ENCYCLICAL EPISTLE ON THE DEVOTION OF THE HOLY ROSARY. S. S. LEON XIII

 

Venerable Brothers: Health and Apostolic Blessing.

 THE supreme apostolate that is entrusted to Us and the difficult circumstances we are going through.  They warn us at every moment or imperiously They push us to watch over the integrity of the Church with all the greater care the greater are the calamities that afflict it.

 For this reason, while we make every effort to defend by all means the rights of the Church and to prevent and reject the dangers that threaten and besiege her, we employ the greatest diligence in imploring the assistance of divine aid, with whose only help Our cares and care can be successful.

 And we believe that nothing can lead more effectively to this end than to make us propitious with the practice of religion and piety to the great Mother of God, the Virgin Mana, who is the one who can achieve peace and dispense grace, placed as it is by her Divine Son on the cusp of glory and power, to help with the relief of his protection to the men who amid toil and dangers are heading to the Eternal City.

 For this reason, and close to the solemn anniversary that recalls the innumerable and numerous benefits that the devotion of the Holy Rosary of Mary is reported to the Christian people, we want this devotion to be the object of particular attention in the Catholic world in the current year. that through the intercession of the Virgin Mother we obtain from her Divine Son fortunate relief and an end to our ills.

 For the same reason we have thought, Venerable Brothers, to address these letters to you, so that, knowing Our purpose, you may exalt with your authority and with your zeal the piety of the peoples so that they comply with it carefully.

 In critical and distressing times it has always been the primary and solemn care of Catholics to take refuge under the aegis of Mary and take refuge in her maternal goodness; This shows that the Catholic Church has always and rightly placed all its trust in the Mother of God.  Indeed, the Virgin, free from the original stain, chosen to be the Mother of God and associated with the work of the salvation of the human race, enjoys a favor with her Son and enjoys such great power as never before. Neither men nor angels have been able and will not be able to obtain it in the same way.  Thus, since it is extremely sweet and pleasant to them to grant her help and her assistance to all who ask for it, it is of course to be expected that she will warmly welcome the prayers that the universal Church directs for her.

 But this piety, so great and so full of confidence in the Queen of Heaven, has never shone more brilliantly than when the violence of errors, the overflow of customs, or the attacks of powerful adversaries, have seemed to endanger the Church of God.

 The history, ancient and modern, and the most memorable celebrations of the Church recall the public and private prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin, such as the aid granted by Her; and also in many circumstances public peace and tranquility, obtained through her intercession.  Hence those excellent titles of Helper, Benefactor and Comforter of Christians; Queen of armies and Dispenser of Vitoria and peace, with which she has been greeted.

 Among all titles, that of the Most Holy Rosary is very especially worth mentioning, by which the distinguished benefits that Christianity owes it have been perpetually consecrated.

 None of you are unaware, Venerable Brethren, how much trouble and bitterness the Albigensian heretics caused the Holy Church of God at the end of the twelfth century, who, born of the sect of the last Manichaeans, filled the South of France with their pernicious errors, and all the other countries of the Latin world, and carrying everywhere the terror of their weapons, spread their dominion everywhere with extermination and death.

 Against such terrible enemies, God raised in his mercy the distinguished Father and founder of the Dominican Order.

 This hero, great for the integrity of his doctrine, for the example of his virtues and for his apostolic works, strove to fight against the enemies of the Catholic Church, not with force or arms, but with the steepest faith. in the devotion of the Holy Rosary, which he was the first to spread, and which his children have taken to the four corners of the world, he foresaw, in effect, by divine inspiration, that this devotion would put to flight, like a powerful war machine, enemies, and confuse their boldness and mad impiety.  This was justified by the facts.  Thanks to this way of praying, accepted, regularized and put into practice by the Order of Santo Domingo, piety, faith and harmony began to take root, and the projects and devices of heretics were destroyed; many lost ones returned to the right path and the fury of the wicked was restrained by the Catholic weapons wielded to resist them.

 

 

 

BATTLE OF LEPANTO

 

  The efficacy and power of that prayer were experienced in the 16th century, when the innumerable armies of the Turks were on the eve of imposing the yoke of superstition AND barbarism on almost all of Europe.  For this reason, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius V, after reviving in all the Christian Princes the feeling of common defense, tried to the extent possible to make Christians propitious to the Almighty Mother of God and to attract her help upon them. invoking her through the Holy Rosary.  This noble example, which in those days was offered to earth and heaven, united all minds and persuaded all hearts;  so that the Christian faithful decided to shed their blood and sacrifice their lives to save religion and the country, they marched regardless of their number to meet the enemy forces gathered not far from the Gulf of Corinth: while those who were not Able to take up arms, like a pious army of supplication, they implored and saluted Mary, repeating the formulas of the Rosary and asking for the triumph of the combatants. the Echinada Islands, the escalation of the Christians, reported, without experiencing great casualties, an illustrious victory and annihilated the enemy forces.

 For this reason, the same Holy Pontiff, in gratitude for such an important benefit, wanted the memory of that memorable combat to be consecrated with a feast in honor of María de las Victorias, and then Gregory XIII sanctioned said festivity with the name of Holy Rosary...

 Likewise, in the last century important victories were achieved over the Turks in Temesvar, Hungary and Corfu, which were obtained on days consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and after the public prayers of the Holy Rosary ended.  This inclined Our predecessor Clement XI to decree for the universal Church the feast of the Most Holy Rosary.

