the rosary: the sign of love

THE ROSARY THE SIGN OF LOVE

Excerpts from the address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the Rosary
3 May, 2008

Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary.

In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ's mission are traced.

With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can "water" society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God.

The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each "Hail Mary".

As at the origins, Mary Most Holy helps the faithful of every Christian community to form one heart and soul. I entrust to you the most urgent intentions of my ministry, the needs of the Church, the grave problems of humanity: peace in the world, unity among Christians, dialogue between all cultures.

counting your beads: the rosary through the years

COUNTING YOUR BEADS: THE ROSARY THROUGH THE YEARS

The idea of using beads to count prayers is ancient and rich with history.

Ireland 800-900AD
Historians trace the origin of the Rosary back to approximately IX century Ireland commonly called the Celtic Rosary formed within the Community of Saint Columba.
Today, as then, the 150 Psalms of the Bible, the Book of Psalms of King David, were an important form of prayer. Monks and clergy recited or chanted the Psalms as a major source of hourly worship. People living near the monasteries/abbeys realized the beauty of this devotion but unable to read or memorize the lengthy Psalms, the people were unable to adapt this form of prayer for their use.

It was suggested that the people might substitute 150 Our Fathers in place of the Psalms. At first, pebbles were carried in a pouch to count the 150 Our Fathers; later ropes with 150 or 50 (1/3 of 150) knots were used (Na tri coicat). Eventually (by the 12th century) strings with 50 small pieces of wood were used (Paternoster cord).

1072AD
Next the Angelic Salutation (Luke 1:28) was added. St. Peter Damian was the first to mention this form of prayer. Soon the Angelic Salutation replaced the 50 Our Fathers.

Some medieval theologians considered the 150 Psalms to be veiled mysteries about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They began to compose "Psalters of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" – 150 praises in honor of Jesus. Soon psalters devoted to 150 praises of Mary were composed. When a Psalter of 150 praises in Mary’s honor numbered 50 instead of 150, it was called a rosarium, or bouquet.

1365AD
Henry of Kalkar, Visitator of the Carthusian Order grouped the salutations into decades and an Our Father was put before each decade. This combined the Our Father and the Angelic Salutation for the first time.

To use 10 beads or a decade was not an outlandish decision since ancients used 10 fingers to count prayers. Ten is also the ancient symbol of perfection of the divine order of God (i.e. the Ten Commandments).

The word bead comes from the Anglo-Saxon root word, ‘bede’ and it means ‘prayer.’ ‘Bidden’ means ‘to pray.’

1409AD
Dominic the Prussian, another Carthusian wrote a book that grouped special thoughts or meditations attaching one for each Hail Mary bead.

1470AD
The ORDER OF PREACHERS spread the form of the "new rosary" throughout Western Christendom. Fr. Alain de la Roche and Fr. Jakob Sprenger were instrumental to this devotion with the foundation of the famous Confraternities of the Rosary.
It was also during this time that the devotion became intimately united to the Order of Preachers and the the legend that it was their founder St Dominic de Guzman who received the beads from the Virgin.

1400 – 1500AD
The thoughts or meditations on the 150 Hail Mary beads took the form of woodcuts (graphic pictures). This exhausted the practice easily because of the volume of pictures. Picture rosaries were shortened to one picture/thought for each Our Father as it is today.

After he famous victory of Lepanto in 1571, the form of the rosary which we know to today was fixed: the five decade chaplet was introduced. A more catechetical format was also introduced for the Christian faithful: with the recitation of the Apostles' Creed and the introductory prayers was popularized.

Hymns and melodies were also introduced to the recitation of the rosary especially in Southern Europe and were later popularized in the Western Hemisphere.

1600 AD
The exemplary courage and holiness of many confraternity members as well as other members of the Dominican family at the height of the persecutions in Japan gave further glory to this marian devotion.

1700’sAD
St. Louis de Montfort wrote the most common set of meditations for the rosary used today.

Early 1900’sAD
A movement was begun attempting to return to a form of the medieval rosary – one thought for each Hail Mary.

Rosary devotion received heavenly confirmation during the apparitions of the Virgin at Lourdes France. Rosary devotion began to experience a comeback.

This was promoted further as the devotion par excellence during many encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.

St Antony Maria Claret and St Francis Coll became great rosarian apostles and made the beads their efficacious instrument for Christian renewal in Northwestern Spain.

Bl. Bartolo Longo begins to propagate the Rosary devotion in southern Italy with the construction of the famous Shrine of the Virgin in Pompeii.He begins the traditional suplica to the Virgin.

1917 The Virgin appears at the Cova da Iria in Portugal. At the end of the apparitions she declared herself as the Lady of the Rosary. Renewed devotion to the beads was witnessed throughout Christendom.

Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton CSC begins his Family Rosary Crusade.

New and creative forms of the rosary devotion began to appear, differing from the medieval version, is composed almost entirely of direct quotations from the Bible. It is appropriately called "the Scriptural Rosary."

Paul VI publishes Marialis cultus: giving a new impetus to the rosary devotion.

