Rosary

See also: The "Hail Mary" (Ave Maria), Our Father, To Pray, Prayer, Supplication, To ask.

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The 20 mysteries of the Rosary in the writings of Maria Valtorta.

The holy Rosary, or chaplet, is a form of prayer widely used in the Church Catholic Church for about a thousand years. This powerful prayer is requested by the Virgin Mary during many Apparitions, and warmly recommended by great Saints. The chaplet is composed of five groups of ten The "Hail Mary" (Ave Maria) interspersed with an Pater Noster (Our Father), during which one meditates on particular events of the lives of Jesus and Mary. Several chaplets said in succession (or during the day) make up the Rosary.

Sister Lucia (one of the three visionaries) of Fatima says: "The most holy Virgin, in these last times we live in, has given a new effectiveness to the recitation of the Rosary; so much so that there is no problem, however difficult, temporal or especially spiritual, relating to the personal life of each of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of religious communities, or Goodness to the life of peoples and nations; there is no problem however difficult that we cannot solve by the prayer of the holy Rosary. With the holy Rosary we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls"."

Several readers have taken the initiative to select texts from the work of Maria Valtorta to nourish these meditations of the chaplet and the Rosary: The Meditated Gospel Rosary , free downloadable booklet.

The power of the Rosary

Traditionally in three sequences of chaplets, that is three times five decades, it was called the Psalter of the Virgin because the 150 Ave Marias corresponded to the 150 Psalms. Since John Paul II, a fourth sequence of five decades has been introduced. The word Rosary comes from Rosarium, which means crown of roses or rose garden. This refers to various writings and the title of "Mystical Rose" or "Rose without Thorns" or "Flower of flowers" which is given, among many others, to the Virgin Mary.

The Rosary and its generalized establishment

The Rosary is said on a chaplet, usually made of 59 "beads" connected.

The use attributes the codification and promotion of the Rosary to Saint Dominic (1170-1221). He is said to have promoted it in this form in 1208. But he undoubtedly extended an older tradition, as it was already in use among the Cistercians. It is undeniable, in any case, that the Rosary remains legitimately attached to the Dominicans.

This devotion was progressively generalized by the saints, notably by the Blessed Alain de la Roche, a Dominican (1428-1475), as well as by several popes. St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), a Breton like Alain de la Roche, was an ardent promoter, delivering his advice in The Admirable Secret of the Most Holy Rosary to Convert and Save Oneself. In this work, he asks to always have in mind, when reciting the Rosary, "some Graces to ask, some virtue to imitate, or some sin to destroy". He restored devotion to the Most Holy Rosary by traveling through France, Germany, the Netherlands and was the Founder of the Rosary Confraternities.

The 15 promises of Our Lady of the Rosary

They were given by the Virgin Mary to all who recite the chaplet while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, and revealed in 1460 to the Blessed Alain de la Roche (1428-1475):

• 1- To all who devoutly recite my Rosary, I promise my special Protection and very great Graces.
• 2- Whoever perseveres in the recitation of my Rosary will receive marked Graces.
• 3- The Rosary will be a very powerful armor Against hell; it will destroy vices, deliver from sin, and dissipate heresies.
• 4- The Rosary will make Virtues and good works flourish and obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it will replace in the hearts the love of God for the love of the world, elevating them to the desire for heavenly and eternal Goods. How many souls will be sanctified by this means!
• 5- Whoever trusts in Me through the Rosary shall not perish.
• 6- Whoever devoutly recites my Rosary, meditating on its mysteries, shall not be overcome by misfortune. Sinner, he will convert; just, he will grow in Grace and become worthy of eternal life.

