Showing posts with label series: rosary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label series: rosary. Show all posts

Thursday, October 21, 2010

October: Month of the Rosary

The month of October is dedicated to the Rosary.  A couple of years ago, I had the idea of writing a series on the thirteen encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary.  That didn't go as planned.  I had hoped to revisit the encyclicals this month.  That didn't go as planned.  Between my professional career, my book-writing, my Bible studying, and my personal life, I just haven't had the time to do Church-document reading like I had in 2007 and 2008.

That said, I'd like to link to the first two articles I posted about the Rosary encyclicals.  I will eventually get around to reading and writing about the whole set.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary: Supremi Apostolatus Officio (1883)

This is part 1 of a series on the writings of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary.

"Help from Heaven" (n. 1)
On the first of September, 1883, Pope Leo XIII presented to his brothers in the episcopate the first of a series of encyclicals on the Rosary and the importance and benefit of devotion thereto: Supremi Apostolatus Officio. This document marked the beginning of a pious campaign to stir up true devotion to the Rosary, which had proven efficacious in past times of tribulation for the Church.

His Holiness begins this encyclical by calling to mind the reliance of all humanity on the graciousness of God, as well as the unfailing patronage of the Blessed Mother: "We constantly seek for help from Heaven -- the sole means of effecting anything -- that our labors and our care may obtain their wished for object. We deem that there could be no surer and more efficacious means to this end than by religion and piety to obtain the favor of the great Virgin Mary, the Mother of God."

Origin of the Rosary (nn. 2-3)
He then describes the historical dependence of the Church and its faithful on Mary's "maternal goodness": "It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troubling times to fly for refuge to Mary." "This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven" has never been more evident than in times of heresy, moral corruption, or attacks on the Church by powerful enemies. Pope Leo writes about the foundation of the Rosary: "Our merciful God ... raised up against [the Albigensian heretics] a most holy man, the illustrious parent and founder of the Dominican Order." St. Dominic fought against these heretics by "trusting wholly to that devotion which he was the first to institute under the name of the Holy Rosary." This new method of prayer "would be the means of putting the enemy to flight, and of confounding their audacity and man impiety."

The Efficacy of the Rosary (nn. 4-5)
Having established its origin, the Holy Father then recounts other circumstances in which the Church flew to the protection of the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. He mentions the 16th century, when "the Turks threatened to impose on nearly the whole of Europe the yoke of superstition and barbarism" and Pope St. Pius V "strove ... to obtain for Christendom the favor of the most powerful Mother of God". And so, in addition to Christian soldiers "prepared to sacrifice their life and blood for the salvation of their faith and their country", there were those who "saluted her again and again in the words of the Rosary, imploring her to grant the victory to their companions engaged in battle." Pope St. Pius V desired that a feast be established to celebrate the anniversary of this victory, and his successor, Pope Gregory XIII, did so: the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated (in the pre-conciliar calendar) on October 7th.

After victories over the Turks during the 18th century, which "coincided with feats of the Blessed Virgin and with the conclusion of public devotions of the Rosary", Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the whole Church.

Pope Leo then recounts various praises for the Rosary from Pontiffs past: Urban IV, Sixtus IV, Julius III, St. Pius V, and Gregory XIII who pronounced that "the Rosary had been instituted by St. Dominic to appease the anger of God and to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Present Need (nn. 6-7)
Then the Holy Father writes that he too deems it "most appropriate for similar reasons to institute solemn prayers", and to address "the Blessed Virgin in the recital of the Rosary to obtain from her son Jesus Christ a similar aid against present dangers." He mentions the trials facing the Church at the time: the attacks on Christian piety, public morality, and the very faith itself: "It is one of the most painful and grievous sights to see so many souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ, snatched from salvation by the whirlwind of an age of error, precipitated into the abyss of eternal death."

Present use (nn. 8-11)
Pope Leo recounts that St. Dominic composed the Rosary "as to recall the mysteries of our salvation in succession": its purpose is to meditate on the salvation obtained for us by Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life", and to seek the "intercession with God of that Virgin, to whom it is given to destroy all heresies." His Holiness desires "that the whole month of October" of that year "be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary, and that from October 1st through November 2nd (33 days) throughout the Church "let five decades of the Rosary be recited with the addition of the Litany of Loreto." The Pope attached indulgences to the pious recitation of these prayers as well.

In closing, Pope Leo reminds his brethren that it is "part of the designs of Providence that, in these times of trial for the Church, the ancient devotion to the august Virgin should live and flourish amid the greatest part of the Christian world", and that we can be sure that "the heavenly Patroness of the human race will receive with joy these prayers and supplications" and that "God who is the avenger of crime, moved to mercy and pity may deliver Christendom and civil society from all dangers, and restore to them peace so much desired."