Blessed John Paul II published Rosarium Virginis Mariae, introducing the luminous mysteries. This encyclical is his own contribution as a devotee as a Pontiff to the long legacy of the rosary.

you are our mother

This is a beautiful Marian prayer by one of the greatest popes of the XX century, whose memory today is unfortunately maligned by those who could not accept the changes he had brought upon the Church; and "forgotten" due to the brilliance and popularity of his predecessor and his successors . Unjustly accused of destroying the Marian traditions of the Church, yet a second look on his writings tell us otherwise. Only a saint, only a man of God would be able to lead the Church during those moments of change and unease.. only a man whose love for the Virgin could write the beautiful Marialis cultus that brought a fresher air and a more ecumenical perspective on the role of the Virgin in the economy of salvation... only a man who deeply loved Jesus and his Church could write Evangelii nuntiandi and Populorum progressio... a man indeed who lived the passion for Christ and for humanity. A man truly to be emulated.

PRAYER OF POPE PAUL VI to the Blessed Virgin Mary
You Are Our Mother

O Mary,
look upon the church,
look upon the most responsible members
of the Mystical Body of Christ
gathered about you to thank you
and to celebrate you as their Mystical Mother.

O Mary,
bless the great assembly of the hierarchical church,
which also gives birth to brothers and sisters of Christ,
the firstborn among redeemed humankind.

O Mary,
grant that this church of Christ,
in defining itself,
will acknowledge you as its most chosen mother,
daughter, and sister,
as well as its incomparable model,
its glory, its joy, and its hope.
We ask you now
that we may be made worthy of honouring you
because of who you are
and because of what you do
in the wondrous and loving plan of salvation.
Grant that we may praise you,
O holy Virgin!

O Mary,
look upon us who are your children,
look upon us who are brothers and sisters,
disciples and apostles and continuation of Jesus.
Make us aware of our vocation and our mission;
may we not be unworthy to take on,
in our priesthood,
in our word,
in the offering of our life
for the faithful entrusted to us,
the representation and personification of Christ.
O you who are full of grace,
grant that the priesthood that honours you
may itself also be holy and immaculate.

O Mary,
we pray to you
for our Christian brothers and sisters
who are still separated
from our Catholic family.
See how a glorious group of them
celebrate your cult with fidelity and love.
See also how among another group,
who are so intent on calling themselves Christians,
there now dawns the remembrance
and the veneration of you,
O most holy Lady.
Call these children of yours to the one unity
under your motherly and heavenly aid.

O Mary,
look upon all mankind,
this modern world in which
the Divine Will calls us to live and work.
It is a world that has turned its back
on the light of Christ;
then it fears and bemoans the frightening shadows
that its actions have created on all sides.
May your most human voice,
O most beautiful of virgins,
O most worthy of mothers,
O blessed among women,
invited the world to turn its eyes
toward the life that is the light of man,
toward you who are the precursor-lamp of Christ,
Who is the sole and the highest Light of the world.
Implore for the world
the true understanding of its own existence;
implore for the world
the joy of living as the creation of God
and hence the desire and the capacity
to converse, by prayer, with its Maker,
whose mysterious and blesses image
it reflects within itself.

Implore for the world
the grace to esteem everything as the gift of God
and hence the virtue to work with generosity
and to make use of such gifts wisely and providently.
Implore peace for the world.
Fashion brothers and sisters
out of persons who are so divided.
Guide us to a more ordered and peaceful society.
For those who are suffering,
today there are so many and ever new ones,
afflicted by current misfortunes,
obtain solace;
and for the dead, obtain eternal rest.
Show yourself a mother to us;
this is our prayer,
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary!

Amen

the rosary by st francis coll

As the end of the Rosary month draws near, I would like to share this beautiful reflection by Saint Francis Coll OP, the founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Anunciata and one of the great apostles of the Rosary.


THE ROSARY WELL PRAYED AND MEDITATED IS A VERY EFFICACIOUS MEANS TO REACH HEAVEN

Do you know faithful, what are the means in which we can use to climb that city so elevated? In order to win the forts that seem to be impenetrable and to take over the cities are crowning the high walls, the warlike souls invented various ingenious instruments, and among them the stairs, whose invention was attributed by Vegetius to Capaneus in the conquest of Thebes. The city is a city that is strong and elevated; it is surrounded by some walls that seem to be impenetrable. Who can therefore make this conquest? Who has the power to climb these walls? What remedy must be done in order to conquer the fort of glory? Let us seek a ladder in order to reach heaven.

Jacob saw in his dreams a stairs whose foot was over the ground and its end reachng the heavens, and also the angels of God would go up and down of it [Gn 28,12]. Many interpreters understood that this stairs is the incarnation of the Word who united heaven and earth.

Bede (the Venerable) says that this stairs have 15, and Saint Bernardine of Siena said, that these steps are the mysteries of reconciliation of the creature with the Creator. What are these mysteries but those of the mysteries of the rosary of Mary? Later the most holy rosary in which 15 mysteries are recited, in which are commemorate and meditate the reconciliation of the human nature with God, are the stairs of Jacob, which is going to be represented in the most holy rosary as another stairs to climb heaven. Since this stairs of the most holy rosary is brought by Mary most holy; with his stairs, the difficult conquest of the triumphant Jerusalem: with his stairs persuades all you would begin to climb the stairs to heaven with care and exhorts that all the confraternity members devoutly climb it through meditation, attentively through the 15 steps.

