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← The Secret of the Rosary (Le secret admirable du très saint Rosaire)/Book 1 · Le secret admirable du très saint Rosaire
Chapter 49SecretRosaire.1.49

48ème Rose — La manière sainte de réciter le rosaire

The Necessity of Perseverance

The author emphasizes that true devotion to the Rosary requires lifelong perseverance and a firm resolve to overcome spiritual obstacles.

145. But to our confidence, let’s add, in the fifth place, perseverance in prayer. Only the one who keeps asking, seeking, and knocking will receive, will find, and will enter. It isn't enough to ask God for a few graces for a month, a year, ten years, or twenty years; you must not grow weary—non deficere—you must keep asking until death and be resolved either to obtain what you ask of him for your salvation or to die. You must even join death itself to perseverance in prayer and trust in God, and say: Etiam si occiderit me, sperabo in eum (Jb 13:15): Even if he should kill me, I would still hope in him, and hope from him for what I ask of him.12 146. The liberality of the great and rich of this world shows itself in anticipating those who need their gifts with kindnesses, even before they ask for them; but God, quite the opposite, shows his magnificence by making people seek and ask for a long time for the graces he means to grant, and the more precious the grace he intends to give, the longer he delays granting it: 1. so as, by that delay, to increase it still further; 2. so that the person who receives it will hold it in high esteem; 3. so that they will take care not to lose it after receiving it; for we do not value highly what we obtain in a moment and at little cost. So persevere, dear fellow member of the Rosary, in asking God through the holy Rosary for all your spiritual and bodily needs, and especially for divine Wisdom, which is an infinite treasure: Thesaurus est infinitus (Wis 7:14), and you will obtain it sooner or later without fail, provided you do not give it up and do not lose heart in the middle of your race. Grandis enim tibi restat via (1 Kgs 19:7).3 For you still have a long road ahead of you, much rough weather to endure, many difficulties to overcome, and many enemies to defeat before you have amassed enough treasures of eternity—enough Our Fathers and Hail Marys—to purchase paradise and win the beautiful crown that awaits a faithful fellow member of the Rosary. Nemo accipiat coronam tuam (Rev 3:11): Take care that someone else, more faithful than you in saying their Rosary every day, doesn't snatch it from you.✦ Coronam tuam: it was yours; God had prepared it for you; it was yours; you had already half won it by your well-said Rosaries—and because you stopped on so fine a path where you were running so well: currebatis bene (Gal 5:7).✦4 Someone else, who got ahead of you, arrived there first; another, more diligent and more faithful, has earned and paid, by their Rosaries and good works, what was needed to obtain this crown. What has held you back?✦ (Gal 5:7): Who is it that has kept you from having the crown of the holy Rosary?✦ Alas! the enemies of the holy Rosary, who are so many.

The Violent Seize the Kingdom

Spiritual warfare is inevitable for those who commit to the Rosary, requiring a violent, forceful dedication to overcome the world and the devil.

147. Believe me, only the violent seize it by force: Violenti rapiunt (Mt 11:12).✦5 These crowns aren't for the timid who fear the world's mockery and threats. These crowns aren't for the lazy and idle, who only say their Rosary carelessly, or in a rush, or just to get it over with, or only now and then, as the mood takes them.6 These crowns aren't for cowards who lose heart and lay down their arms when they see all hell unleashed against their Rosary. If you want, dear confrere of the Rosary, to take up serving Jesus and Mary by saying the Rosary every day, prepare your soul for temptation: Accedens ad servitutem Dei, praepara animam tuam ad tentationem (Sir 2:1).7 Heretics, libertines, the respectable people of the world, the half-devout, and false prophets—along with your own corrupted nature and all of hell—will wage terrible battles against you to make you give up this practice.8

The World's Mockery

The author catalogs the common worldly objections and ridicules directed at those who pray the Rosary, exposing the vanity of these criticisms.

