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Show MONTH. OF HOLY ROSARY. The month of October has been dedicated by the Church to a special devotion in honor of the Blessed Mother of God the Holy Rosary. This beautiful prayer is, above all things, specially Catholic. In fact, there were times in the history of the Church when the recitation of this prayer and the possession posses-sion of a set of beads were looked upon as distinguishing distin-guishing marks of Catholicity. Many a poor Irish peasant suffered cruel scourgings, the pitch cap, imprisonment im-prisonment and even death, for no other crime than the possession of a set of beads or rosary. Many students of Irish history, amongst whom are Father Tom Burke and Father Coleman, assert that the use of this beautiful prayer played a most important part in keeping alive in the minds of the Irish people peo-ple a knowledge of the chief mysteries of faith during dur-ing the terrible persecutions. How this was so can be easily understood. The priests were forbidden to minister to their flocks. The people could assemble assem-ble occasionally in some mountain fastnesses for the celebration of holy mass, but there was one devotion de-votion which they could practice in their homes without the priest, and that was the rosary. The fifteen mysteries give some of the principal points in the history of man's redemption from the annunciation an-nunciation to the crowning of the Blessed Virgin in ' Heaven. Meditating daily on those mysteries gave the people a grasp on the essentials of their faith, and won for them in their troubles the powerful protection pro-tection of the Mother of God. The days of persecution persecu-tion have passed, but, thank God, the people are still devoted to this beautiful prayer. There are few families in Catholic Ireland where this prayer is not repeated daily. Before retiring to rest the family assembles to do honor to their Heavenly" Queen. Who can calculate what blessings this practice has brought to the Irish people? In many, parts of Europe Eu-rope the people assemble in the churches at evening to say this prayer, but the family rosary is principally princi-pally an Irish practice. In this country the same practice was quite common at one time, but in how many Catholic families at the present day do we find the family rosary recited? The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin with the fifteen mysteries, as we now know it, was introduced by St. Dominic in the thirteenth century, but the use of strings of beads to count prayers is very ancient. History tells us that the Abbot Paul, an Egyptian monk, used pebbles to count his prayers. He died A. D. 341. Strings of beads used for the same purpose pur-pose were found in the tomb of Gertrude of Nivilles (died 59). Those beads were called Pater Nosters, and were in general use amongst lay members of religious re-ligious orders, who were bound to say certain prayers pray-ers at hours corresponding to the time for recitation of Divine office by the clergy. During the Middle Ages the lay members of military orders, such as the Knights" of St. John, had as part of their regular reg-ular equipment the Pater Noster beads. The saying of "the beads" is therefore an essentially essen-tially Catholic practice. It has the claim of antiquity an-tiquity to recommend it. It has been sanctified by the practice of countless saints of the Church, and he is a poor Catholic indeed who has not his set of beads or who, having them, does not use them. |
