From 1910 The Rosary

Saint Dominic Institutes the Rosary 

"The Rosary.  There is no devotion not connected wit the Liturgy or Office of the Church which has been more widely extended, or been taken up, age after age, by persons of every rank and station than the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin.  In its present form it was instituted by the great Saint Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Friars Preachers.  But grew out of a devotion older than Christianity, and a mode of prayer that dates back to a very early period.  The Psalms of David were in constant use as prayers among the Jews; the primitive Christians adopted them, and the pious, as well as all who, as hermits or monks, sought religious perfection, recited the whole hundred and fifty psalms daily.  Of this there are constant proofs in the early ages.  Some, who could not read and were too dull to remember so much, were allowed to recite, instead, the Lord’s Prayer the same number of times; later, the Angelical Salutation was substituted for the Lord’s Prayer.  To keep the record of these prayers, belts or strings of beads were used; in fact, our word bead is from the same source as the German beten, and means to pray. 

That the mind should not be unoccupied during the recital of these prayers, the Life of our Lord and His Blessed Mother was commended as a matter of meditation.  Saint Dominic divided the hundred and fifty beads into three parts, each containing five decades of ten beads, and assigned to each part five mysteries of the life of our Lord.  The Joyful Mysteries were the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity of our Lord, His Presentation in the Temple, and His Finding in the Temple.  The Sorrowful Mysteries, forming the second part, included His Bloody Sweat, His Scourging, His Crowning with Thorns, the Carriage of the Cross, His Crucifixion.  The Glorious Mysteries, which were the subject of the third part, were the Resurrection of the Lord, His Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, His Assumption of His Blessed Mother into Heaven, and her Coronation.  The division was simple, easily grasped, full of pious thought, and kept before the people the chief events in the history of our Redemption.  It became the general devotion in all countries of Europe, and the rosary was said by all, from the king of his throne to the leper and the beggar. 

The full fifteen decades form a rosary; that the general use called a chaplet or pair of beads, consists of five decades, each of a large bead for the Our Father and ten smaller ones for the Hail Marys; where the ends join, the chain is continued by three small beads and two larger, a crucifix or medal being attached to the end.  These are for the introductory prayers, the Creed, Our Father, and three Hail Marys, with a Glory be to the Father, etc.  These form no part of the rosary properly so called. 

It is usual, when the rosary is said in public, to call the several mysteries to mind by a few preliminary words.  When the rosary is said with others, a leader or person saying it, who need not even be a cleric, recites half of each prayer, and the rest recite the other half.  After the five decades are said, it is usual to sing or recite the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. 

Saint Dominic, who had labored almost in vain to convert the Albigenses, had no sooner introduced this devotion than a change was at once seen.  Hearts that no arguments could move were attracted by this devotion; the work of conversion was rapid.  St. Dominic reaped a harvest of souls, and the Blessed Virgin a harvest of glory. 

From that day to this the devotion of the rosary has never lost its hold on the affections of the faithful.  It became the prayer in which they were gathered together for general particular wants.  When Europe was menaced by the Turks the rosary was said with fervor, and while the Sodality of the Rosary were walking in solemn procession through the streets of Rome, praying for victory of the Christian army, the battle was raging at Lepanto, October 7, 1571, and the Turkish power on the seas was broken forever.  It was not the band of men that broke the power which had so long threatened Europe; it was the hand of God, put forth in answer to the prayers of the Confraternity of the Rosary. 

The reigning Pontiff, St. Pius V., in gratitude for so signal a favor, ordered the first Sunday in October to be observed as an annual commemoration in the Church of St. Mary of Victory; this feast was extended to other churches and countries by other Popes, till at last, after another victory, Clement XI., in 1716, made the Festival of the Rosary a feast for the Universal Church. 

There are few devotions to which the Holy See has granted so many indulgences as to the rosary: one hundred days for each Our Father and Hail Mary, and a plenary indulgence once a year to those who approach the Sacrament of Penance, receive Holy Communion, and pray for the wants of the Church.  To gain these indulgences, the beads must be blessed by a priest who has received faculties from the Pope, and the person must say the rosary, meditating on the mystery assigned to each decade. 

Besides the Confraternity of the Rosary, another has been established in this century.  This is the Confraternity of the Living Rosary.  In this, five persons are associated, each saying one decade each day, so that the five say the whole chaplet; two similar beads, with them, will thus recite the whole rosary daily.  This is called the Living Rosary, and the fruits produced by it have been so great and manifest, that the holy Fathers have enriched it with my indulgences. 

Nothing should deter Catholics from adhering to a devotion so holy, so consoling.  Many, indeed, think it one of the ignorant only; but this is a grave error.  Mediation on the life of our Lord is something to occupy the most exalted and the most cultivated minds, and give them light and strength.  The example of officers in the army and navy, who faithfully adhered to this pious practice, would alone suffice to show that the greatest ability and learning are found among the faithful adherents to this devotion, which is, in itself, an almost certain test of real Christianity."  

Source: The Catholic Instructor: An Educational Library of Ready Reference [pages 513-515] Published by the Office of Catholic Publications 1910 – Imprimatur Johannes M. Farley, D.D., Archiepiscopus – New York, May 16, 1910 


In Christ, 

Julie

1910 Lent: the Necessity and Benefits of Fasting and Abstinence

“Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.” – St. Luke xiii.5. 

