The Rosary: A Prayer For Our Time

By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON

Christianity throughout the world is under siege and needs the help of God. The global increase of militant theological fundamentalism and its antithesis, radical secularism, have led to the widespread persecution of religious minorities and have had devastating effects on doctrinal beliefs, the traditional family, the sanctity of life, and even the nature of humanity.
In 2019, according to World Watch List, 245 million Christians worldwide experienced high levels of persecution based on their faith. For that same year, 2019, Worldometer recorded 42.3 million abortions globally, making it the planet’s leading source of death; all other causes combined, including disease, illness, violence, and natural disasters accounted for 58.6 million. And throughout Western nations, there is a growing movement to redefine marriage and the composition of the family, make gender a personal choice, and end heteronormativity, that is, all attitudes and behavior consistent with traditional binary male and female gender roles.
In response to these persecutions and moral abominations, Catholics in many Western nations are turning to the rosary for divine intercession. The past few years have seen increased public devotion to this prayer.
On October 7, 2017, some one million Catholics assembled along Poland’s border to pray for peace among nations, families, and youth. A week later, Catholics throughout Italy fasted and prayed to save their country and Europe from Islamification and loss of the Christian faith. The following month, more than 30,000 people convened across Ireland to pray for a renewal of the Catholic faith and against the legalization of abortion.
Then, in April 2018, tens of thousands of Catholics gathered at the coasts of Scotland, England, and Wales to pray for the restoration of faith, life, and peace in the British Isles.
The United States has followed with several similar rallies and more are in progress or planned. On June 3, Tradition, Family, and Property launched a crusade to pray the rosary in each of the 50 state capitals and other cities requesting divine help to restore the moral fabric of the nation. Last October, American Life League launched the “Marian Blue Wave” calling upon Catholics to pray a weekly rosary for an end to all abortions in the country.
The Little Sisters of the Poor, which operates in 31 countries, have begun the “A Million Families, A Million Rosaries” prayer campaign to bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic. And the Family Rosary Crusade, begun over 75 years ago by Fr. Patrick Peyton to encourage families to pray together, continues its ministry.
The rosary is a simple, yet powerful set of prayers that has been invoked by Popes and saints, groups and individuals to affect world events, restore peace among nations, meet personal needs, and provide serenity of soul. Most Catholics are familiar with this devotion. Virtually all have or have had a set of rosary beads at some point in their lives. But how often do they say it? How many have ever asked, why is it special?
The primary invocations of the rosary date back to the first days of our faith, expressed in the words of the Archangel Gabriel, the Blessed Mother, and Our Lord Himself.
The Our Father was given to us by Jesus when the apostles asked Him how they should pray. As St. Louis de Montfort wrote, this prayer “contains all the duties we owe to God, the acts of all the virtues and the petitions for all our spiritual and corporal needs.” Every time we say the Our Father, we are repeating our Lord’s own prayer.
The Hail Mary begins with the words of the Archangel Gabriel when he asked Mary to be the Mother of Our Lord: “Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” It continues, “Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,” which is the greeting of Elizabeth when Mary came to visit her shortly thereafter.
As the prayer evolved, the couplet of praise was joined to a statement of recognition and petition. The Council of Ephesus in 431, in resolving an existing heresy, declared that Mary gave birth to the Lord in His full divinity, and added “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death” to the angelic greeting.
In the early stages of monastic development, monks often prayed the entire 150 psalms and after each praised the Trinity. Their statement evolved and was added to the rosary. The Creed was included in the early seventeenth century, as a proclamation of belief in the principal Christian truths.
Then, in 1917, when our Lady appeared at Fatima, she asked that after each mystery people include the petition, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy.” And so, we have the present form of the rosary with its individual prayers. The beads originated as a means of keeping count of the prayer iterations.
The rosary incorporates two types of prayer, invocative and contemplative. The invocative is the repetition of the decades — sets of the Hail Mary, proceeded by the Our Father and ended with a trinitarian praise. In this, the intercession of the Blessed Mother and her Son is sought for our requests.
The contemplative portion focuses on the life and glory of our Lord and His Mother. The original 15 decades follow our Lord’s birth, childhood, Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension. They were expanded by Pope St. John Paul II to 20 decades to include our Lord’s public life. These reflections are Christ-centered, but Marian in character for Mary lived these events.

World Events

As simple as the rosary is, its recitation has brought about profound effects in the world. In 1571, a powerful fleet of the Mohammedan Ottoman Empire threatened Christian Europe near Lepanto. A smaller fleet was formed in defense. Pope Pius V ordered public processions and the recitation of the rosary throughout Christendom. The resulting battle was a decisive Christian victory.
In 1683, Christian Europe again was under assault; this time by land. The invading Turkish army was opposed by a smaller force placed under the protection of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Pope Innocent XI called for a Christendom-wide recitation of the rosary for its success. The Turks were routed.
In 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing some 70,000 people. A few blocks from the epicenter was the residence of eight Jesuit missionaries. None were affected by the blast. They attributed the miracle to their devotion to the Blessed Mother and faithfulness in praying the rosary.
At the end of World War II, the victors divided Austria, with the Soviet sector subjected to Communist oppression. Fr. Petrus Pavlicek founded the Holy Rosary Atonement Crusade in 1947 to pray to Our Lady of Fatima for the nation’s freedom. On the 13th of each month, the faithful marched through the streets, praying as they increased in number to 500,000. Then, on May 13, 1955, the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the Russians unexpectedly and peacefully withdrew.
These are just a few of many examples of how devotion to the rosary has affected world events. But the rosary is also a prayer for individual intentions. Pope Pius XI said that, “If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the rosary.” Pray it at a rally, with a group, in church, at home, with your family, whenever you have a moment.
If we pray it devoutly and regularly, our lives will change. If enough people pray the rosary devoutly and regularly, the nation will change. How can our heavenly Mother and her Son not answer our petitions? “Indeed,” said Jaime Cardinal Sin, “when we give our best to the Lord, and leave the rest to His Providence, the Lord always responds.”

• + + (The author is a visiting scholar in the School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America.)