Questions on the History of the Rosary

By Jane Abao

Manila, Philippines (March 28, 2015) – Without our knowing it, billions have been fooled by just a bead counter being linked to salvation if used as a form of prayer. How did this come about? How could this be possible with our supposed knowledge from the universities? Many have figured into this lie: books, dreamers, popes and a bead counter. The Bible claims there is such a thing as minds being blinded by the god of this world. That is the only explanation.

The Secret of the Rosary is about the Rosary written by a French priest in the 17th Century. The translation of this Catholic saint’s book in English (The Secret of the Rosary, Tan Books & Publisher, 1976) bears the imprimatur of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Booklyn.

Louis De Montfort, the author and a Catholic saint later, clearly ascribes power to the rosary, a created thing, for as blared by him and then by his proponents it can mean salvation of one’s soul if instructions are followed. At the same time, it can be calamitous if the rosary is not respected –

The advice to priests about using the Rosary to save sinners directly relates to the advice given to sinners on how to use the Rosary for salvation. This theme continues throughout the book, each Rose gently leading to another, in the process gradually revealing various “secrets” on how to approach the Rosary, how to recite and how to use it for optimal spiritual benefits. (http://en.wikipedia.org).

HISTORY OF THE ROSARY

Some sources expose the sham or falseness of this Rosary affair. The exact origin of the Rosary is subject to debate among scholars according to Herbert Thurston and Andrew Shipman (“The Rosary.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912).

Meanwhile, John D. Miller traces the repetitious feature of the rosary that involves praying with beads to have come from the practice of monks praying 150 psalms daily. Since many of the laity and monastics could not read, 150 repetitions of the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) took the place of Psalms. (Beads and Prayers: The Rosary in History and Devotion, 2002, pp. 7-15). A cord with knots was used to keep count as discussed by Thurston and Shipman. It appears now that the knots are only necessary to facilitate remembering how many repetitions were made.

Where did the Rosary come from and what was the objective?

John D. Miller cites tradition as saying the rosary was given to a Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille  (Beads and Prayers: The Rosary in History and Devotion, 2002). This apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary (Catherine Beebe, Dominic and the Rosary). Subsequently, the practice of praying with beads or knots for counting became institutionalized in the Roman Catholic Church. However, the writings of Thurston and Shipman in The Catholic Encyclopedia question the claim of Alanus linking the rosary to Dominic primarily because of their separation in age by more than two centuries.

In the 15th century Alunus de Rupe (aka Alain de la Roche or Saint Alan of the Rock), who was a learned Dominican priest and theologian, is said to have received a vision from Jesus about the urgency of reinstating the rosary as a form of prayer. Blessed Alanus de Rupe also received the Blessed Mother’s “15 Promises.” Before his death on Sept. 8, 1475 he reinstituted the rosary in many countries and established many rosary confraternities.

Despite the popularity of Blessed Alanus’s story about the origins of the rosary, there has never been found any historical evidence positively linking St. Dominic to the rosary. The story of St. Dominic’s devotion to the rosary and supposed apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary does not appear in any documents of the Church or Dominican Order prior to the writings of Blessed Alanus. Dominic and Blessed Alanus are separated by 250 years (http://en.wikipedia.org).

From these accounts, it is therefore safe to say it was this Alanus who perpetuated the supposed power of the Rosary – effectively but erroneously assigning authority of God to Mary, shifting the focus of needing to do good to repeating empty words with these beads. Take a look into these supposed promises that Alanus claimed he received from Jesus in a vision. (http://www.olrm.org.au). An Imprimatur (which simply means “let it be printed”) was granted to the Fifteen Mysteries by Cardinal Patrick J. Hayes, the then Archbishop of New York.