"Lent is a time of penance and prayer, established by the Church as a preparation for the feast of Easter. Lent lasts forty days; and is on that account called also the holy quadragesima. During this time the Church obliges us to observe abstinence and fasting, so as to honor and imitate the fasting of our Lord, who passed forty days and forty nights in the desert, without tasting food, beginning thus the painful penance he came to perform on earth, for the redemption of our sins. My children, by fasting we deprive ourselves of part of our food, by abstinence we refrain from partaking of anything in the shape of flesh-meat. These practices have been for centuries considered as most approaching the spirit of penance; and you no doubt remember that in olden times the Ninevites tried, by ordering a public fast, to avert the wrath of God from their city. 

During the early ages of the Church, Christians used frequently to fast, some did so all the year round; and now there still exist holy monks who practice fasting and abstinence with the same severity. 

In our days, on the contrary, my children, generally speaking, these rules of the Church are not strictly observed; though we are all still in the same great need of penance, and the Church, in its indulgence, has made the accomplishment of this duty much less difficult than it formally was. Then, only one single meal was taken during the twenty-four hours; now it is allowed to add what is called the collation, which is a second meal, but a very light one.

Abstinence binds children above seven years of age; but the law of fasting is not imposed on children who are in need of very substantial food. But at the age of twenty-one, you will be subjected to it, and even then, if your health be delicate, you can obtain a dispensation from your confessor or the Priest of your parish. And on this point, let me tell you, my children, that you have no right to judge the motives which may lead your parents and persons who surround you to fall short in the fulfillment of these duties of fasting and abstinence. On this, you must make no reflections; you must merely make up your minds that when you are older, you will obey, to the utmost of your power, every commandment of the Church. 

For the present, young as you are, it is already your duty, to do penance of some kind, during Lent, for your sins; God frees no one from this obligation, not even children of your age. Do not let this thought alarm you; God does not ask you to do anything very difficult, and to you penance will not be very trying. When you have offended your mother, you have no great difficulty, I suppose, in showing her your sorrow and in trying to atone for your ill-behavior. 

Well, during this holy time, you must act in the same way towards our Lord. Be more attentive while saying your prayers, more fervent during holy mass, more obedient at home. The poor ought to have a larger share of your little savings, and you must say to God: “O Lord, vouchsafe to accept these efforts and slight sacrifices till I am able to keep thy other commandments.” This, my children, should be your penance during Lent." 

Source: The Catholic Instructor, An Educational Library of Ready Reference (1910 published by The Office of Catholic Publications, New York), under the chapter “Readings for Each Sunday in the Year: The Catholic Mother to Her Children” by The Countess de Flavigny. [Originally published under the approbation of His Grace the Archbishop of Paris, and adopted by the University, and endorsed by the Cardinal Archbishop of Tours, and the last Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster.]  

In Christ, 

Julie 

Ash Wednesday from 1910

Ash Wednesday: the Necessity and Salutary Effects of Penance

“For what is your life? It is a vapor which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away.” – St. James, iv, 10.

"In the first centuries of Christianity, my dear children, great sinners, at least those whose sins, having been committed publicly, had given bad example, were condemned by the Church to perform a public penance more or less long and severe, according to the importance of their sins. 

At the beginning of Lent, penitent went barefoot to the cathedral; there the Bishop exhorted them to repent, after which, taking some dust and marking them on the forehead, he said at the same time these words: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” Then the Bishop turned the penitents out of church, and they were not allowed to return thither until the time of the penance was ended.

My children, if we are now treated less severely, you must not conclude that our sins have become more excusable, or that we are less obliged to atone for them; though the Church now spares us the shame of public penance, we are none the less obliged to do sincere and real penance in the depths of our hearts, and we shall not cease to hear the necessity of penance preached during this holy time. 

In remembrance of this ancient custom, the Church, considering that all her children are sinners as of old, has adopted this ceremony of the giving of ashes on the first day of Lent, named accordingly Ash-Wednesday. The words uttered by the Priest whilst he marks our foreheads with the ashes, remind us that we must die some day, that it is good for us to think of our latter end, so as to atone for the sins already committed and to avoid committing others.

These serious thoughts can be of all the greater use to us at a time of the year, which gives to many the opportunity of acting foolishly and of grievously offending God in his goodness. 

As for you, my dear children, during these day of folly, I know that you amuse yourselves under your parent’s guidance and by their leave; however, it may be needful to remind some of you, who too deeply lament over the shortness of these days of pleasure, as, for instance little girls, who perhaps at a party, have been rather vain of their beauty or of their dress;  I say merely to amuse ourselves, and that our poor bodies, being made of dust and destined to fall once more into dust, it is folly to be so very proud of them. 

On Ash-Wednesday, let us then ask God, my children, to cure us of our vanity."

[Source: The Catholic Instructor: An Educational Library of Ready Reference, Published by The Office of Catholic Publications, New York, 1910.]

Wishing all my readers a happy and blessed Ash-Wednesday and Lent! God bless you all! 

In Christ,

Julie