"I was exalted as a rose plant in Jericho."--Eccles. xxiv, 18.
My dear brethren, when Pope Pius IX, on May 23, 1877, gave audience to
a number of pious pilgrims he said to them: "Have courage, my dear
children! I exhort you to fight against the persecution of the Church
and against anarchy, not with the sword, but with the rosary, with
prayer and good example." This Pope, who with great wisdom and strong
hand has guided for thirty-two years the bark of Peter, which in many
violent storms had been rocked to and fro, he who well knew the great
dangers of our times, regarded the rosary as a conquering weapon.
What great confidence his successor, Pope Leo XIII, placed in the
veneration and invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by means of the
rosary! He exhorted all Christianity to pray the rosary daily during
the month of October, in order to obtain assistance in these
distressing times. In his brief on this occasion Leo XIII says: "It has
been a favorite and prevalent custom of Catholics, in times of need and
danger, to take refuge in Mary, and to seek consolation from her
motherly concern."
Thus the firm reliance and confidence rightly placed by the Catholic
Church in the mother of God is stanchly avowed.
As a matter of fact, Mary, the immaculate Virgin, free from original
sin, the chosen mother of God, is endowed with such power by her Son,
as no other creature, man or angel, has ever received or can receive.
The efficacy of this great devotion to the great Queen of Heaven had
been demonstrated especially when false teachings, depravity, or other
great enemies threatened disaster to Christians.
History, early and recent, relates how public and private devotion to
the mother of God was held in times of calamity and distress, and how
these prayers were heard, and help was granted. Thus originated the
exalted titles which Catholics give to the Blessed Virgin, such as Help
of Christians, Refuge of Sinners, etc.
To these titles was added another, when under date of December 10,
1883, Leo XIII directed that the title "Queen of the Rosary" be added
to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. In his brief the Holy Father
expresses the desire that all the faithful practise daily the devotion
of the rosary. If, therefore, the rosary is considered of such great
power and efficacy by the head of the Church, the representative of
Christ, it is befitting that we heed his words and pray often and
devoutly by means of the rosary.
If this prayer were better understood it would be prayed with more
devotion, and greater benefit would come from it. In order, then, to
spread a better knowledge, and to urge the devout recital of the
rosary, let us contemplate this devotion in a course of instructive
addresses. The name rosary may be the subject of to-day's discourse.
The devotion of the rosary consists in the recital of a fixed number of
Our Fathers and Hail Marys, combined with the meditation on certain
mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary. The name rosary is
significant. It is a symbol of Mary, also of the devotion to her. We
will endeavor to make this clear.
The realm of nature is the symbol of the realm of grace, as the realm
of grace is a symbol of the realm of glory. It was God's intention to
let His earthly creation be a reflection of the divine perfections, of
the supernatural, of divinity, so that man might perceive the
supernatural through created things, and thus more readily understand
it. "For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world,
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom.
i, 20).
Our first parents obtained a clear conception of the supernatural
through the natural things of this life. Nature was to them an open
book, in which they could read the divine perfections. Through sin the
understanding of man was dimmed and he failed in the interpretation of
nature. Instead of being led to God through it, he allowed himself to
become estranged, and from a master became the slave of nature.
Then Christ came and redeemed the world from the slavery of sin and
again granted to man the clear conception of the true God, as also the
right understanding of nature. This is verified in the saints and we
have a beautiful example in St. Francis of Assisi. About his
interpretation and meditation of nature St. Bonaventure says: "He
considered all things created as original from God, and saw in each
creature the Creator and Preserver."
Everything in nature was to him a symbol of spiritual life. He took
delight especially in flowers, because they reminded him of the flower
from the root of Jesse, which refreshens and gladdens the whole world.
See, my dear brethren, this is the correct, the Christian way of
contemplating nature. The spiritual world is reflected in the visible.
And Jesus being the King and Mary the Queen in the realm of grace and
glory, nature contains symbols that refer to Jesus and Mary. All things
of this creation: from the flowers of the valley to the brilliant stars
that illumine the night, all things in nature are symbols of the
glorious mother of God. Among many such symbols used in Holy Scripture
we find Mary called the mystical rose. The Church therefore regards the
rose as a symbol of Mary. Let us see in what the likeness consists.
If on a summer's day we enter a garden, where various flowers through
their form, color and sweet odor delight and refresh us, our eye is
chiefly attracted by the rose. We are especially well pleased with it.
The rose is the queen of flowers in form, color and fragrant odor,
because of its beauty.
Let us turn now our gaze to the spiritual garden, the Church of Christ.
