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To pray
the Rosary is more important than knowing its history. Still,
knowing the origins of the Rosary can teach us a lot about this
magnificent prayer.
The
beginnings of this prayer go back to early Christian practice of
reciting 150 psalms from the Bible, eather daily, or weekly, as
a way of praying. Those who could not recite the psalms started
praying 150 prayers, usually Our Fathers, often using small
beads that enabled them to count the prayers.
Until the
Middle Ages the custom of praying Our Father beads became
habitual in many countries of Europe. The Rosary is a kind of
devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It consists of meditating and
praying the prayers concentrated to the life of Christ, from His birth
to His ressurection, and Virgin Mary. These meditations are also
called mysteries, and they are devided in three seriouses:
Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. The prayers of the Rosary are
counted by a string of beads. We may find rosary beads made as a rose
garland, in which the colour of the flowers: white, red or golden,
help us recognize the serious of the mysteries.
The core
of this devotion consists of continuous praying of five seriouses of
one Our Father and ten Hail Maries (or of 15 such
seriouses). The prayers are counted by the rosary beads, e.g. by the
systematic lining of a big beads (for Our Fathers) and smaller
ones (for Hail Maries), that are lined up on a string or a
metal chain. In principle the old way of praying by heart of a serious
of prayers, the Rosary compensated in the medieval convents of
the east and the west daily read texts, which were read by every
literate monk or priest. So, the number of 150 Hail Maries symbolicly
corresponds to the number of 150 psalms from the Psalterium.
The system
of praying of the Rosary developed through the centuries. In
the bull od 1479, pope Sixtus IV. mentions praying of a Our Father prayer
after each set of ten Hail Maries, but still he does not
mention mysteries of the Rosary, neither the Creed,
nor Glory Be. Meditating the mysteries of the Rosary (during
praying of each set of ten Hail Maries) begins separately at
the beginning of the 15th century, and is introduced into general
practice at the beginning of the 16th century. Mysteries are devided
into three groups:
1. JOYFUL
MYSTERIES: 1 Annunciation, 2 Visitation, 3 Nativity, 4 Presentation at
the Temple, 5 Finding in the Temple.
2.
SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: 1 Agony of Jesus in the Garden, 2 Scourging of
Jesus at Pillar, 3 Crowning with Thorns, 4 Carrying the Cross, 5
Crucifixion.
3.
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: 1 Resurrection of Jesus, 2 Ascension of Jesus, 3
Descent of Holy Spirit, 4 Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 5 Coronation
of Blessed Virgin Mary.
The name Rosary
(Lat. rosarium) was made in the Middle Ages by the association
to the form of fashionable, occasional garland made of roses lined up
on a string worn by young people during gallant gothic centuries
around their heads. That's why in the Middle Age iconography from the
end of the 15th century, the Rosary is usually presented by a
garland of 50 white roses (Hail Maries), in which there are
interpolated bigger red roses (Our Fathers), or by medallions
showing five wounds of Jesus, or a representation of the Rosary.
The first
presentations of Our Lady of the Rosary go back to the end of the 15th
century. They usually represent the figure of Our Lady with a Child in
Her arms, who stands on a half-moon and from whom shine golden rays
(apocalyptic vision of a woman dressed in sun, Ap 12, 1) and
who is surrounded by a rose garland crown.
In the
16th century a new iconography represents Our Lady, often sitting,
giving away (by herself, or the Baby does it) the Rosary to St.
Dominic, who is on his knees, or to other saints of the Dominican
order, or even to the believers, and the background of Her figure is
covered by the medallions which show the mysteries of the Rosary.
According
to the tradition followed and spread by the Order of Preachers,
devotion of the Holy Rosary was started by the founder of
the Order, St. Dominic, in the 13th century, in the times of the
battles against the Albigensian heretics. Starting from the 17th
century, the Holy Rosary has been in the hands of the
Dominicans. They set the guidelines for it, and accordingly, they
influence the iconography of the theme.
Even today
when praying the Rosary, we pray Our Father prayer
before each set of ten Hail Maries, and meditating the
mysteries of Jesus' life and ressurection remain the basis of this
prayer.
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