Excerpt From: Fausto Appetente Die
Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV on St. Dominic
Loving the Blessed Virgin as a Mother, confiding chiefly in her patronage, Dominic started his battle for the Faith. The Albigenses, among other dogmas, attacked both the Divine maternity and the virginity of Mary. He, attacked by them with every insult, defending to the utmost of his strength the sanctity of these dogmas, he invoked the help of the Virgin Mother herself, frequently using these words: “Make me worthy to praise thee, Sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies.”
How pleased was the Heavenly Queen with her pious servant may be easily gathered from this, that she used his ministry to teach the Most Holy Rosary to the Church, the Spouse of her Son…
That prayer which, being both vocal and mental, in the contemplation especially of the mysteries of religion, while the Lord’s Prayer is fifteen times repeated together with as many decades of the Hail Mary, is most adapted to fostering widely piety and every virtue. Rightly, then, did Dominic order his followers, in preaching to the people, to inculcate frequently this manner of prayer, the utility of which he had experienced. He knew, on the one hand, Mary’s authority with her Son to be such that whatever graces he confers on men she has their distribution and apportionment. On the other hand, he knew that she is of a nature so kind and merciful that, seeing that it is her custom to succor the miserable of her own accord, it is impossible she should refuse the petitions of those who pray to her. Accordingly the Church, which is wont to salute her “the Mother of Grace and the Mother of Mercy,” has so found her always, but especially in answer to the Rosary. Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs have let pass no occasion of commending the Rosary and have enriched it with Apostolic Indulgences…
…We wish this to be a special care of the Dominicans—the spread and frequent use of the Rosary among Christian people. We make this exhortation in these troublous times, following our predecessor, Leo XIII, and should it bear fruit this centenary celebration will not have been in vain…
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, June 29, Feast of the Prince of the Apostles, 1921, the seventh year of Our Pontificate.
Pope Pius XI: Letter, Inclytam ac perillustrem
Letter of March 6, 1934, from Pope Pius XI to Reverend Gillet, Master General of the Friars Preachers.
Among the weapons St. Dominic used to convert the heretics the most efficacious, as the faithful well know, was the Marian rosary, the practice of which, taught by the Blessed Virgin herself, has so widely spread throughout the Catholic world. Now where does the efficacy and power of this manner of praying come from? Certainly from the very mysteries of the Divine Redeemer which we contemplate and piously meditate so that we may rightly say that the Marian rosary contains the root and foundation on which the Order of St. Dominic depends, in order to procure the perfection of life of its own members and the salvation of other men.
For this reason we earnestly recommend this most efficacious form of prayer in which we diligently meditate on our Lord’s fruitful redemption, and which wins for us the favors of the Queen of heaven to the highest degree. We ardently desire that the custom of the daily recitation of the rosary in alternate praise, considered so sacred for the Christian family, be religiously preserved or restored.
Comments