Our Lady of the Rosary, Memorial
Saint Dominic's involvement in the Rosary that we know and love today is not without some controversy.
The tradition is that St. Dominic had experienced a vision of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and in this vision she encouraged recitation of the Rosary. In almost every large Catholic church to this day, there is an image of Mary handing a pair of rosaries to St. Dominic.
According to Pope Saint Pius V, writing in 1569, St. Dominic, by the early 13th century, began to promote the recitation of "the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" in order to combat the Albigensian heresy. "This same method St. Dominic propagated...Christ's faithful, inflamed by these prayers, began immediately to be changed into new men. The darkness of heresy began to be dispelled, and the light of the Catholic Faith to be revealed." Saint Dominic and other Dominican friars were involved in the promotion and development of the Rosary as we know it today: Meditation upon Gospel mysteries.
However, the origins of the Rosary are significantly older than the 12th and 13th centuries. How old? Pagan-old. It's an example of inculturation at it's hoary best. As anthropologists could attest, there are cultures, including the Hindus and Buddhists, that also employ prayer beads. The ancient Egyptians used prayer beads 3,200 years ago; and the Hindu usage of prayer beads may be equally ancient. That's a lot of years of rattling beads before people knew either Jesus or Mary.
But by the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., it is likely that monastic bead rattling--praying of the 150 Psalms of the Hebrew scriptures--was translated into an illiterate lay-folk tradition of 150 Our Fathers. It is believed that this eventually became 150 Hail Marys. The Rosary, therefore, has deep-roots in Christianity--maybe 7 or 800 years deeper than the Dominican order. And yet, the Rosary that we know and love today is due in large part to the Dominicans.
The Rosary is more than just repeated Hail Marys. Pope Saint John Paul II described the Rosary as a Christocentric compendium of the Gospel. It is a form of contemplative prayer which invites one to meditate upon our redemption by Jesus Christ. The focus of the Rosary is always Jesus. Mary, who had deep roots in ancient Judaism, the one who bridges both Old and New Covenants, and bridges the gap between humanity and Divinity, is just the woman to lead us into a closer relationship with her Son.
The tradition is that St. Dominic had experienced a vision of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and in this vision she encouraged recitation of the Rosary. In almost every large Catholic church to this day, there is an image of Mary handing a pair of rosaries to St. Dominic.
According to Pope Saint Pius V, writing in 1569, St. Dominic, by the early 13th century, began to promote the recitation of "the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" in order to combat the Albigensian heresy. "This same method St. Dominic propagated...Christ's faithful, inflamed by these prayers, began immediately to be changed into new men. The darkness of heresy began to be dispelled, and the light of the Catholic Faith to be revealed." Saint Dominic and other Dominican friars were involved in the promotion and development of the Rosary as we know it today: Meditation upon Gospel mysteries.
However, the origins of the Rosary are significantly older than the 12th and 13th centuries. How old? Pagan-old. It's an example of inculturation at it's hoary best. As anthropologists could attest, there are cultures, including the Hindus and Buddhists, that also employ prayer beads. The ancient Egyptians used prayer beads 3,200 years ago; and the Hindu usage of prayer beads may be equally ancient. That's a lot of years of rattling beads before people knew either Jesus or Mary.
But by the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., it is likely that monastic bead rattling--praying of the 150 Psalms of the Hebrew scriptures--was translated into an illiterate lay-folk tradition of 150 Our Fathers. It is believed that this eventually became 150 Hail Marys. The Rosary, therefore, has deep-roots in Christianity--maybe 7 or 800 years deeper than the Dominican order. And yet, the Rosary that we know and love today is due in large part to the Dominicans.
The Rosary is more than just repeated Hail Marys. Pope Saint John Paul II described the Rosary as a Christocentric compendium of the Gospel. It is a form of contemplative prayer which invites one to meditate upon our redemption by Jesus Christ. The focus of the Rosary is always Jesus. Mary, who had deep roots in ancient Judaism, the one who bridges both Old and New Covenants, and bridges the gap between humanity and Divinity, is just the woman to lead us into a closer relationship with her Son.
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