That is why, beloved brothers, pray and meditate with all devotion the holy rosary, because through it you shall win the benevolence of Jesus your tender father and of Mary your amiable mother; and thus your soul would leave your body and climb thestaris of heaven, you shall come out to meet, not to impede you to climb and and enter heaven, but to give you ha hand to facilitate your entrance and say to you: “Come, come and enter the joy of your Father and Mother, whom you greet with the holy rosary”.

In the stairs seen by Jacob, The Lord who was supporting himself on it, said to him: “I am the Lord the God of Abraham your Father and the God of Isaac” [Gn 28,13]. Pray, faithful people, pray with all devotion and possible fervor, and thus your soul shall leave the body and shall also find God Our Lord your beloved Father, and will say to you: faithful soul, who had been faithful in keeping my law and you have praised me with the holy rosary, come, come with me; I am your Father; climb, climb towards heaven and receive the crown of immortal glory which I have prepared for you. Mary shall come out and shall say to you: “I am Mary, your beloved Mother, whom you greet with the holy rosary”. Climb, climb the stairs of glory; the rosaries which you have recited are the steps in order to climb into such a high and elevated city, and where there is eternal happiness; climb, climb, do not be afraid of falling from the stairs, give me you hand, for already this is what my loving Son wanted, come to my company forever.

Oh happy confraternity members of the holy rosary! How great is your joy! So the difficult work of conquest of glory, and you have a means so and is right and well suited, which would help you, like this holy stairs, a spiritual weapon invented through the designs and the efforts of Mary through his apostle, our Father St. Dominic. Pray, thus faithful people, pray this so holy a devotion. Climb, climb which Mary had placed before us so that we may rise to heaven.

First of all, climb oh beloved priests! And climbing through these stairs you shall find the most solid and most perfcect doctrine in his steps in order to excite us to realise with all perfection the obligations which are related with your holy ministry. Priest, I would like to say, sacris datus, sacra dans, et sacra docens. In the steps of this holy stairs, which are the mysteries that compose the holy rosary, in the part of the meditation, you shall find the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father, who gave up everything to the will of His heavenly Father, obeying him till death [Flp 2, 8]. He had given us, not only the sacred doctrine, but also himself and continue to give himself to ys every day. He teaches us about the most perfect maxims of the holy religion, not only with words, but also with actions. And these truths are well meditated in the holy rosary, would this not move us to offer ourselves to all holy things?

Parents, climb, climb the stairs of the holy rosary: in it you shall learn to nurture well your beloved son, because you shall see in them the sacrifices which Jesus our beloved Father had made for saving all. He made the most fervent of prayer and subjected himself to death, and death on the cross.

See my sons, in the stairs of the holy rosary, what examples of obedience that is give to all, subjecting themselves to the will of his eternal Father until giving the last drop of his purest blood.

Pray, thus young people, pray the holy rosary, and in the stairs of the holy rosary you shall learn to be docile, humble and obedient to your loving parents. Climb, young people, climb each day these holy stairs, climb it, old men and women, may all of us climb it; and we may we be certain that we shall go to heaven, to heaven, to heaven where we shall enjoy all the happiness with the saints, with the angels, with Mary and with the Most Holy Trinity, for ever and ever and ever. Amen.

THE DOMINICAN MARTYRS OF FUZHOU

Today the Church in China (especifically that of the Fujian Ecclesiastical Province) celebrate the memoria of the 4 martyrs of the faith who gave their lives for Christ in the city of Fuzhou in 1748. The celebrated case so intimately related to the martyrdom of St. Peter MArtyr Sanz who gave his life a year earlier was a cause celebre in thge whole of Christendom and a great consolation to the Order of Preachers.

The Province kepts their memory on June 3 together with ST. PETER MARTYR SANZ though a recent change in the Dominican Proper has placed all the Dominican martyrs of China on 15 January under the title of ST FRANCIS FERNANDEZ CAPILLAS AND COMPANION MARTYRS OF CHINA

Here are excerpts of the biographical entry from the Dominican Sacramentary proper of the Province of the Holy Rosary as well as the entry from their proper office.

Saint Francis Serrano Frias (1695-1748) He was the son of the Royal Convent of the Holy Cross in Granada. In 1725 he volunteered to do mission work in the Far East and was sent to the Philippines and in 1738 he was assigned to the China mission. He was arrested in 1746. While in prison, he received his appointment as Vicar Apostolic but was not able to be consecrated. He died of asphyxia and his remains were burned.

Saint Juan Alcober Figuera (1694-1748) A native of Granada, he was born on 21 December, 1694. He was a son of the Royal Convent of Santa Cruz in Granada. He presented himself for the missions in the Far East and petitioned to join the Province of the Rosary. He departed for Manila in 1725. In 1741 he was appointed Vicar Provincial of the mission in China. Arrested in 1746 he was martyred by strangulation and his body was cremated on 28 October, 1748.