 Thus, once it has been demonstrated that this formula of praying is agreeable to the Blessed Virgin and so appropriate for the defense of the Church and the Christian people, as to attract all kinds of public and private benefits, it is not surprising that several of Our predecessors have dedicated themselves to promoting it and recommending it with special praise.

 

 Urban IV assured that the Rosary provided advantages to the Christian people every day; Sixtus V said that this way of praying yields to the greater honor and glory of God, and that it is very convenient to ward off the dangers that threaten the world; Leo X declared that he had been instituted against heresiarchs and pernicious heresies, and Julius III called him praise of the Church.  Saint Pius V also said of the Rosary: ​​“that with the propagation of these prayers the faithful began to become aroused in prayer and that they became different men from what they were before;  that the darkness of heresy was dispelled, and that the light of faith shone in its splendor ”.  Finally, Gregory XIII declared: "that Saint Dominic had instituted the Rosary to appease the anger of God and implore the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary."

 Inspired by this thought and by the examples of Our predecessors, we have deemed it opportune to establish solemn prayers, elevating them to the Blessed Virgin in her Holy Rosary, to obtain from Jesus Christ equal help against the dangers that threaten us.  You see, Venerable Brothers, the difficult trials to which the Church is exposed every day; Christian piety, public morality, faith itself, which is the highest good and the principle of all virtues, all are threatened every day by the greatest dangers.

 Not only do you know how difficult this situation is and how much we suffer for it, but your piety also makes you experience Our bitterness; for it is very painful and regrettable to see so many souls rescued by Jesus Christ, torn to salvation by the whirlwind of a lost century and plunged into the abyss and into eternal death.

 In our times we are in so much need of divine help as in the time when the great Sunday raised the banner of the Rosary of Mary, in order to cure the ills of his time.  That great Saint, illuminated by the celestial light, clearly glimpsed that, to heal his century, no remedy could be as effective as attracting men to Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life, prompting them to go to the Virgin, to whom is granted the power to destroy all heresies.

 The formula of the Holy Rosary was composed in such a way by Saint Dominic, that in it the mysteries of our salvation agree by their successive order, and in this matter the meditation is mixed and as intertwined with the Angelic Salutation an ejaculatory prayer to God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  We, who seek a remedy for similar ills, have the right to believe that, seeing the same prayer that served Santo Domingo to do so much good, we can also see the calamities that afflict our time disappear.

 For this reason we not only strongly encourage all Christians to dedicate themselves publicly or privately and teach their families to recite the Holy Rosary and to persevere in this holy exercise, but we also want the month of October of this year to be entirely consecrated to the Queen of the Rosary

 We hereby decree and order that throughout the Catholic world the feast of the Rosary be solemnly celebrated in the current year with splendor and pomp, and that from the first day of next October until the second day of the following November, at least five dozen of the Rosary be prayed in all the curial Churches, and if the ordinary ones deem it appropriate, in other Churches and chapels dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, at least five dozen of the Rosary, adding the Lauretan litanies.  We also wish that the people attend this pious exercise, and that either the holy sacrifice of the Mass be celebrated in them, or the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to the adoration of the faithful, and then the blessing is given with it.  It will also be of Our worship that the brotherhoods of the Holy Rosary of Mary sing it in procession through the streets according to the ancient custom.

 And where due to circumstances this is not possible, try to replace temples with the greatest frequency and with the increase of Christian virtues.

 In favor of those who practice what is disposed of, and to encourage everyone, we open the treasures of the Church, and all who attend the public recitation of the Rosary and the Litanies at the time designated above, and pray according to our intention, we grant seven highs and seven quarantines of indulgences each time.  And we want those who, legitimately prevented from making such prayers in public, to do them privately, enjoy the same grace.

 And to those who, at the prescribed time, practice at least ten times in public, or in secret if publicly for a just cause, cannot, the indicated prayers, and duly purified their soul, approach Holy Communion, we leave them free from all expiation and of all penalties in the form of plenary indulgence.

 We also grant a full remission of their sins to those who, whether on the day of the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, or in the next eight days, purified their souls through confession, approach the Sacred Table and pray in a temple, according to our intention, to God and the Blessed Virgin, for the needs of the Church.

 Act then, Venerable Brothers!  The more you are interested in honoring Mary and saving human society, the more you must dedicate yourself to encouraging the piety of the faithful towards the Blessed Virgin, increasing her trust in her.

 We consider ourselves to be part of the providential plans that in these times of trial for the Church the cult of the Blessed Virgin should flourish more than ever in the vast majority of the Christian people.

 May God please that, excited by our exhortations and inflamed by your appeals, the Christian nations seek, with increasing ardor, the protection of Mary: that they become more and more accustomed to reciting the Rosary, to that cult that our ancestors had the habit of. practice, not only as an ever-present remedy for their ills but as an adornment of heavenly Christian piety Patron of the human race will hear daring prayers

 and she will easily grant to the good the favor of seeing her virtues increase, and to the wayward the favor of returning to the good and entering again on the path of salvation.  She will obtain that the avenging God of crimes, inclining to clemency and mercy, restore to the Christian world and to society, after all danger has been diverted from now on, the so desirable calm.

 Encouraged by this hope, we beseech God for the intercession of the One in whom he has placed the fullness of all good, and we beg her with all our might, that she abundantly bestow upon you, Venerable Brothers, her heavenly favors.  And as a pledge of our benevolence,

 We wholeheartedly give you, your clergy and the peoples entrusted to your care the Apostolic Blessing.

 

 Given at Saint Peter's in Rome, on September 1, 1883, the sixth year of Our Pontificate.

 

                                 LION POPE XIII