"In Champions of the Rosary, Fr. Calloway has written what is probably the most comprehensive book ever written on the rosary. The author deftly negotiates the complexities of the story of the rosary, weaving the historical, theological, and devotional strands into a veritable masterpiece of scholarship and piety. This book should turn every one of its readers into a champion of the rosary."
Archbishop J. Augustin Di Noia, OP, PhD
Assistant Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Vatican City
The Hail Mary
Up to the 11th century, the Hail Mary consisted only of the combination of the Angelic Salutation and the Evangelical Salutation.
After the Black Plague, at the latter part of the Middle Ages, is the second half of the Hail Mary, which provided the "hope-filled" dimension of the prayer: that Mary would pray for them "at the hour of their death," but also pray for them "now" in their current, dire situation.
Random thought: If the Hail Mary has gone changes through the years up to its current form, how come Vatican II is not being looked kindly by other people? The same is true when Pope Francis proposed to change a portion of the Our Father from "lead us not into temptation" to "let us not fall into temptation", many people reacted. But if you think about it, God will not lead us to temptation.
In Ireland, they prayed the following with the rosary during the 17th century:
Glorious St. Dominic,
intercede with Mary Immaculate
to crush the serpent,
and let peace reign in the whole world.
You are the founder of the most holy rosary.
Do not permit the enemy
to penetrate into these places
where the rosary is recited.
Amen.
The following victories of the Rosary which caught my attention as it is close to me:
St. Lorenzo Ruiz (1600-1637)
St. Lorenzo Ruiz "had received his education from the Dominicans in his native Philippines. He was a devout member of the Confraternity and always remained closely associated with the Dominicans and their apostolic works. When, in 1626, he was falsely accused of murder, he sought asylum on a ship headed to Japan with three Dominican priests aboard. Once in Japan, the Dominican missionaries and St. Lorenzo were captured by anti-Catholic authorities and imprisoned. During their captivity, St. Lorenzo prayed the rosary in preparation for what would be a very cruel and torturous death. As his captros attempted to get their prisoners to renounce the faith, he was tortured by the Japanese authorities. They used a method known as tsurushi (reverse hanging), in which St. Lorenzo was hung upside down and lowered into a narrow hole in the ground. It was a horrible way to die, but St. Lorenzo never renounced the faith. In fact, he told his tortures he would undergo it a thousand times out of love for Christ. Saint Lorenzo is the first Filipino saint and the proto-martyr, or first Christian martyr, of the Filipino people."
Against an armada of Dutch protestant ships
In 1646, "the Spanish governor of the Philippines, Diego Fajardo Chacon, began a campaign against an armada of Dutch Protestant ships that were threatening to take control of the Philippines. During the 16th century, the war between the Dutch and the Spanish in Europe made its way to the other side of the world. Through brute force and piracy, the Protestant Dutch had seized all Portuguese possessions in Southeast Asia. Now, in the 17th century, the Dutch Protestants desired to take control of the most distant outpost of the Spanish Empire: the Philippines. The Philippines was in no position to defend itself from this threat because the country had been experiencing major disasters since the beginning of the century.
"In the 1630s, the Philippines experienced major volcanic eruptions that led to major food shortages, crippling Manila. In 1645, an earthquake hit the city and destroyed hundreds of important structures. Recent wrecks and tragedies from storms had reduced the entire Spanish-Filipino fleet to only two old ships, the Encarnacion and the Rosario . This situation put the Philippines in a very precarious situation, since the Dutch invaders had an armada of 18 warships. In spite of the long odds, when the Dutch were on the verge of attacking the islands, Governor Fajardo deployed the two old ships to confront the Dutch forces. The situation seemed hopeless.
"Aboard the two dilapidated Filipino vessels were four Dominican priests. They heard confession, celebrated Mass, and prayed the rosary with the men. The Dominicans had spread the devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary (La Naval) in the Philippines during the 16th century, and the men aboard the ships made a vow to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, La Naval, if they were able to defeat the large Dutch navy.
"The confrontation between the two forces lasted for six months. All in all, five battles took place. Miraculously, the severely overwhelmed ships were able to fight back the Dutch every time. Every day aboard their two ships, the Filipinos prayed the Rosary on bended knee, begging Our Lady for a victory. At one point during the battle, the flagship of the tiny Filipino navy was completely surrounded by Dutch ships. Inflamed with zeal and confidence in Our Lady and her rosary, a cannoner was observed lighting cannon after cannon with a torch in one hand and a rosary in the other, yelling at full voice: 'Viva La Virgen! Viva La Virgen!'
"To everyone's surprise, the Dutch were never able to take the islands and suffered a terrible defeat. They lost 500 soldiers, two large vessels, and almost all of their ships had major damage. The Spanish and Filipinos only suffered the loss of 15 men. Upon their return to Manila, the soldiers fulfilled their vow and went on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary (La Naval) barefoot. To this day, every year on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a procession is held in thanksgiving for the miraculous victory given by Our Lady and her rosary."
