The Powerful Rosary

The POWERFUL ROSARY

History, Biblical Symbolisms and Spiritual Sword

A Brief History

According to the Dominican tradition St. Dominic founded the rosary in the year 1208. St. Dominic lived from the years 1170- 1221 and died at the age of 51 in Bologna, Italy.

St. Dominic – A Brief History & Background

St. Dominic was the founder of the Dominican religious order of preachers. When St. Dominic’s mother (Blessed Juana of Aza) was pregnant with him; she had a dream of a dog with a torch in his mouth setting the world on fire. This dream was prophetic, and in 1216, St. Dominic founded the Dominican order of preachers which from the Latin word (Domini canes) meaning (the dogs of God) sniffing out heresy and bringing people back to the truth about God.

The Rosary Was Integrated Into The Dominican Habit

Eventually, the rosary became part of the Dominican habit and worn on the left side (as soldiers did) in order to symbolize a sword ready to be used for spiritual battle. St. Dominic also found the Confraternity of the Rosary.

Pope Leo Xlll in his encyclical Octobri Mense, teaches that the Rosary “was instituted and propagated” by St. Dominic” by the Blessed Mother’s command and counsel.  In the year 1198 under Pope Innocent III there was a heresy taught by a group of people called the Albigensian. The Albigensians believed there were two God’s. One being the new God of Light which is Jesus in the New Testament and the evil God (satin) in the Old Testament.

The Albigensians Beliefs & Background

The Albigensians believed the body was evil and that it was created by satin, and that the soul was good. This type of thinking encouraged suicide in order to release the soul from the evil. It also deterred them from having children and even discouraged marriage.

In addition to this, the Albigensians were also opposed to the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Albigensian lifestyle was rigid, disciplined and they embraced hardships and lived a life of poverty. The people of that time would rather be led by the Albigensians than by priests and popes.

The Albigensians did not respect the clergy because the Catholic Bishops and Abbots (at that time) lived in luxury and dressed lavishly. Their thought was the people would succumb to worldly comforts.  They despised the papacy so much that the Albigensians murdered a member of the clergy who had been sent to dialogue with them.

St. Dominic Tried To Bring People Back To The Truth

St. Dominic was facing this dilemma and tried by his preaching to bring the people back to the truth. St. Dominic preached for ten years and failed miserably. He decided to go into solitude for days embracing severe penance and deep prayer.

The Blessed Mother Appeared To St. Dominic

Because of his severe penance he fell into a coma and that’s when the Blessed Mother appeared to him saying, “Do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants you to use to reform the world?”  She then proceeded to say, “I want you to know in this warfare the Battering Ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation of the New Testament.”  Therefore, if you wish to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.” She also instructed him on how to pray the Rosary.

St. Dominic Was Able To Lead People Back To The Truth

That’s exactly what St. Dominic did, preached the Rosary and finally was able to bring the people back to the truth. By the time of St. Dominic’s death in 1221 the Albigensian Heresy was ended.

Biblical Symbolisms

When the Blessed Mother spoke of the “Psalter,” She was referring to the 150 Psalms in the Book of David in the Old Testament.  This was an ancient practice and was prayed daily by the Jewish people of old and by the early Christian Monks.

Numerical Symbolisms

When you add up all the Hail Mary’s it comes to 150. They would substitute the 150 Psalms with the Our Fathers or the Hail Mary’s in place of the 150 Psalms.

When you add up the 150 Hail Mary’s and the three Hail Mary’s prayed in the beginning of the Rosary you get 153. This was the number of days covered by the Blessed Mother’s appearances in Fatima, Portugal. The number 153 can also be found in scripture in John Chapter 21 verse 4-13. This was the miracle of the fish (153 was the amount of fish caught by the apostles).

The Prayer Of The Psalter

Originally the prayer of the Psalter or the Rosary was counted by transferring pebbles in one bag to another. Later on, it advanced to a piece of rope making knots to count them.  Eventually wood was used to make the beads instead of the knots. Around the end of the 1^st Millennium the Rosary contained 5 decades.

Hail Mary Beads & Hail Mary Prayer

The Hail Mary beads were shaped like white lilies for the purity of the Blessed Mother and the Our Father’s were shaped like red roses for the wounds and passion of Jesus.

When the Angel Gabriel greeted Mary to tell her that she will conceive a child, Gabriel said, “Hail Full of Grace the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28). This is called the Angelic Salutation.  When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and the infant leaped in her womb. Elizabeth cried out, “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42-43).

It was from these two passages that derived the Hail Mary Prayer and also added the names Mary and Jesus.  The word Rosary comes from the Latin word Rosarium meaning a garden or garland of roses.  When praying the Rosary, it’s like dropping roses at the foot of the Blessed Mother.

It is Catholic custom that after the Blessed Mother was assumed into heaven, roses and beautiful flowers bloomed in the place where Mary was laid before she assumed into heaven in remembrance of Her. Roses were her favorite flower.

The Rosary a Spiritual Weapon

The Rosary is very powerful and considered a spiritual sword or weapon. Jesus Himself named it a sword and St. Padre Pio referred to it as a spiritual weapon.

In December of 2014 the country of Nigeria was suffering attacks from a terrorist group called Boko Haram. The Bishop of Nigeria Oliver Doeme was in great distress over these attacks so he went to pray his Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Suddenly Jesus appeared to him and He had a sword in his hand and held it in front of the bishop. When the bishop went to touch the sword, it turned into a Rosary.  Jesus spoke to him three times and said, “Boko Haram is gone, Boko Haram is gone, Boko Haram is gone.”  Instantly the bishop knew what Jesus meant when he said this. He needed to pray the Rosary to defeat these terrorists. So, he started a Rosary Campaign in his diocese.

A year after that campaign started the President of Nigeria went on TV and announced that Boko Haram suffered a great defeat. Several months after that announcement the militants of Boko Haram surrendered their weapons.

Please Stay Up To Date And Check My Blog Regularly

Please visit my website www.thelittlebrownscapular.com for the 15 Promises For Praying The Holy Rosary and much more. Another wonderful blog post you will enjoy is Connecting the Five First Saturday Devotions to the Rosary, the Brown Scapular and Fatima Message.

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