Rosary - history and theology
October is the month of the Rosary. The tradition of this prayer goes back to the Middle Ages. The rosary combines simplicity and depth, the spirituality of the Christian East and West. Pope Leo XIII said it was "a summary of the whole Gospel."
The rosary prayer as we know it today has been shaped over many centuries. The tradition of monastic prayer draws attention to the constant need to remain in God's presence. Eastern Christians, growing in the tradition of meditation, introduced the repetition of selected words of Scripture: " My help comes from the LORD "(Ps 121) or "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." This was done with the rhythm of the breath, and stones were often used to count the number of repetitions and to help to focus.
Various streams of meditation prayer related to the cult of the Mother of God were slowly emerging. Ave Maria (Hail Mary) prayer, known to us in its present form, was not developed until around the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the evangelical words of the angelic greeting and the words of St. Elizabeth connected to each other. The epidemics of the "black death" decimating people in medieval Europe caused that the greeting was then accompanied by a request for Mary to pray for "us sinners now and at the hour of our death." It happened that the Hail Mary was said fifty or one hundred times, among other things, in remembrance of the creation of the world. Gradually it became common to use one hundred and fifty invocations to Mary. It was spread in Europe by St. Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers.
Dominicans play an important role in spreading the rosary by teaching them how to pray and referring to biblical meditation. Dominican Bl. Alain de la Roche organizes various traditions and promotes the division of the rosary (one Our Father, ten Hail Mary) and he calls it the Psalter of Jesus and Mary.
From the fifteenth century, the Brotherhoods of Rosary also flourished, for which the first statute was developed in 1476 by the prior of the Dominican church of St. Andrew from Cologne. We also know one of the first rosary paintings (around 1500), depicting Mary with the Child holding a rosary in her hand, next to which St. Dominic and the martyr Peter of Verona kneel; under the mantle of Mary's protection, numerous clergy and laity are gathered. Thanks to the Carthusian Dominic of Prussia who lived in the 16th century, the legend of St. Dominic, who received a string of rosary pearls from Mary as a weapon in the spiritual fight against the Albigensian heresy begins to spread. For a long time, the creation of the rosary was associated with the figure of St. Dominic, who "received" it from the Mother of God herself during an apparition.
It can be seen, however, that the rosary was created over the centuries, and it is impossible to attribute its origin to one revelation or to a person. Undoubtedly, however, the Order of St. Dominic, itinerant preachers who traveled across Europe, made a huge contribution to spreading this prayer.
The officially uniform Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is approved by the Pope (also a Dominican) St. Pius V in 1569, and later, in memory of the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto, makes October 7th the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. He prays the rosary, recommending it to other popes, including Leo XIII, St. John XIII, Paul VI, until the time of the St. John Paul II pontificate comes. John Paul II is part of the continuity of the teaching on the importance of the rosary prayer, and in the letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" (RVM) from 2002, he supplemented it by adding meditation on the Mysteries of Light.
Outline of the theology of the rosary
The rosary is a prayer of at least two levels. The first level is realized through the use of a special prayer technique: repeating the formula rhythmically. Thanks to the melody and rhythm of the words, the heart and mind can cleanse themselves of the rush of feelings and thoughts, and concentrate on God's things. By invoking the words of the Lord's Prayer or the Angelic Salutation, one may experience more in the heart the help of the Saint. Repetition is one of the methods that helps, through contemplation, to remember and present the persons of God and, in connection with them, also Mary. Invoking the name of a loved one shows that, just as the word "Jesus" is at the heart of the Hail Mary prayer, the Savior's name can permeate our lives.
Our memory evokes a loved one, we talk to a Friend as if "we breathe the feelings of Christ" (RVM 15), and this strengthens the bonds of friendship. For a friendship to grow, you need to "talk" for many hours! Returning to a loved one does not tire, but strengthens, as does Peter's declaration of love for the Risen One three times (RVM 26). The level of rhythmic repetition is closely related to the use of beads, which help measure the rhythm of the prayer and give you a chance to focus.
The method of praying the rosary has numerous interpretations and discussions, of which the "Letter on the Rosary" (RVM) of Saint John Paul II deserves special attention. True, as St. Augustine said, when we contact God through some method, we cannot really rest on it. If we stopped at a specific method of contact, we would stop at the method, and not on the living God, which no path, method or form can comprehend and exhaust. God is always further, always more, always different than the possibilities that his creatures allow. However, in the teachings of many spiritual masters we hear that those methods, unless they "idolize" themselves (2000 Hail Mary’s), help in a personal encounter with the living God. The relationship with Christ, that is the goal, can be achieved through a variety of methods, of which the rosary is particularly valuable.
However, in the teachings of many spiritual masters we hear that those methods, unless they "idolize" themselves (2000 Hail Mary’s), help in a personal encounter with the living God. The relationship with Christ, that is the goal, can be achieved through a variety of methods, of which the rosary is particularly valuable.
The rosary combines simplicity and depth. "Developed in the West, it is a typical meditative prayer and, in a way, corresponds to the prayer of the heart or Jesus prayer that grew in the soil of the Christian East" (RVM 5). The level of meditative repetition, taken from the Eastern tradition, is connected with meditation and contemplation of the mysteries of the life of Jesus and of the whole Holy Trinity and Mary and other saints who are the subject of the so-called mysteries of the four parts of the rosary.
The mysteries of the rosary are known as the miniature Bible. It is difficult to overestimate their role in shaping the biblical awareness of Catholics. They are most concerned with the teachings about Jesus Christ. Saint John Paul II addition fills a Christological gap. Well, the joyful mysteries describe the act of the Incarnation and the childhood of Jesus. The sorrowful ones send us back to his passion and death. The glorious part reminds us that our Shepherd came back to life and is risen. The addition of the mysteries of light develops the Christological dimension, penetrating into the mysteries of Christ's public life. The Gospel cannot be exhausted anyway. The indication of the baptism in Jordan, the beginning of the signs in Cana in Galilee, the proclamation of the Good News and the call to conversion, the Mount of the Transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist help us see that the riches of the mystery of Christ are open to us.
We are not therefore limited by the twenty mysteries of the rosary. We remain open to the inseparable space of the depths of God's mystery (Col 2: 2-3), a mystery that surpasses all knowledge (Eph 3:19). When we remember, with Mary, the life of Christ, the light of grace allows us to see in him not only God, but also the mystery of man, the dignity of his conception, birth, learning, joy of weddings, work and death (25).
Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) - a convert, philosopher and theologian, today a saint of the Catholic Church - said that the rosary is a confession of faith that becomes a prayer. This term, more than a proper definition, is an intuition which, being rooted in the great ecclesiastical tradition and the thoroughly thought-out theology of its author, nevertheless grasps the authentic, original aspect of this prayer. Together with the next "Hail Mary", connected by the living light of evangelical and salvation events and the contemplative enthusiasm of believers, the rosary gradually unveils "the most sublime mysteries of our religion", as the Saint Pope John XIII wrote in his encyclical Grata Recordatio.
Until next time
fr. george