• 7- The true devotees of my Rosary will be aided at their death by the helps of Heaven.
• 8- Those who recite my Rosary will find during their life and at death the light of God, fullness of His Graces, and will participate in the merits of the Blessed.
• 9- I will promptly deliver from purgatory the Souls devoted to my Rosary.
• 10- The true children of my Rosary will be of great glory in heaven.
• 11- What you ask through my Rosary, you will obtain.
• 12- Those who propagate my Rosary shall be aided by Me in all their necessities.
• 13- I have obtained from my Son that all the Rosary brothers have for brothers, in life and death, the Saints of Heaven.
• 14- Those who faithfully recite my Rosary are all my beloved children, brothers and sisters of Jesus-Christ.
• 15- Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

The Rosary and the saints, the Popes

What they say about it:

• The holy Curé of Ars (1786 - 1859) affirmed « One well-said Ave Maria makes all hell tremble ».
• St. Pius X: "Give me an army of Christians who pray the Rosary well and I will conquer the world.
  If you want Peace in your heart, in your home, in your country, gather every evening and pray the Rosary (as a Family); It is the most beautiful prayer after the Holy Mass."
  Through the Rosary, we will overcome fear, sadness, doubts and difficulties."
• Saint Padre Pio, nicknamed "The living Rosary," because he said a great number of chaplets per day and never let go of his chaplet, bequeathed as a spiritual testament: "This is my testament and my heritage: love and make others love the Holy Virgin, recite and have the Rosary recited (...) Our Lady never refused me a Grace asked through the recitation of the Rosary."
  The Rosary was his link with Mary, his weapon to inflict defeats on the devil.
• Saint Teresa of Avila tells us how much it is a priceless treasure by showing the value and merits of a single "Hail Mary": Shortly after her death, she appeared and told one of the sisters of her community that she would be willing to return to a life of suffering until the end of time, to deserve the glory that God gives in reward for the devout recitation of one Hail Mary.
• Saint Maximilian Kolbe: "Many Rosaries, many saved Souls".
• Saint Charles Borromeo (1535-1584): For him: the Rosary is "the most divine prayer after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."
• Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716): "The Rosary, inspired by God, is a treasure beyond price. If you devoutly recite the Rosary until your death, I assure you that despite the gravity of your sins, you will receive a crown of glory that will never fade."
  "Heaven gave it to us, and gave it to convert the most hardened sinners and the most obstinate heretics.
  God attached Grace in this life and glory in the next to it."
  Through his daily Rosary, he converted the greatest sinners and made them persevere in Grace and fervor of their conversion. He could say: "No one resisted me once I put my hand on his collar with my Rosary!"
• And the Virgin Mary herself appeared to St. Matilda to confirm to her that "no prayer in the world would give her as much joy as the Hail Mary".
• "The Rosary is the most wonderful means to destroy sin and regain Grace" (Pope Gregory XIV).
• "The Rosary is a sovereign remedy against errors and vices" (Pope Benedict XIII).
• Pope Leo X compared the Rosary to "a wall that stops misfortunes ready to fall on the Church."
• "The Rosary is the tree of Life that raises the dead, heals the sick and preserves the health of those who already have it" (Pope Nicholas IV).
• "The Rosary is a means given from Heaven to appease the wrath of God" (Pope Gregory XIII).
• "Every day immense Goods come to the Christian people through the Rosary" (Pope Urban V).
• "The Rosary is especially suited to divert from the world the dangers that threaten it" (Pope Sixtus IV).
• "The Rosary is the most effective prayer to increase in the Hearts of the faithful devotion to Mary" (Pope Pius IX).
• Pope Leo XIII said it is "the best means to obtain the clemency of God" and also: "To honor Mary and merit her favors, there is no better prayer than the Holy Rosary." The Rosary is "an incomparable prayer and of sovereign effectiveness."
• Pope Pius XI: "The Rosary is the privileged means above all others to obtain the return to Christ of individuals, families, and nations."
  It is a very powerful weapon to drive away demons; to preserve life integrity, to more easily acquire [[Virtues|virtue], in a word to obtain true Peace for men."
  "How can we not hope for everything if we use this divine method exactly and piously."

The Rosary in the Church

The Church dedicates the entire month of October to the Rosary in memory of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) where victory over the Ottoman forces was attributed to its widespread recitation decreed by Pope Pius V. The Vatican has compiled a series of documents issued by successive Supreme Pontiffs on the Holy Rosary, including the encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae which John Paul II dedicated to it at the dawn of the third millennium.

