According to Catholic tradition, the rosary was instituted by
Tradition does hold that St. Dominic (d. 1221) devised the rosary as we know it. Moved by a vision of our Blessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ.
According to tradition, the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Dominic in southern France in the early thirteenth century. Mary gave him the rosary and instructed him to spread the devotion hrough his preaching.
Q: Is there a biblical basis for the Rosary? A: As you know the bible does "not" tell us to pray the Rosary because this form of prayer originated only during the middle ages. However, important elements of the Rosary are biblical and/or belong to the common Christian beliefs.
In fact, there's an old tradition that Mary herself appeared to St. Dominic (1170-1221) and gave him the rosary as an aid in his preaching against the Albigensian heresy, which denied the Incarnation of Christ. While praying each decade, Catholics meditate on key moments in Christ's life.
It is widely believed that in 1214 St. Dominic had a vision of Mary. She is said to have presented him with the rosary, both the beads and the prayers to be prayed. Dominic had a tremendous devotion to Mary and the rosary, which he promoted wherever he traveled to preach.
According to one tradition, the rosary's defining moment came during an apparition of Mary to Saint Dominic around the year 1221.
The rosary is used by all classes of Mohammedans and in all lands today, with the exception of the Wahha- bis in Arabia.
In Roman Catholicism the rosary became a popular method of public and private prayer. The most common rosary is the one devoted to Mary, the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, the prayers of which are recited with the aid of a chaplet, or rosary.
After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Rosary is the prayer most pleasing to Our Lady. Why is it so pleasing to her? Because it brings us closer to Jesus. That is the single most important reason we should pray the Holy Rosary: through it, we grow closer to Our Lord.
A popular German religious manual of the fifteenth century ("Der Selen Troïst", 1474) even divides the Hail Mary into four portions, and declares that the first part was composed by the Angel Gabriel, the second by St. Elizabeth, the third, consisting only of the Sacred Name.
According to a Dominican tradition, in 1208 the rosary was given to Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the church of Prouille. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Independently from this historical reason, there is a symbolic reason. Ten has the meaning of totality and unity, meaning that each one of Christ's mysteries is part of his total person and work and expresses its unity and totality, as well as its thorough contemplation by the person who says this decade of the rosary.
Bernadette explains how she prayed the rosary alone, while the Virgin Mary only joined in for the “Glory Be” prayer at the end of each decade. She also notes how she wasn't able to start the rosary until Our Lady made the Sign of the Cross. One of the primary requests of Mary at Lourdes was simply, “Pray for sinners.”
Dominic, many theologians and Popes have upheld this understanding. History reveals that St. Dominic was the first to preach and teach the Rosary as a form of meditative prayer, and the first to see the benefits reaped from meditation upon its mysteries.
The word “rosary” refers to a set of prayers in the Catholic Church as well as a physical object. While praying the rosary, Catholics use a set of beads or knots to count and keep track of the prayers.
The physical "rosary" is not a Christian invention. It was, and is, essentially a tallying device, known in Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. It has had the same function in Christianity since antiquity (pebbles, strings, chains).
In Islam. In Islam the rosary (subḥa) consists of three groups of beads whose total is 100. Each bead represents one of the “most beautiful names of God,” and the rosary serves to count these names. The rosary is also used in an act of prayer and is carried by all classes of Muslims, especially pilgrims.
The Rosary Beads are used to help us; they count our prayers and tell us which prayer to say. We being the Rosary Prayer with the Crucifix. We make the Sign of the Cross as we say: + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The set consists of 33 beads (representing the 33 years of the life of Christ) arranged in four groupings of symbolic significance. While there are liturgical churches using prayer beads in prayer, non-liturgical Christian churches do not use them.
In the yogic tradition, the beads are used in japamala practice, reciting mantras in meditation. A full cycle of 108 repetitions is counted on the mala so the practitioner can focus on the sounds, vibration, and meaning of what is being said.
There is nothing wrong with wearing a rosary as a necklace, as you would a religious medal or scapular; indeed, this is a common custom in many cultures. In this way it serves as a reminder to pray the Rosary.
The word rosary itself comes from the Latin “rosarium,” meaning a garden or garland of roses. During the Middle Ages, agriculture metaphor was common. Writing often drew comparisons to plowing a field, and collecting prayers was seen as growing a garden or arranging a bouquet.
Origin. The Hail Mary is rooted in Scripture — the initial lines are taken directly from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. We read that God sends the Angel Gabriel to proclaim to the Virgin Mary that she is to bear the Son of God. Upon coming to her, the Angel greets Mary, saying, “Hail, favored one!