One of the most vibrant heresies in Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was Catharism. The Cathari professed a neo-manichaean dualism: namely—that there are two principles, one good and the other evil, and that the material world is evil. Cathari viewed marriage as sinful. 

The Roman Catholic Church had attempted in vain for years to root out this heresy from southern France where it was widely spread. It was not until St. Dominic and his Order Preachers were sent to the region to preach to the people that this heresy was vanquished. St. Dominic attributed this victory to the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Dominic and his brothers focused on the Rosary. In fact, shortly before that, as St. Dominic was kneeling before the altar in the Church of St. Jacques, our Lady instructed him to preach the Rosary among the people as a cure for heresy and sin. The devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary can be traced back to those days.

Popes have accredited St. Dominic with the origin of the Rosary in their apostolic letters. In 1883, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical in which he commended to the faithful the devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary, attributing its origin to St. Dominic. St. Pius V established the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1573. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

The purpose of the Rosary is to help us meditate on the great mysteries of our salvation. The focus is on Jesus—His Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection. In his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope St. John Paul II says that: “The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer…it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety.” (Par. 1) Through the Rosary, we receive abundant grace. The Pope adds that the Rosary is a path of contemplation; its recitation “calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord.” (Ibid., 12) The Rosary is a prayer for peace. One “cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace.” (Ibid., 6) 
The Rosary is also a prayer for the family. The family, the primary cell of society, is increasingly threatened by forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical planes.  Many problems affecting families arise from the fact that family members barely spend quality time together, resulting in an increased difficulty in communicating.   Pope St. John Paul II claims that “the revival of the Rosary in Christian families, within the context of a broader pastoral ministry to the family, will be an effective aid to countering the devastating effects of this crisis.” (Ibid, 6) The Rosary has proven to be particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. To return to the recitation of the family Rosary “means filling daily life with very different images, images of the mystery of salvation: the image of the Redeemer, the image of his most Blessed Mother. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the centre, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on.” (Ibid., 41) The family that prays together stays together. 

May we rediscover the beauty and the power of the Rosary in our lives, in our families, and Parish Community this month of October.
 
 
In Christ,
Fr. Robain