Hi, I m Father Chris Alar and welcome to another edition of Ask a Marian. Salvador from Madrid,
Spain asks what I think is our shortest question ever: Why do we Catholics pray the Rosary
when it s not in the Bible? Well, thank you, Sal for, and that s a very common question,
and one that we picked because today, October the 7th, is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Now you might not know that the word, Rosary, comes from the Latin word, Rosarium, or Crown
of Roses. Now, at first, centuries ago, a practice developed
amongst the laity of praying 150 Hail Mary s every day. This was imitation of the Monks
who would pray 150 Psalms every day. So, as the laity s way of being like a Religious.
So, they did this every day. Now, these Hail Mary Prayers were in fact in the Bible. Well,
Father, where are they? Well, just turn to the first chapter of Luke. Here the Angel
hails Her and tells Her, She is full of grace and that the Lord is with Her. So, Hail Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Then Elizabeth tells Her She is Blessed among women
because blessed are those who hear the Word of God and follow it.
So, Blessed are You among woman and blessed is the fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus. Well, that
comes from her saying that Blessed is the fruit of Her Womb because She carried the
Christ-Child in Her. Then she indicates that Mary is Holy, as I said because she called
Her Blessed, that s holy and she confirms that She s the Mother of Our Lord, because
she says, how is it that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? So, Holy Mary, Mother
of God. You know, we can look at this as being words of the Angel or words of Saint Elizabeth,
not made-up pagan words. Now, remember, as important as that is, the
Rosary though is not just a bunch, or about a bunch of Hail Mary s, those are just background
music. It s like watching a movie with a good musical score. Remember the movie, Jaws?
The music added to the intensity of the plot of the movie, made the movie even better.
You know, the plot is always though, better than the music. The music just adds to it.
Well, unless the movie is Saturday Night Fever. Then the music was definitely better than
the plot. But anyway, what am I talking about? Alright. In a similar way the Hail Mary s
as I said are the background music, but the plot is the Mysteries of the Rosary. And what
are the Mysteries? They are the Biblical accounts of the lives of Jesus and Mary. For instance,
the Annunciation, and the Visitation, or even later, the Carrying of the Cross and the Resurrection,
etc. These are all the mysteries that we pray when we pray the Rosary. This is what we meditate
on. And as I mentioned, that people began praying 150 Hail Mary s in honor of the Psalms
every day. Well, soon after that, Mysteries of the Life
of Jesus and Mary were attached to those Hail Mary s. That s how the Rosary developed. It
is totally Scriptural. The whole thing. But how did it come about? Alright. Pious tradition
says that the Rosary was given to Saint Dominic in a Marian Apparition in 1214, the year 1214.
Although true, no specific Church document supports this necessarily. It was known from
the ninth century, or even before in various forms. So, while some say that Mary giving
the Rosary to Saint Dominic is only a legend, Fr. Don Calloway disagrees.
He points out that the development of the Rosary owes a lot to the followers of Saint
Dominic. In the 16th century, the Rosary then was developed into the present form that we
have today, with the fifteen Mysteries. You have 5 Joyful Mysteries, 5 Sorrowful Mysteries
and 5 Glorious Mysteries. Now, again, these Mysteries are all about the Lives of Jesus
and Mary that we find in in the Bible. But, in 2002, John Paul II added the five Mysteries
of Light, called the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary.
Now, some people weren t happy with that, but you got to look here because it does make
sense because Pius the Twelfth called the Rosary a Compendium of the Gospel. Now, hear
this. This is basically, if it s a Compendium with the Gospel, it s the Birth of Jesus,
those are the Joyful. Then we had the Death of Jesus, which is the Sorrowful, and we had
the Resurrection of Jesus in the Glorious Mysteries. But Jesus Life, what happened between
His Birth and his Death was missing. We call those Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries. So,
it made sense to add them in. You know, sometimes something being traditional
doesn t always mean it s older and even better, such as many parts of the Novus Ordo Mass
are actually older than the Extraordinary Form, or the Tridentine Mass. People don t
know that. So, how can this prayer possibly be pagan and not Biblical? It is Biblical,
and that is why today, October the 7th, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
It was first known as Our Lady of Victory. That s when I used to play High School Football.
We would pray to Our Lady of Victory and it was in honor of the Anniversary of the victory
of the Christians over the Muslim Ottoman Navy at Lepanto back in 1571. You probably
heard of the Miracle of Lepanto. What is that? Well, the Turkish Ottoman Empire had invaded
much of the Christian Byzantine Empire by the 1400s, and the next several years the
Turks expanded their Empire west, on land and asserted their naval power on the sea.
Now, they brought a large portion of the Christian world under Islamic Law. Now, we are seeing
that in some ways again today. So, we need to pray the Rosary like they did
back in the 1500s. What happened was, back then, three Catholic powers, Genoa, Spain
and the Papal States formed an alliance. Now, they called that the Holy League, and that
defended Christian civilization against the Turkish Invasion. Remember, the Catechism
allows for self-defense. This is what the case was. So anyway, its fleets, this Holy
League sailed to confront the Turks near the west coast of Greece, and on this date, October
7th, back in 1571, crewmembers on more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary in preparation
for battle, and so didn t Christians through Europe.
This was encouraged by Pope Pius V, to gather, people to gather in their Churches and to
invoke the Virgin Mary against this daunting Turkish force and all the enemies of God that
were trying to bring down Christendom. Now, totally outnumbered, totally outmanned, only
a miracle could save them and that is exactly what happened. The Pope was so moved, that
he instituted a Feast called Our Lady of Victory, later changed to the Feast of the Holy Rosay,
and ultimately known as Our Lady of the Rosary, which I said we celebrate today.
You know, if the Ottomans had won, then there was a real possibility that an invasion of
Christian Rome could ve followed, bringing an end to all of Christianity. So, don t make
the mistake of many who dismissed the Rosary as vain, repetitious prayer. It is not a bunch
of Hail Mary s, but meditation on the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus, which is in the Bible,
and many exorcists have said it is a great weapon against evil because fears the humility
of Mary more than anything else. You know, many promises are also attached
to praying the Rosary and that will be a topic for another time, but, therefore, for now
just make it a part of your daily prayer life. So, thanks Sal, for the question and make
sure that you have the opportunity today and everyday to pray your Rosary. Don t fear,
it s totally Biblical. God bless you. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.