Saint Joaquin Royo Perez (1691-1748) He was born in Hinojosa (Teruel) on September of 1691, He was the son of the Convent of the Pillar, and later of the Preachers in the city of Valencia. While he was still a student brother, he left for Manila in 1712 and in 1715 entered China. He was arrested in 1746, and like his other companions, suffered unbearable tortures and arduous interrogations, and died by asphyxia. His remains were also burned on 28 October, 1748.
Saint Francis Díaz de Rincon (1713-1748) He was born in Sevilla on 2 October, 1713. He was the son of the Convent in Ecija. Ordained in Manila he was assigned as a missionary in China in 1738. Weak in constitution, he bore all difficulties with patience. As he was reassigned to the Philippines and awaiting departure, he was arrested in 1746 and after great suffering, he was martyred by strangulation; his body was also burned on 28 October, 1748.

From the Report of martyrdom of the Venerable Fathers Francis Serrano, John Alcober, Joachim Royo and Francis Diaz.
We are greatly happy to die

They re-examined the case in previous year of 1748, and gave as an ultimate resolution that within that year the sentence of beheading be complied. But the emperor decided to leave it for the following year. This seemed to be too long for the viceroy of Fujian, named Coc. Later the news of the Emperor’s decision reached them and he convoked in his palace various officials, the Criminal Judge, the Magistrate and other from the towns of Heu-Kuon and Ming-Hien. He proposed to them that he intended to suffocated the four Europeans secretly and burn their cadavers, and to report to the emperor than they died due to sickness. The officials easily connived with the Viceroy without any difficulty, and with much secret gave orders that at 6 in the afternoon of the 28 of October, of the said year, the executioners would prepare ropes, coffins and enough firewood.

At nine in the evening the ministers entered the prison of the Magistrate, they took of its prison the illustrious and Reverend Lord Brother Francis Serrano, and placed him on an empty room. Later he found out the reason his transfer and the coming of the guards; and joyous in the Lord, he wished to end his life exercising the apostolic ministry of the Divine Word. Thus he persuaded those present to embrace the law of the gospel, the ministers stretched him on the floor and tied his hands and feet did not interrupt his preaching. After making all these preparations, they threw a knot around his neck where two executioners, pulling from one end to another left him cruelly suffocated.

At nine in the same night with the pretext of visiting the prison, the executioners of the Criminal Judge arrived where Fr. Vicar Provincial, Brother Juan Alcober, and his companion, Brother Francisco Diaz where. The ministers came with the same fury as the executioners who arrested them, thus they knew that they are going to be killed but they were told to stop by saying to them:: «We are greatly happy to die, but permit us first to give thanks to God and to adore Him, and later you can do whatever you wished to do on us». The ministers condescended to the petition of the so Christian a petition, and later after a brief moment, they stretched the venerable Father Juan Alcober on the floor, tying the feet and the hands, they killed him with a knot; they also did the same with the venerable and illustrious Lord Serrano. Afterwards they also did the same with the venerable Father Francisco Diaz, whose lips, like those of Father Alcober, did not cease to exhort those present while they were stretching and tying them to join the Christian religion. An hour after their martyrdom, their faces appeared to be beautified with joyful and smiling countenance, in such a way that those who saw their cadavers, their beauty caused their admiration since they seem to be alive.

At the same hour, the Ming Hien prison where the venerable Father Joachim Royo was imprisoned, was filled with guards. Imitating his companions, when he was told of the intentions of these men, he began to exhort them to follow the true religion. They did not follow the cruel method they did with the previous ones. They stretched the venerable priest on the floor and after tying his feet and hands, they covered his eyes, mouth, nose and ears with rags and paper soaked with cheap brandy and throwing a sack on them with about 14 pounds of lime, to suffocate him, so that (as it is piously believed) so that he could be find relief in the (eternal) homeland.

THE FOUNDERS OF THE HOLY ROSARY PROVINCE

Life of Father Juan Crisóstomo, founder of the Province of the Holy Rosary
From: (Juan) Ferrando y (Joaquin) Fonseca: Historia de los PP. Dominicos en las Islas Filipinas y en sus Japon, China, Tungkin y Formosa. (Madrid, 1870), Tomo I, chapter IV, no. 59, pp. 289-290.

59. By this time the venerable Father Juan Crisóstomo, died, the Lord was satisfued with his merits. He had the consolation of seeing in his old age, as another Simeon, to have realized his desires before passing to a better life to see the province already founded and progressed, and for which he had worked for so many years with indefatigable zeal.

This venerable missionary pertained to three provinces: that of Andalucia, where he was a son; that of Mexico in whose missions he spent the most fruitful years of his religious life and that of the Holy Rosary which he had founded. And all of them can glorify themselves with reason for having possessed such an illustrious son. It was sufficient to form a more complete eulogy of his merit whatever was referred to the foundation of the province; and if for certain that he did not have the joy of assisting with his brethren the first apostolic tasks which they had began in the Philippine islands, it is not for this motive that he does not merit the glorious name as its founder.

He was left sick in the capital of the New World in 1587 and suffering with great resignation for this terrible trial of his zeal, though he had not been completely recuperated he took the road for Acapulco and again his desires were frustrated once again.

In 1589, at least his desire was realized, more so in order to be the witness of the copious fruits which this precious plant had produced, than to cooperate in the apostolate of his sons. In the short time he lived in the Province, already with his pains and old age, it was not possible to work among the natives, he dedicated himself with great charity to the assistance given to the sick Chinese, in whose hospital he spent the rest of his working life.

