 The rosary has a rich and ancient history and
continues to bring peace to devotees. The word "rosary"
comes from the Latin, "rosarium," meaning rose garden or
garland of roses. Praying the rosary is like walking
through Mary's rose garden in contemplation. Long ago,
the practice of counting prayers by counting beads was
common. Even illiterate folks could keep track of their
devotion by moving between beads, or even by tossing
pebbles into a pile. A tradition of devotion developed of praying 150 Our Fathers a day and evolved
to Marian devotion.
The rosary as we know it today was given in 1208 in a
vision of Our Blessed Mother to St. Dominic, the founder
of the Dominican Order. Before the vision, Dominic's
goal was to teach the people about Jesus, but as in the
ageless human condition, the people wanted to fit Jesus
into their own way of thinking, not fit their lives into
the thinking of Jesus. Dominic wasn't very successful
and prayed to
Mary to help him. Mary appeared to him. St.
Dominic's mission became to preach the rosary to the
people and thereby teach the people about Jesus. Mary
wanted Dominic to teach the people to meditate on the
life of Jesus as they pray, to elevate their minds with
her as she experienced the events in the life of Jesus.
She wanted Dominic to teach the people to experience her
joy with her as she was greeted by the angel Gabriel,
visited her cousin Elizabeth, gave birth to Our Lord in
Bethlehem, took the infant Jesus to the temple with St.
Joseph, feared and rejoiced at finding the youth Jesus
in the temple with the Elders. Dominic taught the people
and the response was amazing. Although I can find little
information about it, the 15 promises were also given by
Our Lady to St. Dominic. I have read that the Vatican
has put forth that the promises are worthy of belief. Devotion to
the rosary declined within a hundred years and in 1460,
Dominican preacher Blessed Alan de la Roche was chosen
to revitalize its practice. Jesus, Mary, and St. Dominic
all appeared to Blessed Alan and basically chastised him
for not teaching the rosary. He was set afire with zeal
to  teach the rosary and bring back the people to this
prayer. In 1521 another Dominican preacher named Alberto da Castello wrote a book about the rosary titled, "The
Rosary of the Glorious Virgin Mary." This is the first
appearance of today's form of the rosary. Pope Pius V,
another Dominican preacher, later added to the history
of the rosary by setting out a standard form in the
mid-1500's. The rosary as St. Dominic taught it is
much the same as we say it today. It included the Sign
of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the
Apostles Creed, and the Glory Be. The Hail Holy Queen
was added a few centuries later, as well as Our Lady's request at Fatima, and Pope John
Paul II's Luminous Mysteries.
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