Fifteen Promises of Mary (Referred to as “Fifteen Mysteries” by Archbishop Hayes)

• 1) Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary, shall receive signal graces.
• 2) I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
• 3) The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
• 4) It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the heart of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
• 5) The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish.
• 6) Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
• 7) Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
• 8) Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
• 9) I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
• 10) The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
• 11) You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
• 12) All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
• 13) I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
• 14) All who recite the rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
• 15) Devotion of my rosary is a great sign of predestination.

QUESTIONS: In this vision that Alanus, a Dominican priest and theologian, is said to have “received from Jesus about the urgency of reinstating the rosary as a form of prayer” (Miller, 2002), isn’t this presenting a hierarchy of power that Mary – a human being – is being endorsed by Jesus (Son of God), and therefore a god, to be venerated? If so, isn’t Jesus therefore being made to endorse idolatry? How does Alanus account for the fact that between Dominic and him, there is an expanse of 250 years and nothing is said in the records of the Church or Dominican records before him about Dominic being visited by Mary and giving a rosary? Since Alanus claimed to have received the 15 promises of the Rosary, why did it take Jesus and not Mary to give those to him?

In sum, we trace now this rosary thing from Dominican Priest Alanus de Rupe, the dreamer, to Cardinal Patrick J. Hayes, the imprimatur- giver that rosary-praying, together with its woven lies unnecessarily involving Mary becomes instituted in the Roman Catholic Church without nary a question from its believers. Power is maliciously assigned to a mere bead counter, and people are fooled while unnecessarily courting the wrath of God for this idolatry. Every line in the supposed 15 promises of the rosary mentions the word “rosary” including #4 where the pronoun, “it” refers to the rosary. How did this happen if not for the folly of fools? How could salvation be pegged on a bead counter with the supposed prayer man reduced to an acrobat and bowing to idols?

The spread of the Rosary is attributed to the preaching of St. Dominic according to the Catholic Encylopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913) and as written by William Saunders, “History of the Rosary,” Eternal Word Television Network.

For centuries, the Rosary has been at the heart of the Dominican Order. It was Pope Pius XI who said, “The Rosary of Mary is the principle and foundation on which the very Order of Saint Dominic rests for making perfect the life of its members and obtaining the salvation of others.” This was expressed by Robert Feeney in “St. Dominic and the Rosary,” Catholic.net (2008). Dominicans then have been instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the Rosary.(History of Dominicans. 2014. Dominican Shrine of St. Jude, New Priory Press).

But who is this Dominic? This Catholic saint is also known as Dominic of Osma and Dominic of Caleruega, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán (1170 – August 6, 1221). He was a Spanish priest and founder of the Dominican Order (http://en.wikipedia.org).

Jean Guiraud, in his book, “Saint Dominic” (1909, London: Duckworth, 216pp), gives the most comprehensive account about Dominic (https://archive.org/stream/saintdominic00guirrich/saintdominic00guirrich_djvu.txt). On page 11 dealing with the topic, Childhood and Youth, Guiraud says the biographers of Dominic have been able to obtain little data for this period. Then on the subject of Rosary, he hedges somewhat because of “lack of scientific certainties.

Alain de la Roche and, following upon him, Jean de Rechac and Baillet… by dint of collecting together worthless legends, have constructed a fabulous life of St Dominic. According to these writers, those nine years had been devoted by him to missions; he had travelled over several provinces of Spain, preaching against Saracens and heretics, and had even, not far from St James of Compostella, fallen into the hands of pirates. Borne away by sea into captivity he had stilled the violence of a tempest; and by virtue of the Rosary, of which he had just received the revelation, had made converts of the crew. Restored to liberty, he had carried his wanderings further still, had preached devotion to the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary.

Take note now of the author’s footnote about omitting the rosary origin –

We purposely omit in this biography any account of the origin of the Rosary or of any efforts of the saint to further this devotion. It is a question more and more contested, since the serious doubts thrown out during the last century by the Bollandists {cf. Acta Sanctorum, 4th August); while a biography of the present nature should deal only with scientific certainties.