There his soul, ended purified in the furnace of works, because he tolerated a terrible infirmity which seemed that the Lord made him to purify some defects which were inseparable with human condition, and in the end immediately bestowed on him his merited rewards in glory. He died or better yet he left the existence in this valley of tears in the year 1590 and his memory is left always impressed in the hearts of the true sons of the Province of the Most Holy Rosary.


 
Life of Father Juan de Castro , first prior provincial of the Holy Rosary Province and co founder of the same




From: (Juan) Ferrando y (Joaquin) Fonseca: Historia de los PP. Dominicos en las Islas Filipinas y en sus Japon, China, Tungkin y Formosa. (Madrid, 1870), Tomo I, chapter V, number 70, pp. 303-305 .

Shortly after the celebration of this chapter (1592), the province lost the celebrated Father Juan de Castro, its principal founder, a column and bulwark of regular observance in the province, of which he was justified to have been made worthy of the glorious title of saint. The friars strongly felt his loss as it was natural; it was a sensible blow, since all look up to him as a loving father who with his prudence, doctrine and holiness of life had elevated the foundation into a flourishing state. He was a native of the city of Burgos and son of the habit of the Convent of San Pablo of the same city. Since the beginning of his religious life he gave very special manifestations of who he is, as he was in a singular way dedicated to the study of virtue and the letters and when his convent would offer him a chair to reward him of his time with the honors which the Order would usually prize the merits of her diligent sons, he transferred to the New World to dedicate himself to the work of the conversion of unbelievers.

In Guatemala he worked until his old age , in the apostolic ministry or in the offices which the Order had conferred on him, having exercised the honorable prelacy as provincial for two terms. After having honored his province with so many years of dedicated service, he was sent to the Courts in order to obtain from His Majesty the decision of various affairs for the benefit of the natives and happily concluding his commission, he retired to his old convent of San Pablo of Burgos in order to dispose himself for his last departure.

Such was his office when Fr. Juan Crisóstomo began the project of the foundation of the Province of the Most Holy Rosary and began to convoke some friars for this effect. With this novelty, his zeal was reanimated for the glory of God and for the propagation of the Gospel; and persuaded that he could still be of some use for this projected foundation. He then enlisted with the first friars of the Order who were determined to go to the Philippines. From his convent, he made the trip on foot till Sevilla and he saw for himself that he had to take charge of the presidency and as Vicar General of the rest (of the expedition) who from then on directed themselves to him; he then led them to the desired land, taking the tasks of both Moses and Joshua.

In Manila, he was appointed the first prior provincial, and had the consolation to be present in the progress made by his beloved sons and brothers in the apostolic ministry and desirous in opening the paths so that the faith be brought to the empire in China. He made a trip (to China) with the greatest intrepidity, as we have said to the province of Fujian where he suffered great travails. However when he had received a Royal decree from his Majesty appointing him as the Bishop of Verapaz, he had the modesty of hiding this royal grace from the his brethren and without accepting it, continued in his accustomed religious exercises until his last infirmity. Convinced that his hour had arrived, he retired to the Hospital of San Gabriel in order to die as a poor man among the poor. There his infirmity continued its course, and in the end, as he lay there in the arms and the tearful cries of his brethren, he gave up his blessed soul peacefully in the hands of the Lord.

A Prayer
The reading yesterday from the Divine Office was a short treatise by the Irish Abbot St Columban. I am posting a part of the readings which can well serve as a prayer in times of darkness and desperation. “Lead kindly Light”

Give me, I pray you, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, that love that does not fail so that my lantern, burning within me and giving light to others, may be always lighted and never extinguished.
Jesus, our most loving Savior, be pleased to light our lanterns, so that they might burn for ever in your temple, receiving eternal light from you, the eternal light, to lighten our darkness and to ward off from us the darkness of the world.
Give your light to my lantern, I beg you, my Jesus, so that by its light I may see that holy of holies which receives you as the eternal priest entering among the columns of your great temple. May I ever see you only, look on you, long for you; may I gaze with love on you alone, and have my lantern shining and burning always in your presence.
Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely, and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us: many waters could not extinguish love.
May this saying be fulfilled in us also, at least in part by your gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Columban, the Abbot, Instr. De compunctione, 12, 2-3

Feast of our Lady of the Rosary
Today the Church commemorates the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary. For us Dominicans especially the sons of the Holy Rosary Province, it is a day of great rejoicing and gratitude.
The Virgin has been the inspiration of a long line of missionaries who left their countries to preach the Gospel in the Far East. Their zeal for souls and their great love for Christ and for the Christian faith even led many of them to offer their lives as martyrs.
This year the Rosary solemnity has another dimension as we celebrate 150 years of our presence in Hong Kong. In 1861, the Province decided to transfer the Procuration House to the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in order to better serve the missions in the Far East. In 1935, the first Dominican Studium Generale in the Far East was founded at Rosaryhill, Hong Kong. Saint Albert's Priory became not only a house of Studies but also a formation house. This great institution though short lived was to be the cradle of many Dominican vocations that would be dispersed in the missions in the region and would later grow and evolve into indigenous Provinces.
When the Studium Generale was transferred to Manila in 1958, the Province decided to transfer the Priory into a School and thus the Rosaryhill School in 1959.
With the foundation of the Philippine Province in 1971, the Provincial Curia which had always been in Santo Domingo Convent Manila had to give in to the new Province. The Holy Rosary Province then decided to transfer the curia to the Procuration House in Kowloon Tong.
In 2004, The Province decided to reopen formation houses in the Far East to accept young men willing to share the common vocation and life as sons of Dominic. Thus the International Novitiate was once again established in Hong Kong. This was later transferred back to St Albert's Priory in 2009.
Filled with hope, we look forward with confidence and courage for the future. We thank the Virgin for her constant help and intercession and we pray that she would always keep us faithful to our vocation and our serve the Church in fidelity.

Queen of the Rosary... pray for us!

blessed bartolo longo

Blessed Bartolo Longo
Lay Dominican

6 October is the memory of Blessed Bartolo Longo, the great apostle of the Rosary and one of the prominent Church personage in the last quarter of the XIX century and the first quarter of XX century.
Touched by the grace of conversion through the Virgin, he became a zealous apostle of the rosary devotion and made it as an instrument of social reform and spiritual renewal. The famous SAnctuary of Pompeii and the complex around it give witness to his great love to the mother of God and his great concern for the poor and the marginalized.
May this great man of God continue to inspire men and women to serve the poor and the needy as an authentic manifestation of their constant contemplation of Christ's mysteries in union with Mary.

Here is the text of the two readings presented by the Proprium LHOP. My own translation from the Spanish text.

Second Reading
From the writings of Blessed Bartolo Longo, lay person of the Order of Preachers
(Come si deve pregare, Pompei, 1914, apend. XXVI, p. 320)
The marvels of the union to the Divine Will

Among all the many marvels of the omnipotence of God there is no other thing more marvelous than the union of the human nature with the divine nature in the person of the Divine Word whom we adore in the person of Jesus Christ. And in the same way, it seems that there is no other union which can be more stupendous than the divine maternity which we venerate in Mary.

But beyond these two masterpieces of the most High, is there any other that is most sublime than that of the union of our will with the holy will of God? What this is more agreeable to God and what other thing can make us more similar to Jesus Christ? Effectively San Clement of Alexandria said that those who obey God make themselves similar to the Lord Jesus who is God in human form. (Strom. 7)

Already it is considered as it is ennobled and is elevated to the divine will which is identified with that of God be it be considered as the abasement of the divine will that comes to unite itself with the human, does this prodigious union not have traces of similarity with the Word who was made flesh?

In the incarnation of Christ, human nature does not subsist in itself but in the person of the Word, which makes it subsist and work in such a way that is totally divine. Also in our union with God, human will already does not act alone, that is to say, by its own proper natural movements but his conduct, his power, his support and his action comes to it principally from the divine will

In the incarnation, God who is pure spirit invisible by nature is made sensible and palpable by its union with the flesh, which is visible and mortal. In the same way, the will of God which is itself hidden and unperceivable to the eyes of men, manifests in life and in the virtue of the saints, who follow the impulses of the divine will.

In the incarnation, man who is truly nothing, can truly say: I am God in the same way in the union of conformity with the will of God man can also say: “ My will which is in itself nothing, is made to become the divine will.

Human will that conforms to the divine is made totally holy and is ennobled with the most perfect assimilation that can be given between the Creator and the created.

Thus he who renounces his own will in order to embrace that of God has his soul illumined in such a way and a heart so dilated that only God can be its joy and happiness. And at the same time the human person is converted to be the object of complacency and of delights of his God.

RESPONSORY 2Mac 1:5,3
R/: May he hear your prayers and be reconciled with you, * and not abandon you in time of evil.
V/: May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a generous mind and a willing spirit. * and not abandon you in time of evil.


Alternative Second Reading

From the writings of Blessed Bartolo Longo lay person of the Order of Preachers
(Il Terz’Ordine della Penitenza di San Domenico, Valle di Pompei, 1885, pp. 14, 43-50)
The laity in the great Dominican family

In order to discover the origins of this ecclesial and social institution: the great Dominican family which had given innumerable heroes and had brought great benefit to the Church and to the civil society, firstly, it is necessary to remember Saint Dominic in his activity in France the birthplace of his Order.

Given to the fact that whether in the supernatural as well as in the natural order, the work always carry the profile of its author, in such a way that since the first moments it already reveal its usefulness, its power, its end and the means of his work the very personality of the author itself. It is just therefore to know this man first so well known in our times both by his friends as well as his enemies.

The Third Order of Saint Dominic is a state of life which has as its finality to raise the laity towards a greater perfection, making them participants, though still living in the world the spirit and the pious practices and the works of the religious family which accepts them. It is called order by the authority and stability of its rules approved by the Holy See as those of religious Orders. Another reason is given to be known as an order is because of its close bond with the Dominican Order which is one of the most ancient orders approved by the Church. The Third Order participates so fully in the spiritual life of the sons of Saint Dominic of its observances of his spirit and of the graces granted to her. For this she is worthy of being known as an Order.

