The Rosary and Saint Dominic Defeat Heresy
The Rosary—as spiritual weapon against evil—has a very long and
precious history. In twelfth and thirteenth century France, a group of
heretics known as the Albigensians was destroying the minds of the
Catholic laity with its erroneous ideas. The Albigensians’ teachings
encouraged suicide, many times by self-induced starvation, because they
believed that the body was an intrinsic evil and that the soul must be
liberated from matter at all costs. However, as history often shows,
Providence raises up great Saints in times of dire crises. This time it
was no different. Saint Dominic, born of noble lineage, received the
Rosary from Our Lady in the year 1214. Our Lady gave Saint Dominic the
Rosary as a weapon to combat the awful Albigensian heresy.
The Rosary as we know it today took some time to develop. After Saint
Dominic died in the year 1221, the Rosary was almost immediately
forgotten. However, in 1464 Our Lord, Our Lady, and Saint Dominic
appeared to Blessed Alan de la Roche, a Dominican friar, after which he
preached the Rosary until his death in 1475. This tremendous apostolate
by Blessed Alan de la Roche, through the direct intercession of Our
Lady, made the Rosary a widespread devotion. The fifteen mysteries as we
know them came about through the many confraternities founded after
Blessed Alan de la Roche’s preaching, and were formalized with Pope
Saint Pius V’s encyclical, Consueverunt.
The Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a crucial conflict between the Christians
and the Ottoman Turks, one of the greatest naval battles of all time.
The Christian lands around Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean were
constantly getting sacked by Muslim pirates, and Imperial warships were
ravaging the land. At this point in time, Pope Saint Pius V saw it
appropriate to raise a Crusade against these heathen Muslims. After
raising a Crusade, he asked every non-combatant across the whole
Christian world to pray the Rosary.
Even after this call to arms, the Christian fleet at Lepanto was
greatly outnumbered by the Ottoman Turks. The Crusaders got on their
knees and began to pray the Rosary. Soon after, the Christians and the
Muslims were immersed in a bloody battle. Thus it was that on October 7,
1571, the Christian fleet was blessed with a miraculous victory. Pope
Saint Pius V immediately dedicated the victory to Our Lady, establishing
October 7 as “The Feast of the Most Holy Rosary.
Holy Rosary Crusade of Reparation
After World War II, Austria was divided between four countries:
America, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. At the time, Russia was
still communist. The section of Austria controlled by the communists
was the richest, and included the city of Vienna. The Viennese were
subject to the all the atrocities and tyrannies of communism. However,
in 1946, Fr. Petrus Pavlicek, after making a pilgrimage to Mariazell,
the principle Marian shrine in Austria, was told by an interior voice:
“Do as I say and there will be peace.”
To obey this inspiration of Our Lady, Fr. Pevlicek founded the Holy
Rosary Crusade of Reparation in 1947. This Crusade consisted of the
Viennese faithful coming out of their homes in order to participate in a
public Rosary procession in the streets of the city. The intentions of
the Rosary were for the end of communism in their country and in the
world. At first, the processions were miniscule, but in time they grew
to staggering proportions. In 1955, after eight years spreading the word
about the Crusade throughout Austria, the Rosary processions would
reach sizes of half a million people, about 1/10 of the Austrian
population. Finally, through the help of Our Lady, the Soviet forces
pulled out of Austria in October of 1955, leaving the country for good.
The Rosary and the Fatima Message
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared to three
shepherd children, Jacinta, Lucia, and Francisco, at the Cova de Iria,
near Fatima, Portugal. During six visits, Our Lady communicated to them a
secret which had three parts. The first part was a vision of Hell.
During this vision, Sister Lucia said numerous souls fell into Hell like
“snowflakes.”
In the second part, Our Lady states that WWI would end, but “if
people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the
Pontificate of Pius XI. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the
consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of
reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia
will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her
errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the
Church.”
As Our Lady predicted, World War II erupted and the errors of atheist
Communism spread. Our Lady added that many will be martyred and nations
will be annihilated, if people do not convert. Have people converted?
The answer is no. Can Divine punishment be avoided? It depends on the
world’s fidelity to Our Lady’s requests.
Lucia asked Our Lady during the apparitions, “Who are you and what do
you want?” Our Lady responded, “I am the Lady of the Rosary, and I have
come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their
sins. People must not continue to offend the Lord, Who is already so
deeply offended. They must say the Rosary.”
Therefore, Our Lady gave us a solution: the recitation of the daily
Rosary for the conversion of sinners. The Fatima message is a remedy for
our culture immersed in sin. If it were not for Our Lady’s promise that
“Finally, My Immaculate Heart will Triumph,” we would be much dismayed
and disheartened. So let us heed her requests. Let us practice the First
Saturday devotions. Let us pray the daily Rosary. By fulfilling these
requests, we will be consoling the sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of
Mary and hasten the triumph of good over evil.
Rosary Saves Man’s Life on September 11
A man from New York who had fallen away from the Catholic Church and
not gone to confession in years was met at a TFP Fatima presentation
given by America Needs Fatima Custodian, Jose Ferraz.
After the visit, the New Yorker took home a Rosary and Rosary Guide
and started praying it and going to the sacraments again. Months later,
on September 11, 2001, he was in the World Trade Center at the very
moment when the terrorist attack took place.
Seeing the fireball and smoke from the crash, the man fled his office
and tried running down the stairs to safety. However, he met a big
obstacle. The fire doors had locked and he was trapped in the stairwell,
listening to the screams of burning people who were still inside the
building, unable to escape death. It was awful—horrific. Any attempt to
pry open the fire doors with bare hands would be futile.
With Our Lady’s help, instead of panicking, he felt calm. He grabbed
his Rosary and started praying to the Blessed Mother for help. And
within minutes, firemen reached his floor, broke down the fire doors and
set him free. He ran downstairs to safety, his prayers answered thanks
to the power of the Most Holy Rosary.
The
youngest of a poor farming family of Piedmont in northern Italy, John
Melchior Bosco was born on August 16, 1815. He lost his father at the
age of two, and his saintly “Mamma” Margarita brought up three sons in
extreme poverty and want.
Intelligent
and talented, John Bosco received his first instruction from a priest
who, perceiving his gifts, took him under his wing. Supported by his
mother and facing many difficulties, he pursued the priesthood, and at
twenty-two was ordained in the diocese of Turin.
At
twenty she had set her heart on marrying the Marquess Cassizucchi; the
young nobleman married Clarice's younger sister instead. Despondent,
Clarice joined the community at St. Bernardine and received the name,
Hyacintha.
St. Gildas is considered to be the first British historian quoted by the Venerable Bede and Alcuin.
Thomas
Aquinas was born about 1225 in the castle of Rocca Secca, into the
noble lineage of the family of Aquino. His father, Landulf, was a knight
and his mother, Theodora, a countess.
Finally
his mother relented. Returning to the Dominicans they found that he had
made so much progress on his own, that he was soon ordained. Sent to
study in Cologne under St. Albert Magnus, his great size and silence
earned him the encomium of “the Dumb Ox” but hearing his brilliant
defense of a difficult thesis, St. Albert responded, "We call this young
man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound
throughout the world."
And you’d hear this marvelous story:
And
St. Martin de Porres the great miracle worker of Lima, came regularly
to converse with the Blessed Lady, who one day, because the visit was so
extended, ordered an angel to go ring the bell of St. Martin’s convent,
which was the saint’s chore.
Timothy and Titus were two of St. Paul’s favorite and most trusted disciples.
Titus
was Greek and a convert from paganism; he is mentioned in several of
the Pauline epistles. He is seen as a peacemaker, administrator and
great friend of the Apostle Paul. When St. Paul was having trouble with
the community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of his severe letter and
with tact, firmness and charity succeeded in smoothing things out, which
gave St. Paul great joy.
Then
Christ Our Lord instructed him to arise and proceed to Damascus where
he would learn what was expected of him. On arising Saul found that he
was blind, and was led into the town to the house of a man called Judas.
Francis
de Sales was born in the Duchy of Savoy, in present-day France, in the
Château de Sales. His father was Francis, Lord of Boisy, Sales and Novel
and his mother Frances de Sionnz, the daughter of a prominent
magistrate.
He
was consecrated Bishop of Geneva in 1602, ruling his diocese from
Annecy in France where he immediately established regular catechetical
lessons for young and old. He himself taught the children of whom he
was beloved. He visited the parishes throughout his rugged diocese, made
provisions for the clergy, reformed religious orders, and preached
incessantly, everywhere known for his kindness and patient zeal. Those
who flocked to hear the holy bishop said, “Never have such holy,
apostolic sermons been preached.”
Blessed
Thomas of Saint John was well known for his sermons on the Most Holy
Rosary, and the devil, jealous of the success he had with souls,
tortured him so much that he fell ill and was sick so long that the
doctors gave him up. One night when he really thought that he was dying,
the devil appeared to him in the most horrible form imaginable. There
was a picture of Our Lady near his bed; he looked at it and cried with
all his heart and soul and strength: "Help me, save me, my sweet, sweet
Mother!" No sooner had he said this than the picture seemed to come
alive and Our Lady put out her hand, took him by the arm and said:
St. Vincent was a native of Huesca, Spain, but lived in Zaragoza.
At the name of Mary, the angels rejoice and the demons scramble.
