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by Brother Hermenegild Tosf (Editor), Father J. Proctor (Author)
THE Devotion once called "The Psalter of Mary," probably becaus"e it consists of 150 Aves, even as the Psalter of David is composed of 150 Psalms, is now known throughout the Catholic world as "The Rosary." According to some authors it takes its name from the Latin word Ros, which means dew. This may be accounted for by the words traditionally ascribed to Our Lady when making known the Devotion to her liegeman S. Dominic: "Until now thou hast spent thy labours on a barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine Grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down the fertilising rain of the angelic salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter and thou wilt obtain an abundant harvest." Other writers trace the adoption of the word to the days when the beads were called" The Roses of Mary." The Devotion then began to be called "The Rosary," i.e. a bed, or collection of roses. The German Rosenkranz, or Crown of Roses, the French ChajJelet and Rosaire, and the Italian corona and Rosario, all bear the same interpretation and point to the same origin. Pope Leo XIII. in his Encyclical of September 20, 1896, writes: "The form of prayer we refer to has obtained the special name of 'The Rosary, ' as though it represented, by its arrangement, the sweetness of roses and the charm of a garland. This is most fitting for a method of venerating the Virgin, who is rightly styled the Mystical Rose of Paradise, and who, as Queen of the Universe, shines therein with a crown of stars. So that by its very name, it appears to foreshadow and be an augury of the joys and garlands of heaven, offered by her to those who are devoted to her." Whatever the origin of the word, it is now consecrated to the Devotion which is inseparably associated with S. Dominic's name. Without special leave of the Holy See it may be applied to no other devotion or form of prayer in the Church. Beads may be used in counting the prescribed prayers of other pious exercises, but they are neither rosaries nor rosary-beads. They are" Chapelets," "bead strings," "counting beads," or what you will, but they are not "The Rosary." This was decided by Pope Benedict XIII. in his Constitution Pretiosus, nay by Pope Alexander VII. in the Constitution In supremo of May 28, 1664. Quoting this latter decision and another of Clement XI. Benedict XIV. Writes: "Lest this Devotion (of the Rosary) languish, at the prayer of the actual Procurator-General of the Order of Preachers, we renew and confirm the decisions which were given respecting a rosary commonly called 'the seraphic rosary, ' and another rosary 'in honour of the Most Holy Trinity'; and we extend (the prohibition) to all rosaries newly invented, or which may be invented, without the special and previous permission of the Holy See, whereby the aforesaid authenlic rosary, sacred to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, may, to the prejudice of the faithful, be set aside." Originally published in 19