The Confraternity of the Rosary although closely united to the Dominican order, is not an order. The rosary is undoubtedly a marvelous prayer. Each tertiary must recite the Rosary and propagate it. But this devotion, even though imposed upon the faithful together with some other excellent acts of devotion, nevertheless does not reach to constitute it in its entirety a state of life and under a particular rule approved by the Holy See. That is why the Confraternity of the Rosary is not considered an Order and its members do not take part so intimately in the life of the Dominicans in the absolute way as the tertiaries would, whether it be internal or external. What happens here is similar to tow lakes found beside the same river: both receive its waters, but in accordance to the capacity of each one and the way they are communicated to the river.

The Third Order thus receives in its fullness all the faithful of whatever state: parents, children, married and virgins, who continue to live within their own families, disposed to comply to the proper obligations and which unite themselves together only through the bond of charity and through the observance of the same rule. The end of the third order of the laity and of priests had always been to let blossom anew the primitive spirit of Catholicism which is a spirit of vibrant faith, of penance and self denial, of charity towards others. As it was written by Lacordaire: “With the institution of the friars preachers, Dominic had brought the monastic corps out from the desert, arming them with the sword of apostolate; with the third order he introduced religious life into the homes. He witnessed the world filled with young people, widows, married people, persons from all states of life who publicly carry the symbols of a religious order which produced saints with the simple observance of its rules. Each of them observe them in the secret of their own homes with all its exactitude. That is wh1y, it is not necessary that in order to imitate the saints to flee the world; each room can be converted into a cell and each home can be a desert”.

The holy founder wished to unite three forms of life the contemplative, the active and the third as the fusion of the two, or the equilibrium of the three: and this is reduced to three orders: the nuns in contemplation, the friars in preaching and the laity in action.

That great heart of his would have been satisfied with what he had already done in Languedoc. But just as in Languedoc as in Lombardy, he was asked to do something more tedious. It was necessary to repel the force with force, arms with arms. But who will take up these arms? Who in fact animated them? The people thought that between monastic life and active life there is not middle way: it is either one would lead to this end: either one lives enclosed in a monastery professing the evangelical counsels , or to live in the breath of the world . either to live all that is worldly or all that is religious. To unite both things, to unite for example, in the palace of a noble a convent with a convent and a family; to unite the instruments of penance with the arms of the solider, to unite things so opposite: this was proposed and obtained by Saint Dominic. The glorious patriarch enrolled many under his banner. He bestowed on them a common rule of life through daily prayer, abstinence, mortification and practices used by the nuns in Prouille and the friars under the rule of Saint Augustine; and later their own constitutions. He gave them a way of life in accordance to his own spirit and in the condition of those times and for the edification of those with they ought to meet and with those whom they ought to live together. And on them they were given a cross to carry on their breasts, which according to the chroniclers, was in black and white in relation to penance. The principal end of this institution was to introduce to the families, the spirit of mortification and penance, and to promote among the laity of all social classes the practice of the virtues proper of the Order of Preachers.

RESPONSORY Eph 6:10-11, 12-13
V/: Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics.* For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens.
R/: You must take up all God's armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full.* For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens.

MORNING PRAYER
Canticle of Zechariah Antiphon: Bartolo lived by the grace of God, while in this world he lived in such a way that his faith and customs were a perfect praise to the name of God.

Or especially with chant: The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and they are already untouched by the torment of the evildoers.

Prayer
All-powerful and merciful God, in Blessed Bartolo Longo, a promoter of the rosary of the Blessed Virgin, you showed a wonderful example of holiness and of charity for needy children and orphans. Through his prayers may we learn to see Christ your Son in our neighbors and to love him through them. (We make our prayer) through our Lord. (Through Christ our Lord.)


EVENING PRAYER
Canticle of Mary Antiphon: The Father in calling the world to the wedding feast of His Son, sent his servant promising the delights of life.

Or better especially with chant: Virgin Mary no one is born like you: blooming like a rose, spreading the sweetest scent like a lily. Holy Mother of God, pray for us!

blessed raymond of capua

BLESSED RAYMOND OF CAPUA





We celebrate the memory of Blessed Raymond of


Capua on October 5. It is an optional memory for the Order.




Blessed Raymond de la Vigne was born at Capua, Italy, about 1330 and while studying at the University of Bologna entered the Order there in 1350. After holding various administrative and teaching positions in the Roman Province he was assigned to be spiritual director for Saint Catherine of Siena, whose friend, confidant, biographer, guide and disciple he became. In May, 1380, Raymond was elected Master of that portion of the Order which had remained faithful to the Roman Pontiff, Urban VI. He vigorously promoted reform within the Order while at the same time working to restore unity to the Church, rent asunder as it was by the Western Schism. He died at Nuremberg on October 5, 1399, while visitating the German priories.

Here are the readings for the Office of REadings from the Dominican Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours.

From the letters of Blessed Raymond of Capua.
"You will be good seed, the special people of Blessed Dominic."

Most dear and beloved [brothers] in the Lord Jesus, heartfelt blessings in Christ and greetings.

I thank God who breathed upon you the Holy Spirit by which you were drawn to a holy and regular observance and to the imitation of our holy forebears who have gone before us. They proceeded along a straight path as followers of Saint Dominic. If you remain in the grace of God, you will be the good seed, a chosen nation, a special people of Saint Dominic. You will become light for others and salt for the earth.