Did Dominic really receive a rosary from the Virgin Mary? And who are Bollandists? As defined Bollandists are “an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christianity.” Bollandists, therefore, are a good help to research because they evaluate claims.

Back to “Saint Dominic” by Jean Guiraud, Page 12 reflects –

Sustained by divine grace he had, in the course of these apostolic journeys, made numerous important conversions…. An examination, however superficial, of these stories, suffices to prove their mythical character, teeming as they do with anachronisms and improbabilities…. Far from travelling over Christendom and preaching the Rosary to the wondering peoples of Spain and Brittany, St Dominic, during these nine years, says Jordan [of Saxony] rarely went beyond the precincts of his monastery.

What did Dominic receive? This account also tells about contests of Catholic religious orders and how lying is used to institutionalize beliefs yet false.

… In their natural desire to make their own Orders participate in the glory of St Dominic, certain monastic writers have made the saint sojourn in convents belonging to them and even make his religious profession there. According to Denys the Carthusian, St Dominic, on his way to Citeaux, visited the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse, in order there to become a monk; but the prior, filled with a spirit of prophecy, refused to profess him, saying: “Go, you are reserved for mightier things,” and giving him the mission of preaching against the Albigenses.

According to other writers, it was St Bernard’s habit that was received by St Dominic, at the same time as his bishop…. (Giraud, 1909).

Fighting with the Albigenses clearly started this rosary thing. It was a fight of faith, but a fight that blinded the mind. From faith in God, faith was shunted to faith on a piece of counter. It appears the rosary-adherents had won over the non-rosary people in the 20-year war, but it does not necessarily mean they are in the truth.

Records claim Albigenses or Albigensians are actually the medieval Christian sect of the Cathars. According to history, these people created a reform movement within the churches of Dalmatia and Bulgaria calling for a return to “the Christian message of perfection, poverty and preaching.” They became known as the Albigensians because there were many adherents in the City of Albi and the surrounding area. Records show Pope Innocent III initiated the Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), a 20-year military campaign to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, south of France. These are how they were different: they criticised the beliefs of the rosary people –

The Cathar understanding of God was entirely disincarnate: they viewed God as a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the God of love, order and peace. The goal of a Cathar was to become perfect.

Cathar missionaries would point out examples of clerical immorality and would contrast that behaviour with the uprightness of their own actions. They paid special attention to grievances the people of the south held against the French kings, and promoted a local sense of nationalism and independence. Thus, the religious movement became political. Both church and state were deeply concerned at the spread of Cathar teachings (http://en.wikipedia.org).

Accounts cite Dominic of Osma often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán as an inquisitor – one insisting his Roman Catholic religion on others otherwise they get burned! Jean Guiraud on the topic of Saint Dominic and the Albingenses (p.37) quoting Bernard Guidonis (Catalogus Romanorum Pontificuni. Duchesne, Hist. Franc, vol. v. p. 768) writes –

The Dominican historian Malvenda, so late as the seventeenth century, did not hesitate to claim for the founder of his Order the glory of having established the Inquisition and delivered up heretics.

Guiraud calls Dominic “the precursor of Torquemada.” The dictionary points to Tor·que·ma·da  (tôr′kə-mä′də, tôr′kĕ-mä′thä) as Tomás de Torquemada (1420-1498), a Spanish Dominican friar who headed the Spanish Inquisition (1483-1498). “Under his authority thousands of people, many of them descendants of Jewish or Muslim converts to Christianity, were tortured and executed for apostasy and heresy.” That’s what the dictionary says of Torquemada – and supposedly Dominic came before him, but he was like the later in all counts.

Guiraud quotes from Lacordaire (Vie de Saint Dominique, p. 117) and the Bollandists {Acta SS., 4th August) and by Echard {Script, Ord. Prcedic). As an inquisitor, Dominic, the representative of the Holy See is thus –

Certain heretics having been taken and convicted in the country of Toulouse, were delivered over to the secular court, because they refused to return to the faith, and were condemned to be burnt. Dominic, looking upon one of them with a heart initiated into the secrets of God, said to the officers of the court: “Set this one apart, and take heed not to burn him.” Then turning with great gentleness towards the heretic, “I know, my son,” he said to him, that you need time, but that in the end you will become good and holy.”