On October 7, 1950, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and in the Holy Year, Mother Teresa began serving the poorest of the poor, sharing their life. She wore her famous white sari bordered with blue and founded the congregation of the Missionaries of Charity.

The Rosary and some Marian Apparitions

The chaplet accompanies almost all Apparitions of Mary in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the Middle East, Saint Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas (1843-1927) benefited in Bethlehem, where she had been sent, from Apparitions of the Virgin Mary who asked her to found the congregation of the Holy Rosary "in these regions where I have known joy, suffering and glory". This recalls the three mysteries of the Rosary: joyful, sorrowful and glorious. The Congregation is expressly intended for the Arab world. It is the only one to have been founded in the Holy Land. The Rosary (in Arabic, al-Wardiyya) is prayed in full every day by the nuns in all founded houses. In Kibeho, the Virgin Mary teaches a "chaplet of sorrows", meditations on ten painful events of the "Mother of the Word" that complement the usual Rosary.

Sister Lucia of Fatima:

"The most holy Virgin, in these last times we live in, has given a new effectiveness to the recitation of the Rosary; so much so that there is no problem, however difficult, temporal or especially spiritual, relating to the personal life of each of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of religious communities, or Goodness to the life of peoples and nations; there is no problem however difficult that we cannot solve by the prayer of the holy Rosary. With the holy Rosary we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls."

This type of teaching is also found in the dictations received from the Virgin Mary by Maria Valtorta who, as a tertiary of the Servants of Mary, shared devotion to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows (Maria Addolorata).

In the works of Maria Valtorta

The chaplet and the Rosary do not appear in The Gospel as it was revealed to me since at the time, Jesus had only taught the Apostles and Disciples the prayer of the Our Father (see details of this prayer in the section and links below). The Rosary precisely perpetuates the memory of certain events in the lives of Jesus and Mary.

The Notebooks of 1943

Details on the "Hail Mary"

In this work which gathers the dictations received on the sidelines of the visions, a whole cycle of six meditations are devoted to the meditation of the "Hail Mary":

• Catechesis of September 3 : First meditation - The Ave Maria : Blessed are the lips and the places where one says Ave Maria. - The salutation that purifies the lips and the Heart - If you knew how to say them, you would never be distressed - God is in Her. - Everything is possible by the mercy of God and the power of Mary - The co-redemption of Mary.
• Catechesis of September 4 : Second meditation - Full of Grace : The angel's greeting is also addressed to you - The angel's greeting gives an abundance of Grace - Mary's complete humility. - Mary's vigilant Soul: She too was tempted. - Mary filled with Grace and full of Graces. - The mystical Incarnation of Christ in us. - Turn your gaze to Mary.
• Catechesis of September 5 : Third meditation, Ave Maria, The Lord is with you : The Lord is always with the Soul who is in Grace. - Mary was with God and God was with Mary. - Mary's Passion: the deprivation of union with God. - Misery, blindness, madness, death, this is what the loss of union with your Lord is. - Mary never separated from God. - He who is united to God has a powerful radiating power. - Mary possessed union with God to perfection. - The foundation of union with God is prayer.
• Catechesis of September 6 : Fourth meditation, Ave Maria, "Blessed among all Women" : Paradise as a whole blesses Mary, masterpiece of universal creation. - Through Mary, Mother of the redeemer, God operated the salvation of humankind. - The sin committed by man could only be expiated by a man. - Redemption includes Humanity from the earliest to the last times. - I am your true brother. - The God-Man could only be begotten from the union of Love and Purity. - Praise to Mary (doxology).
• Catechesis of September 7, 1943, Fifth meditation, "Blessed is the fruit of your womb" :Mary's glory had a cost - The beatitude and pain tightened Mary's Heart into a single knot at the Annunciation - The Incarnation of Jesus - Anguish mixes with the joy of the Nativity - Mary's sorrow at the descent from the (Jesus dead from the) Cross - You got me because Mary accepted to drink the chalice of bitterness - Love my Mother with love like mine.

• Catechesis of November 8, 1943 : Sixth meditation, Ave Maria "Now and at the hour of our death": This invocation corresponds to 'Deliver us from evil' - You must not worry so much about evil and death in the human sense - The Death of the spirit does not come just once for the Soul - You have a powerful Mother before God - The true Death, that of the spirit, will not come for those who know how to pray to the Mother.

