by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
Origin of the Rosary
The Rosary, the blessed beads that
quietly slip between our fingers as we pray over the mysteries of Jesus’
redemptive life, has an ancient origin. Most
likely it originated in the ancient East and not in the medieval West, perhaps
in India. It was and still is a popular
prayer device among the Muslims, who use the Arabic term masbahat , which means to give praise. Devout Muslims used the masbahat in repeating the
attributes of God, just as it was used by the early Christian hermits. Following the Crusades the Rosary found its
way to the West. The missionary who
worked hardest to spread this devotion was Abed
El-Ahad, Saint Dominic, and his Dominican companions.
The Rosary became a popular method of
prayer and spread quickly in the West during the Middle Ages. For Christians it has always been “the Gospel
strung on beads.” It is a simple and
easy prayer that can be employed for vocal prayer or silent contemplation by
individuals, families, and communities.
Papal Encouragement
Since the 16th century the
popes have frequently encouraged the faithful of East and West to pray the
Rosary. The first was a Dominican pope,
Saint Pius V, who wrote a papal letter about the Rosary in 1569 shortly after
the Council of Trent, and instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
In the late 19th century
after the First Vatican Council the illustrious Pope Leo XIII wrote more than
ten encyclicals and instructions promoting the use of the Rosary.
To make pastoral applications of the
Marian teachings of the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI in 1974 authored
the apostolic exhortation Devotion to
Mary (Marialis Cultus). Paul VI
discussed the Rosary at some length as a summary of the Gospel comprised of
prayers based on Gospel texts. He urged
the faithful to pray the Rosary, and especially recommended the family Rosary
in these words:
“We would like now to join
our voice to the voices of our predecessors
and strongly recommend the prayer of the Rosary in the family…because the Christian family is a family church….If
the family neglected this communal
prayer, it would lose its character as a
Christian family.”
“In
addition to the prayer of the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) …the Rosary of the Virgin Mary would be
the most preferable communal prayer for the Christian
family.”
Pope
Paul VI concluded his recommendation by saying: “We would like to repeat that
the Rosary is an excellent and magnificent prayer….”
In a pastoral letter about the 1987
Marian Year, our Patriarch, His Beatitude Nasrallah Peter Sfeir, encouraged all
Maronites to honor the Mother of God by praying the Rosary.
Pope St. John Paul II, enthusiastic devotee of our
Blessed Mother, in 2002 issued a
pastoral letter entitled The Rosary of
the Virgin Mary, in which he proclaimed October 2002 until October 2003 the
Year of the Rosary, and put forth the Luminous Mysteries based on the public
life of Jesus.
Our present Holy Father, Benedict XVI,
values the prayer of the Rosary as a means of contemplating Jesus with Mary’s
eyes. For him pondering the mysteries of
the Rosary calms a “restless spirit, allows the soul to settle into
tranquility…and grants a vision of God.”
He associates the Rosary with consolation and healing, an inner refuge
which enfolds us “in the rhythm of the prayer of the whole Church.” “I do it quite simply,” he said, “just as my
parents used to pray.”
The Rosary Today
Unlike some Eastern Christians who erroneously
consider the Rosary foreign to Eastern spirituality, Maronites have emphasized
the prayer of the Rosary for centuries.
On a visit to Maronites in Lebanon in 1580, Jesuit Father Eliano
recorded that he brought them “about one thousand rosaries.”
Early on, the Rosary was a common
method of prayer in the East among Christians and non-Christians. Even though it came to us through Western
missionaries, it was and still is an easy and rich method of prayer to help the
faithful fathom the mysteries of God along the journey of salvation. And we do so with a special companion, the
Mother of God and our Mother. Praying
the Rosary, particularly in the family, is an excellent method of bringing us
together in the faith under the protection of her who always and everywhere
intercedes for all people. Let us spare
no effort to remain close to her.
