The History of the Rosary
The prayers of the Rosary are vocal prayer and mental prayer. The vocal prayer centers on the "The Lord’s Prayer" and the "Hail Mary." The mental prayer focuses on the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ, the life of the Virgin Mary, and the mystery of our redemption. The complete rosary comprises fifteen mysteries: five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries, and five glorious mysteries. The Blessed Virgin has revealed that with each "Hail Mary" a ‘rose’ of prayer is offered up to our blessed Mother and our Savior. This form of prayer, therefore, came to be known as a ‘rosarium,’ a rose garden, a Rosary of prayer. There are many different ways to pray the Rosary but most often, 6 prayers are offered: "The Apostle’s Creed," "The Lord’s Prayer," the "Hail Mary", the "Glory Be", "The Prayer of Fatima," and the "Hail Holy Queen."
The story of the Rosary is really as old as the Church. "The Lord’s Prayer" and the "Apostle’s Creed" are our oldest prayers and date to the 1st century AD. "The Lord’s Prayer," which forms a frame work for the Rosary was composed by our Lord himself. The early Christians took seriously his command when Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore, you shall pray" (Matthew 6:9). Many early Christians, especially those who lived in monastic communities prayed the "Lord’s Prayer" with the 150 Psalms and kept track of their prayers with 150 pebbles. By the 4th Century there is evidence that the common people began to take up this practice. However, since most of them either could neither read nor afford a handwritten copy of the Psalms, they repeated the "Our Father" 150 times. The prayer of the "Apostle’s Creed" was given to the Church by the Apostles themselves, probably at the Council of Jerusalem in 49AD or shortly thereafter. It is a declaration of what we believe as Christians.
The addition of the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary ("Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you," Luke 1:28) seems to have begun in the Church at Ephesus, where St. John, the Beloved Apostle served for many years as this community of believers bishop. According to tradition, Mary lived for a number of years in Ephesus. It was natural for those praying the angelic greeting to add Mary’s name and so they prayed: "Hail, Mary, the Lord is with you!" Soon the greeting of St. Elizabeth to Mary was added to the prayer (Luke 1:28 "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus"). In 431 AD the Council of Ephesus proclaimed that Mary was indeed the Mother of God not just the mother of the human Jesus. The people of Ephesus took to the streets shouting the proclamation and making it a petition to the Virgin Mother: "Mother of God pray for us sinners!" The final portion of the petition of the "Hail Mary" was not added until the terrible years of the 14th century as the Black Death ravaged Europe. It was then that the common people of the Church cried out to the Blessed Mother in fear and hope, "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen."
By the 8th century monks had replaced the pebbles they had used to count their prayers with knotted cords and by the 11th century the current form of the "Hail Mary’ prayed 150 times and divided into 15 decades had replaced the 150 Psalms. In 1040 a noble English lady named Godiva (yes, the same Godiva who, according to legend, rode naked on a horse to shame her husband) left in her will to an Abby she had founded a beautiful rosary made of precious stones divided into 15 decades with each decade divided by larger precious stones. It was her request that her rosary be worn by the statue of the Blessed Virgin that she had given to the Abby. This is the earliest surviving description of the Rosary in its present form.
The fourth prayer, the "Glory Be," is a prayer of joy and praise that dates from the 600’s AD. The fifth prayer, "Hail Holy Queen," or "Salve Regina," was composed as a prayer of love to our mother Mary in the 11th century by a poor disfigured monk.
Both St. Dominic (1215) and the Blessed Alan de la Roche (1460) received instruction from the Virgin Mary in the use of the Rosary. She encouraged the prayers of the Rosary and promised special spiritual gifts from a devotion to the Rosary. She promised that the regular practice of the Rosary "will cause virtue and good works to flourish." She promised that the Rosary will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God and among other promises that "the rosary shall be a powerful armor against Hell; it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies." In 1567 the Church firmly established the Rosary in the devotion of the Church.
The sixth prayer "The Prayer of Fatima," was added to the Rosary by the Virgin Mary herself. It is the prayer she taught the visionaries at Fatima in early 20th century when she introduced herself as the "Lady of the Rosary." In every appearance of the Virgin Mary since her appearance at Lourdes, France, in 1854, she has prayed the Rosary with those who are with her just as she prayed the Rosary with St. Dominic and the Blessed Alan.
The Rosary permits us to share in the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of his blessed mother who was the one human being who knew Him best. The beauty and spirituality of the Rosary lies in pondering the mystery of our redemption over and over and in holding these mysteries as precious treasures in our hearts just as Mary did when these events were actually unfolding in her life.
The prayer of Fatima: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy."
Michal Hunt September 1999