The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950

The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950, CEV

• May 5, 1947 : "Our Lady of Fatima. The morning chaplet... then the three chaplets of the afternoon and the golden roses. Each "Hail Mary" is a rose that falls from the chaplet of fifteen decades of Mary, for each bead has turned into a golden rose, and the Virgin detaches one at each "Hail Mary" that I say, and drops it on the world... in the places I recognized and on the countries that deserve it.

• May 8, 1947 : "Appearing to me as she does, Our Lady of Fatima tells me: "On the 5th, I gave you the intellectual vision of what a well-recited Rosary is: a shower of roses on the world. At every "Hail Mary" that a loving Soul says with love and faith, I drop a Grace. Where? Everywhere: upon the righteous to make them better, upon sinners to lead them to repentance. So many Graces fall thanks to the "Hail Marys" of the Rosary!"[…]

• Personal note (by Maria Valtorta): Even today, the 8th, I recite the Rosary in the company of Our Lady of Fatima! But today, the Virgin does not detach the roses, and she explains to me the reason for her symbolic gesture of the 5th. I now know the value of a well-said "Hail Mary." The chaplet of fifteen decades included five of white roses like pearls, five of red roses like rubies, and five golden like the other day. While counting them, Mary said the "Glory to God" then the first part of the Our […] and "Hail Marys" skipping "the fruit of your womb." By doing so, she cast upon the world, below, an indescribable look of Peace, love, pity, and had a slightly painful smile despite her gentleness. That's it! I understood why Our Lady of Fatima attracts me so much, even more than that of Lourdes which, however, I love greatly: because she is more ours, more Mom."

• October 12 and 13, 1947: "At Fatima with the pilgrims. Night prayers and in the basin strewn with lights... And Our Lady of Fatima by my side... Even in the morning, while Father Berti is here in the room... And Mary invites me to pray the Rosary a lot, for the Pope, the clergy, Peace and Italy. The Rosary is the best defense of the papacy, the Church, Peace and our Homeland. She says that is the reason she appeared in Rome and also to shake up the unbelievers, the indifferent, those hostile or opposed to the supernatural, finally those who do not believe in the work, which is "glory of her Son and where salvation of many is found."

• May 12, 1949: "The Virgin comes down to my bed, walking on a path of white clouds. She stops at the foot of the bed, high enough that her little bare feet are level with my bed. She invites me to recite the Rosary with her... (and the chaplets take the scent of her perfume)."

The Notebooks

• September 26, 1953: "I open the Missionary Rosary box, and I find it as if veiled by a very fragrant liquid that has already settled on the chaplet. I am astonished. But here is Mary, who gives me the following explanation: "I can spread my balms wherever I want, just as I can make water spring in the place I choose, from the ground or from my eyes - as is currently happening in Sicily -, to convert Souls and to heal bodies. I can also exhale my perfumes, ointments of sanctification on objects dear to me, and blessing on Souls who love me and whom I love."

The chaplets of Maria Valtorta

These prayers, written on February 21, 1934, are reported in the Notebooks from 1945 to 1950 dated February 10, 1946, pp. 185-186.

The chaplet of the five wounds

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have saved the world.  

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your right hand and I pray You, by its pain; to grant me the spirit of charity. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.          

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your left hand and I pray You... to grant me the spirit of contrition. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.     

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your right foot and I pray You... to grant me the spirit of apostolate. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God. 

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your left foot and I pray You... to grant me the spirit of sacrifice. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.  

I adore the holy wound of Your side and I pray You, for love of it, to accept my offering as a victim of divine Justice and Your merciful Love. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.           

O my Jesus, by the pain of Your holy and immaculate flesh pierced by love, I pray You to grant me what I ask of You. Strengthen me by the holy Blood of Your wounds which You shed, purify me by the Water that flowed from Your torn Heart, inflame my Soul by the splendour of Your divine wounds, make the rays of love that spring from it pierce my Heart like as many arrows of Fire and imprint the imprint of Your pierced Body, so that I may be crucified with love. Grant me, for love of Your holy wounds, an ever more ardent Thirst for You, a deeper identification with You, a more devouring love that purifies me of my faults and makes me ready for heaven."