I beg you, [my brothers,] in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to be frightened by those who oppose and threaten you, nor allow unsound advice to interrupt your holy work and the holy way of life you have begun.

Furthermore, [my brothers,] I do not want you to be proud on this account nor look down on others who are living in another way. God is also able to give them the Holy Spirit. Perhaps they are more pleasing to God than you. We know that while physical training is of some value, devotion is valuable in every way. If others abound more in devotion, while enjoying meat and wine, surely in God's sight they are better than you, for the kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink but in love of God and of neighbor.

I do not want you to think you are better than others, but rather lower than all; esteem yourselves as weak and sickly, in that you have need of the help which others do not need. For if with meat and wine I love my God and my neighbor with an upright and generous heart, but you without these foods spurn your neighbor, your abstinence is no match for my feasting in the sight of God.

Remember the teaching of the Apostle If those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. [My brothers,] keep away from the beast of boasting and concern for one's reputation, for these destroy and weaken every good work. To be perfectly open with you, I fear nothing for you so much as that plague, that wild beast. I do not want you to be deprived of any good work in such a way. You too should have this same fear and ask God to give you a spirit of humility. I, your weak and defenseless servant in the battle of life, beg for myself God's gift of the Holy Spirit by whom alone I live and in whose name I am able to overcome all enemies.

Alternative Second Reading

From a letter of Saint Catherine of Siena to Blessed Raymond.
“Be a true spouse of the Truth.”

Most beloved father in our dear Christ Jesus.

I Catherine, a minister and servant of the servants of Jesus Christ write you in his precious blood. I desire that you become a true spouse of the Truth himself, that you follow him and love him.

I see no way of tasting the truth and of living with it without self-knowledge. It is this knowledge that really makes us understand that we are not, and that our being came from God in whose image and likeness we were created. Through this knowledge we come to know that God created us a second time by giving us again the life of grace through the blood of the only Son, blood that had manifested to us the truth of God the Father. This is the divine truth: we were created for the glory and praise of God's name and to participate in the eternal beauty of God and so be sanctified in God. And what is the proof that this is true? It is the blood of the spotless Lamb.

How do we come to know this blood? By self-knowledge. We were that earth where the standard of the cross was planted. We were the vessel that received the blood of the Lamb flowing from the cross. Why were we this earth? Because the earth itself did not suffice to keep the cross standing erect; it would have refused such a great injustice. The nails would not have been enough to hold him fixed and nailed if his ineffable love of our salvation had not held him.
It was the flaming love for the glory of his Father and of our salvation that kept him on the cross. We are, then, that earth which supported the cross and the vessel that received his blood.

The one who has the knowledge of this Truth and who becomes its spouse will find in the blood all the richness and life of grace. The nakedness of such a person will be covered by the bridal gown and will be clothed by the fire of charity, for the blood and the fire meld and penetrate one another and it was love that united the blood to the divinity and that poured it out.

In the blood we are nourished and fed by mercy; in the blood we can dispel the darkness and enjoy light; for in the blood we can destroy the fog of self-love and overcome a servile fear of the One who punishes. Whoever does not love truth will not find truth in self-knowledge and the blood.

For this reason it is necessary for you to be the spouse of Truth, if you are to know Truth. Where will you do this? In the house of self-knowledge where you know that everything you have comes from God through a gratuitous grace; where you experience that recreation which Truth bestows. This is what is means to be re-created in grace by the blood of the Lamb, to wash oneself, to submerge and kill the will. By any other way you will an unfaithful spouse of the Truth, rather than a faithful spouse. I said that I wanted to see you a true spouse of the Truth, because I desire this.

Persevere in the holy and delightful love of God. Sweet Jesus! Jesus, love.

the prayer o clementissima

O CLEMENTISSIMA

This prayer was popularized in the renewed rosary devotion in the XIX century. It is a free translation from a Spanish version used in the novena before the Virgin of the Rosary of La Naval.

O most clement Virgin! O most tender Mother! O sweetest Mary! Consolation or refuge of sinners, Advocate of mortals, Mediator between God and man! O most happy Ark, you succored the world lost in this worst calamity! O brilliant rainbow of peace, who had brought an end to the wars of heaven and earth, you reconciled the delinquent sons of Adam with the Creator whom they had seriously offended! O most candid Dove! Who by carrying the lush olive branch, announced serenity in this sad valle of ours! O most pious intercessor, who seeing the world so dispirited and on ravages of the just indignation of your Jesus so offended, you revealed to your beloved servant Dominic, this privileged son of your predilection, the most opportune of remedies, a firm fortress and sure haven of the most holy Rosary with which the world was reformed, and had placated the anger of the most terrible of judges. Grant us most benign Mother, that through the merits and the efficacy of such an acceptable and helpful devotion, we may know how to disarm the ire of our Lord and God, to restore our his friendship and grace and to return to the tenderness of his fatherly arms, cleansing it with the waters of fervent penance the offenses which had provoked the rigor of his justice, so that reconciled with your most beloved Son, and loved by His heart so sweet, we may be worthy to hear that blessed blessing: Come you who are blessed of my Father and yours, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you since the beginning of time. Now I say, Come, you who are blessed by my Mother and yours, to possess the delights of her most beautiful face and the tenderness of her sweetest bosom in the eternal blessedness. Amen.