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IN BRIEF |
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The Holy Rosary is one of the most popular lay devotions among
Roman Catholics worldwide. Its formal name is the "Most
Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary." Church historians also call it the Dominican Rosary, the Marian Rosary, and the Vita Christi or Life of Christ Rosary, to distinguish it from other Roman Catholic bead-prayers (devotions that use beads to keep count). |
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The Holy Rosary is closely associated with Saint Dominic de Guzmán
(1170-1221 A.D.), the Spaniard who founded of the Order of Preachers,
better known as the Dominicans. From the fifteenth century forward
the Dominicans were the foremost promoters of the Rosary. Recent
scholarship suggests, however, that the first groups to combine
the repetition of the Hail Mary with the contemplation of Mysteries
were other religious orders in Prussia around 1300 A.D. Over the next 250 years the devotion spread across Europe, reaching the laity via voluntary confraternities and rosary picture-books. There were numerous competing versions, advocating as few as five Mysteries and as many as 200. The matter was not settled until 1569. In that year St. Pope Pius V, himself a Dominican, issued an apostolic letter establishing the fifteen-Mystery form of the Holy Rosary as the official, Church-authorized version. This was the format in use for the next four centuries. In the year 2002, Pope John Paul II published an apostolic letter that added five more Mysteries, making a total of twenty authorized Mysteries. The Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7. This commemorates the day in 1571 when Christian forces defeated the Turkish (Moslem) fleet in a sea battle at Lepanto, off the western coast of Greece. St. Pope Pius V had asked all Christians to pray the Rosary for victory. E.M. Mulhare Original essay, 04-Mar-1999 Revised and updated, 25-Nov-2002 Based on information in Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in the Middle Ages, by Anne Winston-Allen (1997, University Park: Pennsylvania State University); and the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariæ of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II to the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful on the Most Holy Rosary, October 16, 2002, available from the official Vatican Web site <http://www.vatican.va/> |
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CREDITS Illustration: "Queen of Peace II", ©2001 by E. M. Mulhare. Texts of prayers in this work are traditional devotions of the Roman Catholic Church and pertain to the public domain. Scripture texts in English and Spanish are used with permision of the copyright owners and no part may be reproduced in any form without their permission in writing. Text of the Apostolic Letter"Rosarium Virginis Mariæ" is available from the official Vatican Web site <http://www.vatican.va/>. All other content, including graphics and artwork, Copyright ©1999-2002 by E. M. Mulhare, Hamilton, NY 13346 US, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. Published electronically as part of About the Holy Rosary. Original created 04-Mar-1999. This page last modified 25-Nov-2002.
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