Comparing with all these documents the canon of the Council of Verona, renewed in 1208 by the Council of Avignon, which orders that apostates who, after being convicted of heresy by their bishops or their representatives, should obstinately persist in their errors, should be delivered over to the secular arm, it would seem that it must be concluded that, by virtue of the delegated authority of the Cistercian monks, St Dominic was to convict the heretics; and that, in convicting them, he delivered them up, indirectly but surely, to execution….

Inquisitor or not, Dominic is clearly unwittingly connected with the rosary thing just as Mary is unnecessarily involved in it. Montfort’s account in Secret of the Rosary mentions Dominic as the receiver and Mary the giver, but he does more by backing up the story of Alanus and his 15 Promises (http://www.rosary-center.org/secret.htm) as he writes –

[The Rosary] was given to the Church by Saint Dominic who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well known book “De Dignitate Psalterii” by Blessed Alan de la Roche [1]. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said: “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”

“Oh, my Lady,” answered Saint Dominic, “you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.”

Then Our Lady replied: “I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”

And so goes that rosary thing with Mary used as authority. More lies are written in the “Secret of the Rosary” mentioning how Alanus also received three important “revelations.” But he is merely quoting Alanus. Consider that these are seriously false, and they are more of threats. Catholic Saint Montfort quotes this other Catholic saint on supposed three revelations –

The first, that if people fail to say the Hail Mary (the Angelic Salutation which has saved the world) out of carelessness, or because they hate it, this is a sign that they will probably and indeed shortly be condemned to eternal punishment.

The second truth is that those who love this divine salutation bear the very special stamp of predestination.

The third is that those to whom God has given the signal of grace of loving Our Lady and of serving her out of love must take very great care to continue to love and serve her until the time when she shall have had them place in heaven by her divine Son in the degree of glory which they have earned. (Blessed Alan, chapter XI, paragraph 2).

In other words, people are told to believe in the power of the Rosary or they are damned! What a blatant lie: assigning the power of God to some people’s invention and then hitch Mary to it!

And so it is that lies were knitted together to make up a fabric of deception. Through it, people have been drugged into idolising another god in the form of Mary, the supposed Mother of God. But the Bible says nothing about Mary needing to be worshipped; it says nothing about her appearing again and again in visions. Nor is she named Mother of God (See http://www.ControversyExtraordinary.com). Mary while alive was very humble. Would she now rise from the dead and claim some power, promise salvation through a mere bead of repeated incantations?

In sum, here’s this simple cord used as a counter. It has knots to allow completing repeated prayers. But this requires worshipping Mary, a human being like we are. This bead counter is said to have been given to a Dominican priest but whose life story does not include anything about this rosary thing. So a book (Montfort’s “Secret of the Rosary”) is written and advances further that the roses story includes power. This time another character named Alanus is said to have received the Blessed Mother’s “15 Promises” if the rosary is used frequently.

And how did Alanus come to know about these promises? Records point out that there are 250 years gap between Alanus and Dominic. With the story of Alanus, the plot gets thicker and the belief on the Rosary as source of salvation gets more adhesive. To make it more binding, Cardinal Patrick J. Hayes, the Archbishop of New York that time orders the printing of those 15 so-called mysteries, and anyone is said to be free to believe them or not. Finally, Pope Pius XI declares that praying the Rosary is how salvation is obtained.

Such is the sad story about roses woven with lies and buttered with books of fools and supposed saints to promise tricky salvation to poor people – at the expense of Mary who is lying quietly in her grave. Many centuries have passed with such abuse on Mary where she has nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, popes exploit the situation to hide their ignorance of the Bible while people believe in them.

What about salvation that this roses story has stolen?

More yet, who can answer for these lies?