People Power Revolution (1986)
The rosary was used "to overcome the oppressive dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. On the Sunday before the collapse of the Marcos regime, tens of thousands of Filipinos rose up in protest against the dictator by lining up and kneeling in front of armed tanks to pray the rosary. At the front of the lines were devout nuns who ceaselessly led the people in the recitation of the sacred mysteries. Risking their lives, thousands and thousands of people joined in with the sisters and prayed the rosary on their knees before the tanks. When they were ordered to move or be run over, the large group prayed the rosary even louder. Dominican priests arrived with a replica of the statue of Our Lady, La Naval de Manila, and carried it in procession in front of the tanks. On one side of the famous EDSA road where the people had gathered in front of the tanks, a large billboard with an image of Fr. Patrick Peyton could be seen bearing the inscription, 'The family that prays together, stays together.' Miraculously, there was never a shot fired, the tanks never touched the people, and President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled the country. Cardinal Jaime Sin, the archbishop of Manila, later recounted to the media what he had been told by many of the soldiers who were there that day. They said that they were about to run over the people with the tanks when they saw an extremely beautiful lady who instructed them that they were to stop their tanks and do no harm to the people because she was the queen of the island."
Random thought: Is pride and proud the same? Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. Proud can be described as "heart overwhelmed with pride". So, is pride and proud the same? Knowing these victories of the rosary in my country, whether as individual or as a community, makes me proud. Faith and trust in Jesus, with Mama Mary and the rosary as a "sword", everything is possible.
Toward the end of the 17th century, "the practice of praying an Our Father, three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be at the start of the rosary for the Holy Father's intention became common. This practice was introduced as an easy way of gaining the indulgences given by the Church since the usual conditions for the indulgences included offering prayers for the pope and his intentions. This method incorporated the prayers required to receive the rosary indulgences into the rosary itself. An additional development of the rosary occurred in 1685, when a book by Fr. Henry Booker recommended that the rosary could also begin with three Hail Marys asking for an increase of faith, hope, and love. This method may have already been in use, but Bodoker's popular book on the rosary helped spread the practice. Whether one prayed the initial Our Father and three Hail Marys for the pope or for an increase in virtue, both practices developed during this century."
Random thought: From the Marian Psalter to the Marian Psalter of St. Dominic (the Marian Psalter infused with the sacred mysteries and meditation) to what is now known as the rosary.
Lourdes
"It was the custom in Lourdes to add an additional decade of Hail Mary's without a mystery attached to it. This decade was prayed for the holy souls in purgatory.
"As word of the Marian apparition at Lourdes began to spread around the world, the apparition became known as a rosary apparition. For the first time in any Marian apparition in the history of the Church, Mary prayed parts of the Rosary with the visionary. Our Lady did not pray the Hail Mary because she is already in heaven and does not pray to herself. During the Our Fathers and the Hail Marys, Our Lady let her fingers glide over the beads as St. Bernadette prayed them, when it came time to pray the Glory Be, she joined her voice to that of St. Bernadette."
Random thought: There are those who pray the last decade with an additional Hail Mary. I did not realize about the sixth decade on the rosary in the images of Mama Mary at the Shrine. A good practice to imitate of praying an additional decade for the holy souls in purgatory.
Louis Pasteur, scientist (1822-1895)
"A story is told that one day, a young university student boarded a train in France and sat next to a rather tattered-looking old man. The university student noticed that the old man was silently thumbing his rosary beads, letting the beads slip quietly through his fingers. It greatly disturbed the university student. Considering himself well-educated and scientifically accomplished, the young man asked the old man why he bothered with such outdated and silly things. The university student informed the old man that science had proven things like the rosary useless and a waste of time, and said that Catholic piety was meaningless. The elderly man answered that he was unfamiliar with the kind of "science" the youth was describing and asked the young scholar to explain it to him. Tears welled up in the old man's eyes as he listened to the university student explain his scientific rebuttal of things related to Catholicism. As the train stopped at the station where the old man was to disembark, the student continued to instruct him and even informed the uneducated old man that if he wanted to learn more, he could get in touch with the young scholar. Before exiting the train, the old man fumbled through his coat, found a card, and gave it to the student. After the doors closed and the train continued on, the university student looked at the card. It read: "Louis Pasteur: Director of the Institute of Scientific Research, Paris." The old man was France's leading scientist, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). Pasteur's scientific genius led to the first vaccines against rabies and anthrax, and he is acclaimed as one of the founders of the scientific discipline of bacteriology. He had also made major advances in vaccination and microbial fermentation, and had invented the process of pasteurization, which is named after him. Pasteur prayed the rosary every day and always carried two rosaries on his person in case he lost one."
Random thought: Humility.
Marian apparition at Akita, Japan (1973)
The apparitions to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of the Handmaids of the Eucharist are somewhat connected to the Fatima apparitions and the approved apparitions given to Ida Peerdeman in Amsterdam from 1945-1959.
This particular message is so powerful:
"If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the rosary. With the rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres. Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrate souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God."
Random thought: Pray the rosary every day. Every decade of the rosary, offer an intention. Pray for the conversion of sinners. Pray for the clergy.
At the start of the day, offer your prayers, works, joys and sufferings to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for your intentions. Include in your intentions a daily specific intention, for example, conversion of abortionists and those who support abortion on day 1, open the eyes of the "woke" to the truth on day 2, etc.