Later that year, Pope Leo XIII would add to the Litany of Loreto the title "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" (Regina Sanctissimi Rosarii), through the proclamation Salutaris Ille of December 24.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Tradition: Series on Pope Leo XIII and the Rosary

Starting December 1st, 2007 (to coincide with the next liturgical year), the Mount Carmel Catholic Bloggers [now defunct] (for which I am now a contributor) will have a series on the 13 encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII that deal with the Rosary. That blog has voted to make 2008 a Marian Year.

I will be writing the first article, and I have also written the introduction to the series:



Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary: Introduction to the series

As the year 2007 has been deemed a Marian Year here at Mount Carmel Catholic Bloggers, I thought it would be fitting to present a series on the writings of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary. Pope Leo -- born in 1810, elected to the papacy in 1878, died in 1903 -- wrote a series of encyclicals between the years 1883 and 1898: twelve on the Rosary itself, and one on devotion to St. Joseph to be fostered in conjunction with the standard October devotion to the Rosary:
  1. Supremi Apostolatus Officio (September 1, 1883) - The rosary and Litany of Loreto recited in churches "for the month of October of this year."
  2. Superiore anno (August 30, 1884) - The reception of the previous year's October devotions warranted their continuation.
  3. Quod auctoritate (December 22, 1885) - Exhortation to a greater spirit of penance and devotion to the rosary during the upcoming extraordinary jubilee year (the 50th anniversary of Pope Leo's ordination).
  4. Vi è ben noto (September 20, 1887) - On the Rosary and Public Life.
  5. Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889) - On devotion to St. Joseph.
  6. Octobri mense (September 22, 1891) - The power of prayer and the efficacy of the rosary.
  7. Magnae Dei Matris (September 8, 1892) - The relation of the rosary to faith and morality.
  8. Laetitiae sanctae (September 8, 1893) - The social benefits of the rosary.
  9. Iucunda semper expectatione (September 8, 1984) - The rosary as witness to Mary's intercession.
  10. Adiutricem (September 5, 1895) - Mary's universal motherhood; the rosary as the way to unity.
  11. Fidentem piumque animum (September 20, 1896) - The rosary's influence on Christian faith and life.
  12. Augustissimae Virginis Mariae (September 12, 1897) - Mary's association with Christ; the rosary confraternities, and "living rosary."
  13. Diuturni temporis (September 5, 1898) - A summary of the pope's teaching on the rosary; notice of the constitution on the rosary sodalities.
Of these encyclicals, Bl. Pope John XXIII wrote:
Among the pleasant recollections of Our younger days are the Encyclicals which Pope Leo XIII used to write to the whole Catholic world as the month of October drew near, in order to urge the faithful to devout recitation of Mary's rosary during that month in particular. (Grata recordatio, n. 1 [September 26, 1959])
In the series to come, there will be an article written about each of these encyclicals (and perhaps some of the other documents Pope Leo XIII wrote on the subject), starting with Supremi Apostolatus Officio (to be presented on December 1, 2008, the new liturgical year's eve). Before the series commences, though, I would like to provide a bit of background information so that the series can be understood in its context.

Although the Rosary is commonly considered a primarily Marian devotion, Pope Leo XIII continually framed it in its proper (and original) Christological setting: "meditation on the salvation obtained for Us by Him" (Supremi Apostolatus Officio, n. 8). He brings to mind St. Dominic's intention of composing the Rosary "to recall the mysteries of our salvation in succession ... interlaced with the Angelic salutation and with the prayer addressed to God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ." (ibid.)

Although it is a prayer "particularly pleasing to the Blessed Virgin" (ibid., n. 5), the Holy Father puts this in the context of the Blessed Virgin Mary's intercession for us before Jesus Christ, she who "has a favour and power with her Son greater than any human or angelic creature has ever obtained". (ibid., n. 2) In this way, the Rosary works in multiple ways: as a meditation on the events in the lives of Jesus and Mary, it is a summary of the Gospel (summa evangelicae doctrinae) and a sure way to nourish the faith and protect it from error; and as a prayer of supplication to "obtain the favour of the great Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the guardian of our peace and the minister to us of heavenly grace" (ibid., n. 1), so that we might find refuge and help when "endangered by the violence of heresy spread abroad, or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies." (ibid., n. 3)

During his papacy, Pope Leo XIII made two additions to the Litany of Loreto: the title of "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" (Regina sacratissimi rosarii) in December of 1883 (via Salutaris Ille) and the title of "Mother of good counsel" (Mater boni consilii) in April of 1903.

With that preface and background, the series is ready to begin. Look for the first installment around the hour of evening prayer on December 1st.

Information for this post was gathered from: the Vatican's collection of Pope Leo XIII's encyclicals, the University of Dayton's The Popes and the Rosary, the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on Pope Leo XIII, the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on the Litany of Loreto, and EWTN's copy of the Litany of Loreto.