The chaplet to obtain resignation

"We adore You, etc.    

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your right hand and I pray You, for love of it, to grant me the gift of resignation in physical sufferings. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.  

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your left hand and I pray You, for love of it, to grant me the gift of resignation in moral sufferings. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.        

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your right foot and I pray You... to grant me the gift of resignation in spiritual sufferings. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your left foot and I pray You... to grant me the gift of resignation in sufferings, bitterness, discouragement before illnesses, offenses, betrayals, abandonment, hardness of people. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory to God.

I adore, O my Jesus, the holy wound of Your side and I ask You, for love of it, to grant me resignation before death, and even more. I ask You for calm, Peace, joy at the moment of dying. That I expire, I pray You, with a sigh of love for You.       

O my adored Lord, crucified for me, divine Martyr for love of us, I pray You to give me a joyful will to suffer. Intensify in me the love of You as You increase suffering. If the flames of charity completely invade my Soul, suffering and death for love of You and of creatures will be sweet to me.      

Heart of Jesus, be always my Good and my love.      

O Mary, my Mother, when the storm roars louder Against me and the cross weighs upon me, grant me the sweetness of your smile; when my Soul suffers the passion, grant me the comfort of a caress; when death frightens me, give me your breast to take refuge and your Mother's Heart to console my weakness. O my Mother, I entrust you with my life and my agony, so that I may die in your arms to awaken in paradise.

Saint Joseph, you the merciful patriarch, when I am at the last extremity, come to guide my Soul in its last journey towards salvation. May your gaze drive away the Tempter infernal, may my Soul find refuge in your arms that cradled my Savior and from there fly to eternal Love. Saint Joseph, be my shield in the final battle so that I may die in Christ.

My holy guardian angel, you whom the mercy of God gave me, forgive me for having shown you so little love until now, make that, from today on, I love and honor you always and stand continuously by my side, but especially at the hour of my death, so that the Evil One cannot disturb the serenity of my passing and that I expire in all Christian faithfulness and submission to the eternal Will. My guardian angel, accompany me in death toward my Jesus (21-2-1934).

The prayer of the Our Father

The Pater Noster is given to the eleven Apostles (Judas had left the group) on the Mount of Olives during the 2nd Passover (Matthew 6:9-13) and and Luke 11:2-13 . On this occasion Jesus comments on each part of the prayer in EMV 203.5-12 .

Jesus will publicly recite the Pater Noster and comment on it in the Temple for proselytes, during the 3rd Passover (). It is therefore a prayer linked to Passover. He would recite it for the last time as the Resurrected in EMV 630.21/26.

On July 7, 1943, two and a half months after Maria Valtorta’s inaugural vision, Jesus dedicates an entire dictation to the commentary on the Our Father in the The Notebooks of 1943.

The meaning Jesus gives to each part of the Our Father is of special importance. That is why we have opened an article for each:

• Our Father who art in Heaven
• Hallowed be Thy Name
• Thy Kingdom come
• Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
• Give us this day our daily bread
• Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
• Lead us not into temptation
• But deliver us from evil

Further reading

Meditation of the Rosary - Monique Veillon

• Ave Maria (Hail Mary).
• The Meditated Gospel Rosary : Adèle Plamondon and the Australian prayer group, based on the work of Maria Valtorta. Free downloadable booklet.
• The 15 promises of the Virgin Mary to persons devoted to the recitation of the Holy Rosary (ref forthcoming)
• Read the work online in the translation of 1985.
• Read the work online in the translation of 2016.
• Table of concordance between the two translations.
• Maria Valtorta Index
• Discuss on the Maria Valtorta Forum

Layperson (laic) living in the world but following the rules of life of a particular religious order.

The Gospel as it was revealed to me (Maria Valtorta).

Persons of non-Israelite origin who renounce their beliefs to join Judaism.

Preliminary stage to canonization recognizing that a deceased person can be called Blessed because of their holiness.