148. To arm you against the attacks—not so much from open heretics and libertines as from people the world calls respectable, and even from devout persons who don't care for this practice—I simply want to report here a small part of what they think and say every day. What does that babbler want?9 Come, let's crush him, for he is against us, and so on.10 What is this big talker about the chaplet and Rosary trying to say? What is he always mumbling? What laziness! He does nothing but rattle his beads; he'd do far better to work instead of amusing himself with so much bigoted fuss.11 Oh yes, really! . . . All you have to do is say your Rosary, and roasted larks will fall from the sky; the Rosary will bring us plenty for dinner.12 The Lord says: Help yourself, and I will help you.13 Why burden yourself with so many prayers? A short prayer pierces the heavens; one Our Father and one Hail Mary, said well, are enough.14 The good Lord never commanded us the beads or the Rosary; it's good—it's a good thing when you have the time—but you won't be any less saved for that.15 How many saints never said it? Some people measure everyone by their own yardstick; there are indiscreet people who push everything to extremes; there are scrupulous people who invent sin where there is none, claiming that everyone who doesn't say their Rosary will be damned.16 Saying your chaplet is fine for ignorant little women who can't read.17 Say your Rosary? Isn't it better to say the Office of the Blessed Virgin, or to recite the Seven Psalms?18 Is there anything so beautiful as those psalms the Holy Spirit dictated? You set out to say your Rosary every day — all of that is straw fire; it won't last long. Isn't it better to take on less and be more faithful to it?19 Come now, my dear friend, take my word for it: say your prayers well morning and evening, and work for God during the day. God doesn't ask any more of you. If you didn't have to earn your living, as you do, that would be different—you could commit yourself to saying your Rosary; you can say it on Sundays and feast days at your leisure, but not on workdays: you have to work.20 What! to carry such a great big goodwife's rosary!21 I've seen single-decade rosaries; they're worth just as much as one with fifteen decades.22 What! wearing the rosary at the belt—what bigotry; I advise you to put it around your neck, as the Spaniards do; they're great reciters of rosaries—they carry a big rosary in one hand while they hold a dagger in the other to strike a treacherous blow. Drop it; drop those exterior devotions. True devotion is in the heart, and so on.

Internal and External Trials

Even learned individuals and one's own senses can become obstacles to the Rosary, making the grace of perseverance a precious gift.

149. Quite a few clever people and great doctors — but free-thinking and proud spirits — will hardly ever recommend the holy Rosary to you; they'll steer you instead toward reciting the seven penitential psalms or some other prayers rather than that one.23 If a confessor has assigned you a Rosary as penance for two weeks or a month, you need only go to one of these gentlemen to have your penance changed to other prayers, fasts, Masses, or alms. Even if you consult some people of prayer who live in the world, since they don't know the excellence of the Rosary from their own experience, not only will they never recommend it to anyone, but they'll turn others away from it in order to set them on contemplation — as if the Rosary and contemplation were incompatible, as if so many saints devoted to the Rosary had never been raised to the most sublime contemplation. Your domestic enemies will attack you all the more cruelly the more closely you are joined to them.24 I mean the powers of your soul and the senses of your body—the distractions of the mind, the weariness of the will, the dryness of the heart, the crushing fatigue, and the sicknesses of the body—all of these, working with the evil spirits who join in, will cry out to you: 'Drop your Rosary; it’s giving you a headache. Drop your Rosary; there’s no obligation under pain of sin. At least say only part of it. Your troubles are a sign that God doesn't want you to say it. You’ll say it tomorrow when you’re better disposed,' and so on.

The Crown of Fidelity

The chapter concludes by affirming that the grace of perseverance is a divine favor that leads to the eternal crown of life.

150. Finally, my dear brother, the daily Rosary has so many enemies that I consider the grace of persevering in it until death to be one of God's most outstanding favors. Persevere in it, and you'll receive the wonderful crown prepared in heaven for your fidelity: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown" (Rev 2:10).✦25

Read the original Latin

145. Mais à notre confiance joignons, en cinquième lieu, la persévérance dans la prière. Il n'y aura que celui qui persévérera à demander, à chercher et à frapper, qui recevra, qui trouvera et qui entrera. Il ne suffit pas de demander quelques grâces à Dieu pendant un mois, un an, dix ans, vingt ans; il ne faut point s'ennuyer, et non deficere, il faut la demander jusqu'à la mort et être résolu ou à obtenir ce qu'on lui demande pour son salut ou à mourir, et même il faut joindre la mort avec la persévérance dans la prière et la confiance en Dieu et dire: Etiam si occiderit me, sperabo in eum (Jb 13,15): Quand il devrait me tuer, j'espérerais en lui et de lui ce que je lui demande.

146. La libéralité des grands et riches du monde paraît à prévenir par leurs bienfaits ceux qui en ont besoin, avant même qu'ils les leur demandent; mais Dieu, tout au contraire, montre sa magnificence à faire longtemps chercher et demander les grâces qu'il veut accorder, et plus la grâce qu'il veut faire est précieuse et plus longtemps il diffère de l'accorder: 1º Afin, par là, de l'augmenter encore davantage; 2º Afin que la personne qui la recevra en ait une grande estime; 3º Afin qu'elle se donne de garde de la perdre après l'avoir reçue; car on n'estime pas beaucoup ce qu'on obtient en un moment et à peu de frais. Persévérez donc, cher confrère du Rosaire, à demander à Dieu par le saint Rosaire tous vos besoins spirituels et corporels et particulièrement la divine Sagesse qui est un trésor infini: Thesaurus est infinitus (Sg 7,14), et vous l'obtiendrez tôt ou tard infailliblement, pourvu que vous ne le quittiez point et que vous ne perdiez point courage au milieu de votre course. Grandis enim tibi restat via (1 R 19,7). Car vous avez encore beaucoup de chemin à faire, beaucoup de mauvais temps à essuyer, beaucoup de difficultés à surmonter, beaucoup d'ennemis à terrasser, avant que vous ayez assez amassé de trésors de l'éternité, des Pater et Ave pour acheter le paradis et gagner la belle couronne qui attend un fidèle confrère du Rosaire. Nemo accipiat coronam tuam (Ap 3,11): Prenez garde qu'un autre, plus fidèle que vous à dire son Rosaire tous les jours, ne vous l'enlève. Coronam tuam: elle était vôtre, Dieu vous l'avait préparée, elle était vôtre, vous l'aviez déjà demi gagnée par vos Rosaires bien dits, et parce que vous vous êtes arrêté en si beau chemin où vous courriez si bien, currebatis bene (Ga 5,7). Un autre, qui vous a devancé, y est arrivé le premier; un autre plus diligent et plus fidèle a acquis et payé, par ses Rosaires et bonnes œuvres, ce qui était nécessaire pour avoir cette couronne.

Quid vos impedivit? (Ga 5,7): Qui est-ce qui vous a empêché d'avoir la couronne du saint Rosaire? Hélas! les ennemis du saint Rosaire, qui sont en si grand nombre.

147. Croyez-moi, il n'y a que les violents qui la ravissent de force: Violenti rapiunt (Mt 11,12). Ces couronnes ne sont pas pour ces timides qui craignent les railleries et les menaces du monde. Ces couronnes ne sont pas pour ces paresseux et fainéants, qui ne disent leur Rosaire qu'avec négligence, ou à la hâte, ou par manière d'acquit, ou par intervalle, selon leur fantaisie. Ces couronnes ne sont pas pour ces poltrons qui perdent cœur et mettent les armes bas, quand ils voient tout l'enfer déchaîné contre leur Rosaire. Si vous voulez, cher confrère du Rosaire, entreprendre de rendre service à Jésus et Marie en récitant le Rosaire tous les jours, préparez votre âme à la tentation: Accedens ad servitutem Dei, praepara animam tuam ad tentationem (Si 2,1). Les hérétiques, les libertins, les honnêtes gens du monde, les demi-dévots et faux prophètes, de concert avec votre nature corrompue et tout l'enfer, vous livreront de terribles combats, pour vous faire quitter cette pratique.

148. Pour vous prémunir contre les attaques, non pas tant des hérétiques et des libertins déclarés que des honnêtes gens selon le monde, et des personnes même dévotes à qui cette pratique ne revient pas, je veux vous rapporter ici simplement une petite partie de ce qu'ils pensent et disent tous les jours. Quid vult seminiverbius ille? Venite, opprimamus eum, contrarius est enim (Ac 17,18; Sg 2,12), etc. : Que veut dire ce grand diseur de chapelets et de Rosaires, qu'est-ce qu'il marmotte toujours? quelle fainéantise! il ne fait rien autre chose que chapeleter, il ferait bien mieux de travailler, sans s'amuser à tant de bigoteries. Vraiment oui!

. . . Il ne faut que dire son Rosaire, et les alouettes toutes rôties tomberont du ciel; le Rosaire nous apportera bien de quoi dîner. Le bon Dieu dit: Aide-toi, je t'aiderai. Pourquoi aller s'embarrasser de tant de prières? Brevis oratio penetrat coelos; un Pater et un Ave bien dits suffisent. Le bon Dieu ne nous a point commandé le chapelet ni le Rosaire; cela est bon, c'est une bonne chose quand on a le temps, mais on n'en sera pas moins sauvé pour cela.

Combien de saints qui ne l'ont jamais dit? Il y a des gens qui jugent tout le monde à leur aune, il y a des indiscrets qui portent tout à l'extrémité, il y a des scrupuleux qui mettent du péché où il n'y en a point, ils disent que tous ceux qui ne diront pas leur Rosaire seront damnés. Dire son chapelet, cela est bon pour les femmelettes ignorantes, qui ne savent pas lire. Dire son Rosaire? Vaut-il pas mieux dire l'Office de la Sainte Vierge ou réciter les sept psaumes? Y a-t-il rien de si beau que ces psaumes que le Saint-Esprit a dictés? Vous entreprenez de dire votre Rosaire tous les jours; feu de paille que tout cela, cela ne durera pas longtemps; ne vaut-il pas mieux en prendre moins et y être plus fidèle? Allez, mon cher ami, croyez-moi, faites bien votre prière soir et matin et travaillez pour Dieu pendant la journée, Dieu ne vous demande pas davantage.

Si vous n'aviez pas, comme vous avez, votre vie à gagner, encore passe, vous pourriez vous engager à dire votre Rosaire; vous pouvez le dire les dimanches et fêtes à votre loisir, mais non pas les jours ouvriers, il vous faut travailler. Quoi! avoir un si grand chapelet de bonne femme! J'en ai vu d'une dizaine, il vaut autant qu'un de quinze dizaines. Quoi! porter le chapelet à la ceinture, quelle bigoterie; je vous conseille de le mettre à votre cou, comme font les Espagnols; ce sont de grands diseurs de chapelets, ils portent un grand chapelet d'une main, tandis qu'ils ont dans l'autre une dague pour donner un coup de traître. Laissez là, laissez là ces dévotions extérieures, la vraie dévotion est dans le cœur, etc.

149. Plusieurs habiles gens et grands docteurs, mais esprits forts et orgueilleux, ne vous conseilleront guère le saint Rosaire; ils vous porteront plutôt à réciter les sept psaumes pénitentiaux ou quelques autres prières que celle-là. Si quelque bon confesseur vous a donné en pénitence un Rosaire à dire pendant quinze jours ou un mois, vous n'avez qu'à aller à confesse à quelqu'un de ces messieurs, pour que votre pénitence vous soit changée en quelques autres prières, jeûnes, messes ou aumônes. Si vous consultez même quelques personnes d'oraison, qu'il y a dans le monde, comme elles ne connaissent point par leur expérience l'excellence du Rosaire, non seulement elles ne le conseilleront pas à personne, mais elles en détourneront les autres pour les appliquer à la contemplation, comme si le Rosaire et la contemplation étaient incompatibles, comme si tant de saints qui ont été dévots au Rosaire n'avaient pas été dans la plus sublime contemplation. Vos ennemis domestiques vous attaqueront d'autant plus cruellement que vous êtes plus uni avec eux. Je veux dire les puissances de votre âme et les sens de votre corps, les distractions de l'esprit, les ennuis de la volonté, les sécheresses du cœur, les accablements et les maladies du corps, tout cela, de concert avec les malins esprits qui s'y mêleront, vous crieront: Quitte ton Rosaire, c'est lui qui te fait mal à la tête; quitte ton Rosaire, il n'y a point d'obligation sous peine de péché; n'en dis du moins qu'une partie, tes peines sont une marque que Dieu ne veut pas que tu le dises, tu le diras demain quand tu seras mieux disposé, etc.

150. Enfin, mon cher frère, le Rosaire quotidien a tant d'ennemis que je regarde comme une des plus signalées faveurs de Dieu que la grâce d'y persévérer jusqu'à la mort. Persévérez-y et vous aurez la couronne admirable qui est préparée dans les cieux à votre fidélité: Esto fidelis usque ad mortem et dabo tibi coronam (Ap 2,10).

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.3.11 — I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take your crown.
  2. ↩Gal.5.7 — You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
  3. ↩Gal.5.7 — You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
  4. ↩Gal.5.7 — You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
  5. ↩Matt.11.12 — From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
  6. ↩Rev.2.10 — Do not fear at all the things you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have affliction for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩French «non deficere» is left as the Latin tag in the source; rendered parenthetically as the sense 'do not fail / do not give out,' while keeping the Latin surface visible.
  2. 2 ↩«joindre la mort avec la persévérance» is rendered as joining death itself to perseverance—i.e., holding perseverance and trust even unto death—not as a separate ritual act.
  3. 3 ↩Latin quotation only in the French source (1 R 19:7). Sense continued in the next sentence: 'you still have a long way to go.'
  4. 4 ↩"demi gagnée" rendered as "half won" (progress already secured, not fully finished).
  5. 5 ↩La ("it") continues the prior section's "couronne du saint Rosaire"; the force is that only those who press on boldly win the Rosary crown, echoing Mt 11:12 on the kingdom.
  6. 6 ↩par manière d'acquit = half-hearted discharge of a duty (perfunctorily, to check a box); par intervalle = intermittently / only now and then.
  7. 7 ↩Source cites Si 2,1 (Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 2:1); Latin quote retained as given. Final Moses resolution deferred.
  8. 8 ↩honnêtes gens du monde = worldly-respectable people (not 'honest' in the moral sense alone); demi-dévots = half-devout / lukewarm devotees.
  9. 9 ↩Latin seminiverbius (literally 'seed-sower of words') is the Acts sneer for a chatterer or babbler; rendered 'babbler' to keep the mockery sharp and natural.
  10. 10 ↩The source stitches Acts 17:18 with Wisdom 2:12 (Venite / opprimamus / contrarius est) as one composite taunt; the parenthetical citations are kept as given.
  11. 11 ↩chapeleter is a scornful coinage for endless bead-praying; bigoteries keeps the scoffer's charge of fussy, bigoted piety rather than softening it to neutral 'devotions'.
  12. 12 ↩French proverbial mockery: 'les alouettes toutes rôties tomberont du ciel' means effortless windfalls (larks falling already roasted)—sarcasm from critics, not a promise of provision.
  13. 13 ↩Speakers attribute the common proverb 'Aide-toi, je t'aiderai' (Help yourself and I'll help you) to God, in a worldly, self-help register opposing long devotion.
  14. 14 ↩Latin maxim 'Brevis oratio penetrat coelos' rendered in natural English; 'Pater' and 'Ave' as Our Father and Hail Mary.
  15. 15 ↩'pour cela' is the critics' minimizer: not saying the Rosary (which God did not command) will not make one any less saved. 'chapelet' rendered as 'beads' to keep the spoken, dismissive tone alongside 'Rosary'.
  16. 16 ↩"à leur aune" is the French idiom for judging others by one's own measure; rendered as "by their own yardstick."
  17. 17 ↩"femmelettes" is pejorative/diminutive in the objector's voice; kept as "little women" to preserve the scorn without modern slang.
  18. 18 ↩"les sept psaumes" points to the traditional Seven Penitential Psalms; "Office de la Sainte Vierge" is the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin.
  19. 19 ↩"feu de paille" is the French idiom for a brief blaze that dies quickly; rendered as "straw fire" to keep the image, with the following clause making the sense plain.
  20. 20 ↩encore passe: idiomatic French for 'that would still be acceptable / that would be another matter'; rendered as 'that would be different' to keep the scoffer's dismissal natural.
  21. 21 ↩chapelet de bonne femme: pejorative for a large rosary associated with simple pious women; 'goodwife's rosary' keeps the sneering social coloring without modernizing into slang.
  22. 22 ↩dizaine: a decade of the Rosary (ten Hail Marys). The scoffer claims a one-decade set is as good as a full fifteen-decade Rosary.
  23. 23 ↩French esprits forts is a period label for free-thinking skeptics who despise popular devotion; rendered here as free-thinking...spirits, paired with orgueilleux (proud).
  24. 24 ↩ennemis domestiques means enemies of the household/interior life; the next sentence identifies them as the soul's powers and the body's senses, not household servants.
  25. 25 ↩Source Latin quotation of Ap 2:10 stops at 'coronam' and does not include the usual 'vitae' ('of life'). Rendering follows the supplied text.

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