History Of The Holy Rosary
Posted By admin on January 15, 2011
As we see today, the rose is a very popular symbol associated with the virgin Mary and it is a sign that she often uses in her apparitions. The name rosary is derived from the Latin word “rosarium”, meaning roses and rose gardens. It was used to indicate a collection of prayers which could be compared to a bouquet of roses.
The prayers of the rosary were later broken out into sets of 10, and these groupings became known as decades. Each of the decades are of ten “Hail Mary” prayers preceded by one “Our Father” prayer.
Around the year 1700, Saint Louis de Montfort composed the narratives that was used later as meditations for each of the decades of the rosary. The narratives were divided later to: 5 Joyful, 5 Sorrowful, and 5 Glorious meditations that are referred to as the “mysteries” that we know today.
The Joyful mysteries lead us to rediscover the Christian joy, which is first and foremost, spreading the “good news”, which means the salvation from sin that Jesus made it possible to the faithful. Sorrowful mysteries help us to relieve the death of Jesus. Glorious mysteries make us rediscover the reasons for our own faith.
In 2002 Pope John Paul II introduced another set called the “Luminous Mysteries” which is the Mystery Of Light. It describes the public life of Jesus. Luminous mysteries enable us to meditate on the most important events in the life of Jesus.
We see now how the Holy Rosary that we pray today is a result of many evolutions occurred many years ago. This example of evolution is also applicable to the Church especially after the Second Vatican Council which gave the Catholic Church renewed and dynamic understanding of its nature and purpose.
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