6ème Rose — L'excellence du saint rosaire dans son origine et son nom
The Psalter of Mary
The Rosary is introduced as a spiritual Psalter that surpasses the Psalms of David by focusing on the presence of the Word made flesh.
22. From the time Saint Dominic established this devotion until the year 1460, when Blessed Alan de la Roche, by heaven's command, renewed it, it has been called the Psalter of Jesus and of the Blessed Virgin, because it contains as many Angelic Salutations as David's psalter contains psalms, and because, since the simple and the unlearned cannot recite David's psalter, one finds in the recitation of the holy Rosary a fruit equal to what is drawn from reciting the psalms of David, and even more abundant still: 1st, because the angelic psalter has a nobler fruit, namely the Word made flesh, whereas David's psalter only foretells him; 2nd, as truth surpasses the figure and the body the shadow, so the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin surpasses the psalter of David, which was only its shadow and figure; 3rd, because the Holy Trinity immediately made the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin, or the Rosary composed of the Our Father and the Hail Mary.1 The learned Cartagena reports on this subject: "The most learned writer of Aachen, in his book On the Rose Crown written for Emperor Maximilian, says: The rite of greeting Mary is by no means a recent invention."2 It actually emerged almost with the Church itself. In the very early days of the nascent Church, as the more advanced faithful diligently celebrated the divine praises with those three sets of fifty Davidic psalms, a holy emulation of that custom spread to the simpler people, who found it more difficult to dedicate themselves to the divine service.3 . . They judged—rightly—that all the sacred mysteries of those psalms lie hidden in this heavenly praise, since this formula announced that He whom the psalms sing as still to come is already present. Consequently, they began to call the three fifties of salutations 'Mary's Psalter,' with the Lord's Prayer set before each decade, just as they had previously observed those who recited the psalms doing."4 (The most learned writer of Aachen (J.
Ancient Roots of the Rosary
Historical testimony confirms that the practice of greeting Mary is not a recent invention but has roots in the early Church's desire to emulate the divine praises.
Beyssel) says in his book The Crown of Roses, dedicated to Emperor Maximilian: One cannot maintain that the Marian salutation is a recent invention.5 It spread right along with the Church itself. Indeed, in the Church's very first beginnings, the more instructed faithful celebrated the divine praises through the triple set of fifty Psalms of David.6 Among the simple folk, who found the divine service more difficult, a holy emulation arose. . . They thought—and it is a fact—that in this heavenly praise (the Rosary) all the divine secrets of the Psalms are enclosed, and that especially because if the Psalms sang of Him as still to come, this form of prayer addressed Him as already come.7 That is how they began to call the three sets of fifty Salutations the "Psalter of Mary," even having the Lord's Prayer precede each decade, just as they had seen those who recited the psalms do.8
The Threefold Structure of Grace
The Rosary is organized into three chaplets to honor the Trinity, the life of Christ, and the needs of the Church, guiding the soul through the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways.
23. The psalter, or Rosary, of the Blessed Virgin is divided into three chaplets of five decades each: first, to honor the three Persons of the Holy Trinity; second, to honor the life, death, and glory of Jesus Christ; third, to imitate the Church triumphant, help the Church militant, and relieve the Church suffering; fourth, to imitate the three parts of the Psalms, of which the first is for the purgative life, the second for the illuminative life, and the third for the unitive life; fifth, to fill us with grace during life, with peace at death, and with glory in eternity.
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22. Depuis le temps que saint Dominique a établi cette dévotion jusqu'à l'an 1460, que le bienheureux Alain de la Roche, par l'ordre du ciel, l'a renouvelée, on l'appelle le psautier de Jésus et de la Sainte Vierge, parce qu'elle contient autant de Salutations angéliques que le psautier de David contient de psaumes, et que, les simples et les ignorants ne pouvant pas réciter le psautier de David, on trouve dans la récitation du saint Rosaire un fruit égal à celui qu'on tire de la récitation des psaumes de David et même encore un plus abondant: 1º Parce que le psautier angélique a un fruit plus noble, savoir: le Verbe incarné, au lieu que le psautier de David ne fait que le prédire; 2º Comme la vérité surpasse la figure et le corps l'ombre, de même le psautier de la Sainte Vierge surpasse le psautier de David qui n'en a été que l'ombre et la figure; 3º Parce que la Sainte-Trinité a immédiatement fait le psautier de la Sainte Vierge ou le Rosaire composé du Pater et de l'Ave. Voici ce que le savant Cartagène rapporte sur ce sujet: «Sapientissimus Aquensis, libro ejus de Rosacea Corona ad Imperatorem Maximilianum conscripto, dicit: Salutandae Mariae ritus novitiis inventis haud quaquam adscribitur. Si quidem cum ipsa pene ecclesia pullulavit; nam cum inter ipsa nascentis ecclesiae primordia, perfectiores quoque fideles tribus illis Davidicorum psalmorum quinquagenis, divinas laudes assidue celebrarent, ad rudiores quoque qui modo arctius divinis vacabant piis moris aemulatio est derivata. . . rati id quod erat, cuncta illorum sacramenta psalmorum in coelesti hoc elogio delitescere, si quidem eum quem psalmi venturum concinunt, hunc jam adesse, haec formula nuntiavit; sicque trinas salutationum quinquagenas "Mariae Psalterium" appellare coeperunt, oratione utique dominica in singulas decades ubique praeposita prout a psalmidicis observari ante adverterunt.» (Le très savant écrivain d'Aix-la-Chapelle (J.
Beyssel) dit dans son livre La Couronne de Roses dédié à l'empereur Maximilien: On ne peut pas soutenir que la salutation mariale soit une invention récente. Elle se répandit avec l'Église elle-même. En effet, aux toutes premières origines de l'Église, les fidèles plus instruits célébraient les louanges divines par la triple cinquantaine des Psaumes de David. Chez les simples, qui se heurtaient à plus de difficulté dans le service divin, naquit ainsi une sainte émulation. . . Ils pensèrent, ce qui est un fait, que dans cet éloge céleste (le Rosaire) sont inclus tous les divins secrets des Psaumes, et cela surtout parce que si les Psaumes le chantaient comme devant venir, cette formule de prière s'adressait à Lui comme étant déjà venu. C'est ainsi qu'ils commencèrent à appeler "Psautier de Marie" les trois cinquantaines de Salutations, faisant même précéder chaque dizaine de l'Oraison dominicale comme ils avaient vu faire à ceux qui récitaient les psaumes.)
23. Le psautier ou le Rosaire de la Sainte Vierge est divisé en trois chapelets de cinq dizaines chacun: 1º pour honorer les trois personnes de la Sainte-Trinité; 2º pour honorer la vie, la mort et la gloire de Jésus-Christ; 3º pour imiter l'Église triomphante, pour aider la militante et soulager la souffrante; 4º pour imiter les trois parties des psaumes dont la première est pour la vie purgative, la seconde pour la vie illuminative et la troisième pour la vie unitive; 5º pour nous remplir de grâce pendant la vie, de paix à la mort et de gloire dans l'éternité.
Notes
- 1 ↩"immédiatement" rendered as "immediately" in the sense that the Holy Trinity itself directly fashioned this prayer-form (not merely that humans invented it at once).
- 2 ↩Latin Aquensis ("of Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle") left identified by place; the following French parenthesis names him J. Beyssel. Cartagène is Juan de Cartagena (or the cited authority so styled in Montfort's text).
- 3 ↩perfectiores rendered "the more advanced" (more formed/proficient faithful), not moral perfectionism; rudiores as "simpler people"; arctius divinis vacabant as having less free capacity for the full divine office.
- 4 ↩Sentence begins mid-clause (rati...); subject is the simpler faithful from the prior (partly missing) Latin. sacramenta rendered "sacred mysteries" (cf. Montfort's French "divins secrets"), not Eucharistic Sacrament.
- 5 ↩Sentence opens mid-parenthesis, continuing SecretRosaire.1.7.1.s8: '(The very learned writer of Aix-la-Chapelle (J. Beyssel)'. Kept the incomplete opening to match the printed section split.
- 6 ↩triple cinquantaine: the 150 Psalms grouped as three fifties (quinquagenæ), the pattern later mirrored by three sets of fifty Aves.
- 7 ↩divins secrets renders Latin sacramenta psalmorum: sacred meanings/mysteries hidden in the Psalms, not merely 'secrets' in a casual sense.
- 8 ↩Closing parenthesis closes the long Cartagena/Beyssel citation begun in SecretRosaire.1.7.1. Retained to match the printed section split.
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