2ème Rose — L'excellence du saint rosaire dans son origine et son nom
The Foundation of the Rosary
The Rosary is established as the primary devotion of the faithful, rooted in the prayer of Christ and the Angelic Salutation.
10. Because the holy Rosary, in its foundation and substance, consists of the prayer of Jesus Christ and the Angelic Salutation—that is, the Our Father and the Hail Mary—along with meditation on the mysteries of Jesus and Mary, it is undoubtedly the primary prayer and the primary devotion of the faithful, which has been passed down from the apostles and disciples through the ages to us.
The Revelation to Saint Dominic
The Blessed Virgin appears to Saint Dominic in a time of crisis to reveal the Rosary as the weapon for the conversion of sinners.
11. Yet the holy Rosary, in the form and method in which it is recited today, was not inspired to His Church and given by the Blessed Virgin to Saint Dominic for converting the Albigensian heretics and sinners until the year 1214, in the way I am about to tell, as Blessed Alain de la Roche reports in his famous book titled De Dignitate Psalterii. Saint Dominic, seeing that the crimes of men were blocking the conversion of the Albigensians, went into a forest near Toulouse and spent three days and three nights in constant prayer and penance. He never stopped groaning, weeping, and scourging his body with the discipline to appease the anger of God, until he fell half-dead.1 The Blessed Virgin appeared to him, accompanied by three princesses of heaven, and said, "Do you know, my dear Dominic, what weapon the Holy Trinity has used to reform the world?" "O Lady," he answered, "you know better than I, for after your Son Jesus Christ, you have been the principal instrument of our salvation."2 She added, "Know that the chief piece of artillery was the angelic psalter, which is the foundation of the New Testament. That is why, if you want to win these hardened hearts for God, preach my psalter."34 The saint rose, fully consoled and burning with zeal for the salvation of those people, and entered the cathedral. At once, the bells rang through the agency of angels to gather the inhabitants. As he began to preach, a dreadful storm arose: the earth shook, the sun grew dark, and the redoubled thunder and lightning made every listener go pale and tremble. Their terror increased when they saw an image of the Blessed Virgin, set high in a prominent place, raise her arms three times toward heaven to call down God's vengeance upon them if they would not convert and take refuge in the protection of the holy Mother of God.5 Heaven intended, through these wonders, to increase the new devotion of the holy Rosary and make it more famous.
The Triumph of the Rosary in Toulouse
Through the preaching of the Rosary, the people of Toulouse are converted and their lives are transformed.
Eventually, the storm stopped through Saint Dominic's prayers. He went on with his sermon and explained the excellence of the holy Rosary with such fervor and force that almost all the people of Toulouse took it up, and almost all of them renounced their errors, and before long a great change in morals and way of life was seen in the city” (Rosier mystique, 1st decade, ch.67 3.
Read the original Latin
10. Le saint Rosaire dans son fond et dans sa substance étant composé de la prière de Jésus-Christ et de la Salutation angélique, savoir le Pater et l'Ave, et de la méditation des mystères de Jésus et de Marie, c'est sans doute la première prière et la première dévotion des fidèles, qui depuis les apôtres et les disciples a été en usage de siècle en siècle jusqu'à nous.
11. Cependant le saint Rosaire, dans sa forme et la méthode dont on le récite à présent, n'a été inspiré à son Église, donné de la Sainte Vierge à saint Dominique pour convertir les hérétiques albigeois et les pécheurs, qu'en l'an 1214, de la manière que je vais dire, comme le rapporte le bienheureux Alain de la Roche dans son fameux livre intitulé: De Dignitate Psalterii. «Saint Dominique, voyant que les crimes des hommes mettaient obstacle à la conversion des Albigeois, entra dans une forêt proche de Toulouse et y passa trois jours et trois nuits dans une continuelle oraison et pénitence; il ne cessait de gémir, de pleurer et de se macérer le corps à coups de discipline, afin d'apaiser la colère de Dieu, de sorte qu'il tomba à demi mort. La Sainte Vierge lui apparut, accompagnée de trois princesses du ciel et lui dit: "Sais-tu, mon cher Dominique, de quelle arme la Sainte-Trinité s'est servie pour réformer le monde? — O Madame, répondit-il, vous le savez mieux que moi, car après votre Fils Jésus-Christ vous avez été le principal instrument de notre salut." Elle ajouta: "Sache que la principale pièce de batterie a été le psautier angélique, qui est le fondement du Nouveau Testament; c'est pourquoi, si tu veux gagner à Dieu ces cœurs endurcis, prêche mon psautier." Le saint se leva tout consolé et, brûlant du zèle du salut de ces peuples, il entra dans l'église cathédrale; incontinent les cloches sonnèrent par l'entremise des anges pour assembler les habitants, et au commencement de la prédication un orage effroyable s'éleva; la terre trembla, le soleil s'obscurcit, les tonnerres et les éclairs redoublés firent pâlir et trembler tous les auditeurs; et leur terreur augmenta quand ils virent une image de la Sainte Vierge, exposée sur un lieu éminent, lever les bras par trois fois vers le ciel pour demander vengeance à Dieu contre eux, s'ils ne se convertissaient et ne recouraient à la protection de la sacrée Mère de Dieu. Le ciel voulait par ces prodiges augmenter la nouvelle dévotion du saint Rosaire et la rendre plus fameuse.
L'orage cessa enfin par les prières de saint Dominique. Il poursuivit son discours et expliqua avec tant de ferveur et de force l'excellence du saint Rosaire, que les Toulousains l'embrassèrent presque tous et renoncèrent presque tous à leurs erreurs, et l'on vit, en peu de temps, un grand changement de mœurs et de vie dans la ville» (Rosier mystique, 1ère dizaine, ch. 3).
Notes
- 1 ↩"discipline" renders French coups de discipline: the penitential scourge used in self-mortification, not mere self-control.
- 2 ↩French Madame addressed to Mary rendered as Lady (not Madam), matching traditional Marian address.
- 3 ↩pièce de batterie is a military-artillery metaphor for the decisive weapon; kept as "chief piece of artillery" rather than flattened to generic "main weapon."
- 4 ↩psautier angélique / mon psautier names the Rosary (the Angelic Psalter of Hail Marys); left as psalter to preserve Montfort's traditional terminology.
- 5 ↩incontinent rendered as "at once" (immediate succession), not the modern English medical/sexual sense.
- 6 ↩French embrassèrent is rendered “took it up” for the adoption of the Rosary devotion, not a physical embrace.
- 7 ↩mœurs is rendered “morals” (customs/way of living under conversion), paired with “way of life” for de vie.
The Secret of the Rosary (Le secret admirable du très saint Rosaire) companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere