Using beads for prayer and meditation is an ancient custom, found in many cultures and religions. The Christian rosary dates from the twelfth century, when it provided a way for ordinary Christians to learn about the lives of Jesus and Mary. Alan de la Roche, a fifteenth-century Dominican, preferred "Psalter of Our Lady" to "rosary." This fitting name recalls an explanation of the devotion's origin. Unable to read the one hundred fifty psalms that formed the Church's "official" daily prayer, medieval Christians substituted first one hundred fifty Pater Nosters, and later one hundred fifty Ave Marias. By meditating on the various mysteries of the rosary while repeating these simple prayers, the faithful could immerse themselves in the whole mystery of the Incarnation and the Resurrection. The dedication of October to the Blessed Virgin Mary is an appropriate reminder of this venerable form of prayer. Faithful Christians everywhere continue to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, praying in groups or alone. Why not take advantage of this season to renew your acquaintance with the rosary?
James Field, Copyright (c) J. S. Paluch Co.
Pope Francis’ Invitation
The Holy Father invites all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October, and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.
The prayer – the Pontiff affirmed a few days ago, on 11 September, in a homily at Santa Marta, citing the first book of Job – is the weapon against the Great Accuser who “goes around the world seeking to accuse”. Only prayer can defeat him. The Russian mystics and the great saints of all the traditions advised, in moments of spiritual turbulence, to shelter beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God pronouncing the invocation “Sub Tuum Praesidium”.
The invocation “Sub Tuum Praesidium” is recited as follows:
[We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin].
With this request for intercession the Holy Father asks the faithful of all the world to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle: to preserve her from the attachks by the devil, the great accuser, and at the same time to make her more aware of the faults, the errors and the abuses committed in the present and in the past, and committed to combating without any hesitation, so that evil may not prevail.
Prayer to Saint Michael
The Holy Father has also asked that the recitation of the Holy Rosary during the month of October conclude with the prayer written by Leo XIII:
Saint Michael Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.