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The word Rosary is from the Latin and freely translates to “rose
garden” or “garland of roses.” It
has been a tradition of Catholic worship since the early 13th
Century, when by tradition Saint Dominic was given the rosary by the Blessed
Virgin in 1214. The prayer most associated
with the early years of the rosary use was the Latin prayer called "The Paternoster" - the "Our Father" prayer. From its earliest days, the
rosary has been divided into the decades which we have today. More than the arrangement of the beads
has been the changing nature of the prayers to be said with the rosary. In the earliest days, the prayers were
mostly the Our Father’s; today,
they are mostly the Hail Mary’s. In the 15th Century, Saint
Alan of the Rock is said to have had a vision from Jesus telling him to advance
the practice of praying the rosary and making it into an acceptable form of
worship. More than anyone else,
Saint Alan is responsible for the use of the rosary throughout Christendom. In 1569, Pope Pius V gave the
rosary official papal and Church approval. During this pope’s pontificate, the
Church was under direct threat, and
Pius V called on the faithful to pray the rosary for a victory at the
Battle of Lepanto. The Church was
victorious over its foes, and October 7th came to be celebrated as the Feast of
Our Lady of Victory. Today,
October 7th is celebrated in the Church calendar as the Feast of Our Lady of
the Rosary, an acknowledgement of the high esteem in which the Church holds the
power of the prayers of the rosary. In 1917, Our Lady of Fatima
is said to have asked that the Fatima prayer be added, and in 2002 Pope John
Paul II instituted five optional new Luminous Mysteries. Our current pope, Pope
Benedict XVI, in 2008 proclaimed, “The rosary is one of the most eloquent signs
of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his mother.” Though the rosary has changed
in minor aspects throughout its history, its power and beauty can truly be
called timeless. Today, as in ages past, the
path to Christ is through Mary whose sole focus was Jesus. The rosary is our
tangible connection to help us achieve a similar focus on Jesus.
All
rosaries in the 13th Century were required to be made by one of four
guilds, all located in Paris.
Rosary makers were, thus, called the "Paternosterers".