The various flowers there are the faithful, adorned with piety and
virtue, and spreading the fragrance of saintliness with which God is
pleased. In the Canticle of Canticles the Lamb of God is pictured as
feeding among the lilies. A beautiful thought! It tells us how the Lamb
of God, our divine Saviour, is fond of the flowers of God, the
God-loving souls, as is the lamb of the lilies.
And in this garden of God, the Holy Church, Mary is the rose, the pride
of the garden, the queen of the flowers. The rose is therefore the most
beautiful symbol of Mary, of all saints the queen, exalted above all
saints in sublimity, beauty, gentleness and sweetness. Therefore,
because Mary is among the saints what the rose is among flowers, she is
called "the mystical rose." And the name rosary is to remind us of
this.
The rose, furthermore, signifies the virtuous life of Mary the virgin.
The rosebud is a beautiful symbol of virginity. It is hidden as under a
veil. Lovely is the Christian virgin, hidden in the garb of innocence
like a rosebud. Mary is the Virgin of Virgins, and can above all be
compared to the fair and undefiled rosebud.
The open, blooming rose is an emblem of pure motherhood. Like the
opened radiant rose the Christian mother is in the full vigor of life;
her heart open with true love for her husband and children; and she
unfolds her soul to heaven, so that through prayer she may receive the
needed assistance for herself and hers. Through her good example in
Christian virtues she spreads around her the fragrance of a God-
pleasing life, and encourages those who associate with her to imitate
her virtues.
Mary is the immaculate virgin and mother, mother of God, and of all
mankind. She is the most noble and perfect of all mothers. Like a
magnificent rose she shines in the splendor of her virtues, and is the
perfect example for all mothers. Because her heart is fired with love
for God and man, she is, as St. Jordanus says, likened to the flaming
red rose.
There is no rose but has its thorns. The thorns are a figure of
suffering, of sorrow, of the temptations in life, under which only a
truly virtuous life can thrive.
St. Brigid relates in her revelations how she at one time was downcast
because the enemies of Christ were so powerful, and how she was
consoled by the mother of God herself, who told her to remember the
rose among the thorns. "The rose," so said Mary, "gives a fragrant
odor; it is beautiful to the sight, and tender to the touch, and yet it
grows among thorns, inimical to beauty and tenderness. So may also
those who are mild, patient, beautiful in virtue, be put to a test
among adversaries. And as the thorn, on the other hand, guards, so do
wicked surroundings protect the just against sin by demonstrating to
them the destructiveness of sin."
The life of Mary was interwoven with many sorrows and she is justly
called "a rose among thorns." St. Brigid says: "The Virgin may suitably
be called a blooming rose. Just as the gentle rose is placed among
thorns, so this gentle Virgin was surrounded by sorrow."
The rose obtains its life through the stem, to which it is closely
united. A rose broken from the stem will soon wither. So Mary received
all her graces from Jesus, with whom she was united through the
liveliest faith and ardent love.
Mary is in truth a spiritual, a mystic rose. The rose therefore is a
fitting symbol of the virtuous life of the mother of God. As mystical
rose she deserves our admiration and veneration, and she must be our
example and model in all Christian virtues, the model of a true
spiritual life.
The name rosary, therefore, is well suited to this devotion. For it is
a wreath of spiritual roses, as it were, which we place at the feet of
Mary, in order to show our love and veneration.
The rose has, moreover, been at all times regarded as a symbol of love.
It was already the custom of the early Christians to adorn on feast
days the pictures and statues of the saints with wreaths of roses,
especially on feast days of the Blessed Virgin.
St. Dominic, inspired and instructed by Mary, formed from the beautiful
and efficacious prayers, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, together
with the principal mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary, a
beautiful wreath, and called it the "Rosary."
The threefold mysteries represented in the devotion again give it a
resemblance to the rose. The green of the rose is the color of hope and
confidence. It is represented in the glorious rosary. The thorns are
represented in the sorrowful rosary. The beautiful red petals of the
rose, finally, are represented in the joyful rosary, in the glories of
Jesus and Mary.
Thus is shown therefore the deep and significant meaning of the name
rosary. And as the rosary reminds us of all the virtues, the spiritual
beauty and sublimity of Mary, and as it is a worthy manifestation of
our love and veneration for the mother of God it is meet that we hold
the rosary in high esteem. And Mary finds delight in this devotion, for
it reminds her of all the good God did for her, and for which all
nations pronounce her blessed.
Oh, let us then resolve to wind this wreath frequently, to lay it often
at the feet of the noble, the gracious queen of the Rosary!