Once again we are in October, the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Rosary is one of the most universal and loved devotions in the Catholic Church, and its popular use is always attributed to St Dominic (1170-1221), the Founder of the Dominican Order. When the Albigensian heresy was spreading throughout France in the 13^th Century, Dominic, because he was a great orator, was told by the Pope to preach against it, but his efforts bore no fruit, and he realised he needed some stronger spiritual power to overcome it. So in 1208, he retreated to a forest near the town of Fanjeaux in France, and prayed hard and did acts of penance. After three days Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the Rosary as we know it today, with the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries, and told him to use it as a “weapon” against the Albigensian heretics. Our Lady also told him that in the fight against evil, the Rosary would be the “battering ram” against theological error.

Before Our Lady appeared to St Dominic, the custom had been to simply recite the Our Father and the ten Hail Marys. There were no mysteries to meditate upon. And Our Lady told St Dominic to combine the recitation of the Our Father and the ten Hail Marys with meditating on the various mysteries which focused on the Incarnation, Passion and glorious triumph of Our Lord. Dominic was to preach this, and it would in turn lead people to Christ and convert them. The devotion of the Rosary then spread rapidly, and in a short space of time the Albigensian heretics began to be converted – over a hundred thousand of them.

In succeeding centuries, when Christendom was under attack, the Rosary was again taken up as the weapon. The Rosary clearly delivered Europe from the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto on 7^th October 1571, resulting in the saving of Christian civilization. The anniversary of this victory eventually became the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary which we celebrate tomorrow (Monday). In more recent times the deliverance of Austria, Brazil and Portugal from communist regimes has been brought about by millions saying the Rosary. And Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 told the three seers, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco that she has given a new efficacy to the Rosary in these last times, to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult, whether temporal, or above all spiritual, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.

It’s not unusual for people to tell me they find saying the Rosary challenging because they become easily distracted. Well, you are in good company, because the great Carmelite saint and Doctor of the Church, St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) whose feast we celebrated last Tuesday, had the same problem. She wrote in her autobiography ‘Story of a Soul’, “When I am alone (I am ashamed to admit it), the recitation of the Rosary is more difficult for me than the wearing of an instrument of penance. I feel I have said this so poorly. I force myself in vain to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary; I don’t succeed in fixing my mind on them. For a long time I was desolate about this lack of devotion that astonished me, for I love the Blessed Virgin so much that it should be easy for me to recite in her honour prayers which are so pleasing to her. Now I am less desolate; I think that the Queen of Heaven, since she is my Mother, must see my good will and she is satisfied with it.”

So although St Thérèse struggled to concentrate while saying the Rosary, she persevered with it. She didn’t give up. She put her trust in Our Lady, knowing that in spite of her wandering mind, Our Lady would know her intentions and be pleased by them. Struggling is part of the journey. So never give up, because we need the Rosary today more than ever before.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC