In church history, the facts show how the prayer of the Holy Rosary is effective in the defense of the faith and of the Christian people, in invoking the aid of the Blessed Virgin Mary against the evils of our time and obtaining divine favors for us and for society as a whole. Aware of this wonderful efficacy, many Popes have encouraged God’s people to pray the Rosary. Among these, is that Leo XIII, by his fervent Marian devotion and esteem for the “Crown of Roses” of the Virgin Mary and  known as “Pope of the Rosary” 1 . In the nineteenth century, during which time was born Marxism and communism , which are the evils of our time, Pope Leo XIII saw the Rosary in a powerful remedy against the evils of his time. Today, we live the tragic consequences of these evils, and, therefore, we must also appeal to the Holy Rosary and to the teachings of Leo XIII.

The prayer to the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary was encouraged by great Popes, with wise words and fervent praise: “Urban IV said that” every day the Christian people receive new graces through the rosary ‘; Sixtus IV proclaimed that this form of prayer ‘is timely, not only to promote the honor of God and the Virgin, but also to ward off the dangers that the world prepares us’; Leo said it ‘instituted against heretics and wiggle against the heresies’; and Julius III called it ‘ornament of the Church of Rome’. Also Pius V, speaking this prayer, said, ‘to diffuse it, the faithful, inflamed by those meditations and prayers for those afervorados, suddenly began to transform themselves into other men; darkness of heresies began to dissipate, and clearer began to manifest the light of the Catholic faith. ‘ […] Gregory XIII declared that ‘the Rosary was instituted by St. Dominic to appease the wrath of God and for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin’ ‘ 2 .

In the difficult times we live in, these words of Pope Leo XIII to become more present, “We have deemed it most opportune for similar reasons to institute solemn prayers and to endeavour by adopting those addressed to the Blessed Virgin in the recital of the Rosary to obtain from her son Jesus Christ a similar aid against present dangers.” 3 . Today, as then, we experience severe and unremitting struggles in the Church and in society. As at that time, “public morality and faith itself – the greatest good and the foundation of all other virtues – are exposed to ever more serious dangers” 4 . Also going through tough situations, multiple anxieties, but the love that unites us so closely, to suffer together. Of these “for it is one of the most painful and grievous sights to see so many souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ, snatched from salvation by the whirlwind of an age of error, precipitated into the abyss of eternal death. Our need of divine help is as great today as when the great Dominic introduced the use of the Rosary of Mary as a balm for the wounds of his contemporaries.” 5 .

Enlightened by God, Saint Dominic “saw clearly that for the ills of his time there was no effective remedy that lead men to Christ, who is” the way, truth and life ‘ 6 , by frequent meditation on the Redemption which he accomplished; and bringing before God the intercession of this Virgin who has been granted ‘annihilate all the heresies’ ” 7 . For this reason, he encouraged the practice of the Rosary so that the faithful successively remembered the mysteries of our salvation, and to this duty of meditation bringing  forth that which is like a mystical crown of angelic salutations, the Hail Mary, interspersed by prayer to God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We seek a remedy for many ills that afflict us with Pope Leo XIII, “no doubt that the same prayer, the holy Father introduced with such a remarkable advantage for the Catholic world, will become efficacious to relieve Also the calamities of our times ” 8 .

So considering all these reasons, we hear the urgent call of Pope Leo XIII: “earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house and family” 9 . For, as the history of the Church, the Rosary of the Virgin Mary is an extraordinary celestial aid against all evils. The effectiveness of the Rosary was proven in hard times, persecution and much suffering, by which many of us, Christian brethren, have passed. Sympathize with the sufferings of our brethren in faith and so many other sufferers by poverty, hunger, drugs, disease, violence and so many other evils, pray the Rosary, invoking the aid of confidence in the Mother of God. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

References:

1 JOHN PAUL II . Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae , 8.

2 POPE LEO XIII . encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio , 9.

3 Ibid, 10.

4 Ibid, 11.

5 Idem, ibid.

6 John 14: 6.

7 POPE LEO XIII. Op. cit., 11.

8 Idem, ibid.

9 Ibid, 12.

Natalino Ueda is Brazilian catholic missionary of Canção Nova Community, formed in Philosophy and Theology. He is currently producing content for the cancaonova.com portal. He enjoys St. Louis de Montford’s way of consecration to Mary.

please note footnotes refer to those passages in the original Portuguese.