In her final apparition in Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary declared thus: I am the Lady of the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask pardon of their sins; they must not offend Our Lord anymore, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it everyday. According to Sr. Lucia, one of the three shepherd children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families … that cannot be solved by the Rosary.
There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary”. Blessed Alan says that he has seen several people delivered from Satan’s bondage after taking up the holy rosary, even though they had previously sold themselves to him in body and soul by renouncing their baptismal vows and their allegiance to Our Lord Jesus Christ. “Let all men, the learned and the ignorant, the just and the sinners, the great and the small praise and honour Jesus and Mary, night and day, by saying the most holy rosary” says St. Louis de Montfort.
“The immense good that this noble devotion [the rosary] has done to the world is well known”, says St. Alphonsus Liguori … “How many, by its means, have been delivered from sin! How many led to a holy life! How many to a good death, and are now saved!”. “If we want to help the souls in purgatory”, says the saint, “then we should say the rosary for them because the rosary gives them great relief ”. “The rosary is a weapon in our hands with which we can overcome the devil’s attacks” (St. Pio of Pietrelcina). “Our Lady has never refused me a grace through the recitation of the rosary” continued St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the famous Padre Pio.
In his words, “The rosary is the weapon that wins all battles”. The Servant of God Patrick Peyton says that “The rosary can bring families through all dangers and evils”. Benedict XV describes the Rosary as perfect prayer “because of the grace it obtains and because of the triumphs it achieves”. “Among all the devotions approved by the Church, none has been so favoured by so many miracles as the Rosary devotion”. — Pope Pius IX “The Rosary is the most beautiful and the richest of all prayers to the Mediatrix of all graces; it is the prayer that touches most the heart of the Mother of God. Say it each day”. — Pope St. Pius X Pius XI noted with admiration the innumerable multitude of holy men of every age and every condition who have always held the Rosary dear. “
They have recited it with great devotion, and in every moment they have used it as a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight, to preserve the integrity of life, to acquire virtue more easily, and in a word, to attain real peace among men”. According to him, “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin… It not only serves admirably to overcome the enemies of God and of religion, but it is also a stimulus and an encouragement to the practice of the evangelical virtues, which it develops and cultivates in our souls. Above all, it nourishes our Catholic faith… If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labours”.
The Pope urged all Bishops to see it that the Rosary is more highly esteemed by all the faithful under their care. “Through your work and that of the priests who help you in the care of souls, its (Rosary’s) praises and advantages shall be preached and repeated to the faithful of every social class” (Encyclical on the Rosary, September 29, 1937). Pope Pius XII prayed the fifteen-decade Rosary daily. “Ever since we were raised by the design of Divine Providence to the Supreme chair of Peter we have never ceased, in the face of approaching evils, to entrust to the most powerful protection of the Mother of God the destiny of the human family; we do not hesitate to affirm again publicly that we put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times (Encyclical on Recitation of the Rosary, September 15, 1951).
According to the Pontiff, “There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family … than the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary”. Pope John XXIII who gave us Vatican II in his five years Pontificate from 1958 through 1963 spoke out 38 times on the Rosary. He prayed the fifteen decade Rosary daily. “We want to declare in complete frankness and simplicity that the years have made Mary’s Rosary all the dearer to us. We never fail to recite it each day in its entirety and we intend to recite it with particular devotion during the coming month (Encyclical on the Rosary, September 26, 1959). “
The Rosary, which in its entirety we never miss, even for a single day of the year, is the most fitting formula for praying and meditating”. — Pope John XXIII. “My day must be one long prayer; prayer is the breath of life. I propose to recite all fifteen decades of the Rosary every day, if possible in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament”. — Pope John XXIII. Pope Paul VI in his Marialis Cultus described the Rosary as “the compendium of the Gospels”. And in his Encyclical – Christi Matri – of September 15, 1966 he instructed all the Bishops of the world to take the lead in urging and encouraging people to pray ardently to our most merciful mother Mary by saying the Rosary. “This prayer is most pleasing to the Mother of God and most effective in gaining heaven’s blessings”. “We exhort all Catholic families to introduce this devotion [the rosary] into their lives, and to encourage its propagation”.
“From my youthful years”, says Pope John Paul II, “the Rosary has held an important place in my spiritual life … The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted a number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort … The Rosary is my favourite prayer (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, October 16, 2002). He led the Rosary on Vatican Radio on the first Saturday of the month. Like his predecessors, he, on several occasions, urged the faithful to pray the Rosary to obtain God’s blessings for themselves, their families, their nations and the whole world, through the intercession of the Mother of God. “To pray the rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother”, the Pope reaffirms.
According to Pope Benedict XVI, “The rosary is a spiritual weapon in the battle against evil, against all violence, for peace in hearts, in families, in society and in the world”. The above statements by Popes, saints and blesseds on the power of the Rosary are not surprising because in her revelations to Blessed Alan de la Roche, Our Lady made the following 15 promises to all Christians who recite the Rosary devoutly daily: Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. The Rosary shall be powerful armour against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in his justice; he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he is just, he shall remain in the grace of God and become worthy of eternal life.
Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacrament of the Church. Those who recite the Rosary faithfully shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. You shall obtain all you ask of Me by the recitation of the Rosary. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
According to Sr. Lucia, “The rosary is the prayer which God, through His Church and Our Lady, has recommended most insistently to us all, as a road to and gateway of salvation”. Hence Pope Benedict XVI says: “I urge you all to recite the rosary every day, abandoning yourselves with trust in Mary’s hands”. The Rosary is not simply reciting prayers from memory. It is so much more. Meditation on the mysteries must be added to the vocal recitation. The meditations on the Rosary that accompany each mystery are the soul of the Rosary. They are what give the Rosary its life, purpose and power. The Church grants a plenary indulgence to those who pray at least five decades of the Rosary in a Church or Chapel, or else in family, a religious community or a pious association or devoutly join in the recitation of the Rosary while it is being recited by the Supreme Pontiff and broadcast live by radio or television. The conditions are that the five decades should be prayed without interruption.
Meditation on the mysteries must be added to the vocal recitation, and in public recitation the mysteries must be announced according to approved local custom. To gain the plenary indulgence, one must observe the necessary conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence in addition to saying the Rosary. The conditions include the following: go to Confession within a week before or after performing the work to which the indulgence is attached. (In this case, recitation of the Rosary as described above); receive Holy Communion and pray for the intentions of the Pope by reciting one “Our Father” and one “Hail Mary”. In addition to the three prescribed conditions, the person who wishes to gain a plenary indulgence must be completely free from attachment to sin, including venial sin.
•Prof. Michael Ogunu is International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima
