in Strasbourg in 1474 and reprinted soon after in 88 Latin editions. The author was first a Dominican and then a Carthusian, who drafted a comprehensive outline, with quotations from the Fathers and medieval authors, with a prayer concluding each chapter. He contributed to integrating the use of set mysteries of Christ in personal prayer.

The division of the Psalter into 150 Hail Mary’s spread over 15 decades, each one preceded by an Our Father is attributed to the Carthusian Henry Egher of Kalcar (died 1408). The definitive contribution was that of the Breton Dominican Alan de la Roche (died 1475), who established the Rosary as a pastoral tool. He proposed a “prayer directly addressed to Christ. So the first fifty are prayed to honor Christ, Incarnate Word. The second, Christ who suffered the Passion. The third, in honor of Christ who rose, ascended into heaven, who sent the Paraclete, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who will come to judge”. Alan de la Roche gave preference to the 3 sets and the 15 decades. He also provided a theoretical foundation to the Psalter of the Virgin Mary discovering it in the prayer of the monks, the Fathers, the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, who entrusted it especially to St Dominic.

In 1521 at Venice, Alberto Castellani published the Rosary of the glorious Virgin Mary maintaining the 150 phrases, but connected the meditation to the Our Father and calling it a mystery and so favoring the present format. The modern format of the rosary was first described by St Pius V in the Bull Consueverunt (17 September 1569), where one reads that “the Rosary or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin” is a “method of prayer” through which we “venerate Mary with the Angelic salutation repeated 150 times according to the number of David’s psalms, and before every set of ten Hail Mary’s we say the prayer of Our Lord with meditations that illustrate the entire life of the same Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Rosary is the summary of the Gospel and consists of 20 mysteries describing events in the Jesus and Mary’s life. The mysteries are divided into four groups:

The Joyful Mysteries

The five joyful mysteries are all taken from the gospel of St. Luke, and they make the only set of five in which Mary is an active participant in each decade. In the joyful mysteries elevate our feelings and affections, we see: joy in the family, in maternity, in kinship, in friendship, in mutual aid.

• The Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth
• The Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ
• The Presentation of Jesus in the temple by Mary and Joseph >
• The Finding of Jesus in the temple

The Luminous Mysteries

These are the five mysteries added by Pope John Paul II, bringing the public ministry into the gospel episodes contemplated in the rosary. The public ministry covers the longest part of each gospel. The mysteries show Jesus teaching whether by word, or by symbol.

• Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan
• His self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana
• His Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with His Call to Conversion
• His Transfiguration
• His Institution of the Eucharist, as the Sacramental Expression of the Paschal Mystery

The Sorrowful Mysteries

Passion narratives are the oldest parts of the gospels. This is the defining sequence of the Christian proclamation. The contemplation of these mysteries is both hard and easy – hard in the sense that they are painful to think of, but easy in that most Christians have many images of the events, derived from Lenten excercises, sermons and even movies.

• The Agony of Our Lord in the garden
• The Scourging of our Lord at the pillar
• The Crowning of Jesus with thorns
• Jesus carries His cross
• The Crucifixion and death of Jesus

The Glorious Mysteries

The glorious mysteries look at the Risen Christ in glory, after his leaving earth to sit at the right hand of the Father. The Resurrection is the central and ongoing essence of Christianity. Then the mysteries look at the birth of the Church at Pentencost.

• The Resurrection of Our Lord from the dead
• The Ascension of Our Lord into heaven
• The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles
• The Assumption of Mary, body and soul into heaven
• The Coronation of Mary as Queen of heaven and earth