When we think of the month of May, we think of flowers, baseball, the beach, Memorial Day and barbeques. Children think of the end of the school year. For the Catholic Church, May is Mary's month. One prayer closely identified with Mary is that of the Rosary which means "crown of roses." Mary has revealed that each time someone says a Hail Mary, they are giving her a beautiful rose, and each complete Rosary makes a crown of roses for her.

The Rosary consists of 15 decades which contain ten Hail Marys each for a total of 150 Hail Marys. These are divided into the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each Mystery consists of five decades.. The Rosary is made up of two kinds of prayer, mental and verbal. Mental prayer is meditation of the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The verbal prayer is recitation of the Our Fathers, Hail Marys, Glory Be's, and the Hail Holy Queen while meditating and contemplating the fifteen virtues that Jesus and Mary practiced in each of the 15 mysteries.

By saying the Rosary and meditating on the mysteries of Jesus' life and Mary's witness we come to a greater appreciation of these mysteries. We literally walk through Jesus' life as seen through the eyes of Mary. It is common to say five decades a day while meditating on one of the three Mysteries; however, just do what you can, whether it's one decade, five decades, or 15 decades a day. There are inexpensive pamphlets as well as websites, such as theholyrosary.org that detail how to say the Rosary. You can say it anytime anywhere. Rosary rings and audiotapes are inexpensive and can be purchased at Catholic stores. They are ideal for saying the Rosary on the go: on the Metro, in the car, or while you are performing the obligations and duties in your life.

The Rosary as we know it today evolved over several hundred years. However, its history is very incomplete and patchy. A popular story is that Mary presented the Rosary to St. Dominic in 1214 in response to his prayers for help in fighting the heresy of Albigensianism. This story has been disputed because many historical events don't back it up; the Rosary's final formation occurred after his death. However, the Dominicans are credited with promoting the Rosary. Other scholars have said that he promoted the Rosary more than he invented it. Many popes have mentioned St. Dominic in connection with the Rosary in various papal announcements. Other people associated with the Rosary include Blessed Alan de Roche and St. Louis Marie De Montfort.

I have researched several different sources which differ a little on dates and events, so I have tried to reconcile these the best that I could. (I believe the inconsistencies are due to the incomplete history, not any incompetency on the parts of the authors.) According to Richard Gribble, C&C's book The History and Devotion of the Rosary, the Irish are credited with the prayer counting that eventually evolved into today's Rosary. Since the early days of Christianity, the psalms of the Hebrew Scripture were used as a form of personal and communal prayer. The Irish monks often recited the 150 psalms, which evolved into the Psalter. When the Psalter became fixed, it was commonly divided into three groups of fifty psalms each. This grouping eventually spread through Europe circa 750-1000. Since many people were illiterate, more popular prayers were substituted for the Psalter so the common people could participate in the prayer.

Circa 750, 150 Our Fathers replaced the Psalters. The great devotion to Mary resulted in the Our Fathers being replaced by 150 Hail Marys in the 11th & 12th centuries. Prayer beads to count the prayers are known to have existed in the 11th & 12th centuries. Referring to the prayer beads as "rosarium" (rose garden) came about in the 14th and 15th centuries. During this time, the rose and any form of it (rose garden, rose bush, etc.) became associated with the Psalter and especially the beads used to say it.

Blessed Alan de Roche (Alanus de Rupe in Gribble's book) played a big role in the formation of the Rosary as we know it today and getting it accepted by the Church. "He deserves the title ‘Father of the Rosary.'" (The History and Devotion of the Rosary, by Richard Gribble, C&C, pg. 65) In 1470, he formed an organization to promote devotion of the Rosary called the Confraternity of the Rosary, originally called the Confraternity of the Psalter of Jesus and Mary. However, neither it nor the Rosary were approved by Rome until 1475. In October 1474, the city of Cologne was miraculously saved from attack by Burgundian troops. This miracle was attributed to the Rosary by Jacob Sprenger, the founder of the Cologne Confraternity. (Bob and Penny Lord, in their book The Rosary, The Lives of Jesus and Mary, credit de Roche with getting approval for the Confraternity and emphasizing the role the Rosary played in the sparing of Cologne.)

The Confraternity exploded in popularity, going from 5,000 members in 1475 to 50,000 in 1476. The Confraternity is a spiritual association of people, which is still going strong today, who strive to pray the 15 decades of the Rosary each week. Each member prays for the intentions of all the other members as well as their own. Each member also includes deceased members in their prayers, knowing they will be prayed for in return. To enroll in the Confraternity, you can either write to The Rosary Center, P.O. Box 3617, Portland, OR, 97208, USA or enroll on their website.

The Rosary received Papal approval on September 8, 1475, the day of de Rouche's death. In response to the Christian victory over the Muslims at Lepanto, which he attributed to the power of the Rosary, Pope St Pius V established the Feast of the Holy Rosary around 1570 (Richard Gribble credits Pope Gregory VIII with establishing this feast in 1573). Pope Clement XI extended the Feast to the Universal Church in response to the Muslims' defeat by the Christians on the feast of Our Lady of the Snow on August 5, 1716, which he attributed to the power of the Rosary. On October 11, 1954, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Universal Feast of the Queenship of Mary, to be celebrated every year on May 31st. "Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the Rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2678)

Circa 1500, the Glory Be was added. In the late 15th Century, the Creed was added. By the 17th Century, the Hail Holy Queen was universally recited in the Rosary. In 1573, the present 15 mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious became set in the format we know today. During the Virgin Mary's July 1917 apparition to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, she told them, "When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need." (Fatima in Lucia's own Words, by Lucia dos Santos, pgs. 162 & 166)

According to Fr. Sanders' "Straight Answers" column on the Rosary in the October 12, 2000 Arlington Catholic Herald, the structure of the Rosary was formed between the 12th and 15th centuries. Eventually 50 Hail Marys were recited and linked with verses of psalms or other phrases depicting the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Bob and Penny Lord lean very heavily on the story of Mary presenting the Rosary to St. Dominic in their book The Rosary, The Life of Jesus and Mary, as does St. Louis De Montfort in his book The Secret of the Rosary.

The history of the Rosary my be spotty; however, the power of its devotion is very clear, as noted briefly above concerning the victories of the Christians at Cologne, Lepanto and on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow. Our popes, including Pope John Paul II, have had deep devotions to the Rosary. Pope St. Pius V said, "It is the Psalter of Mary, in which the Blessed Mother of God is greeted 150 times with the Angelical salutations (Hail Mary), corresponding to the Psalms of the Psalter of David, together with one Our Father for every ten Hail Marys, and also certain meditations that present the entire life of Jesus Christ." (The Rosary, The Life of Jesus and Mary, by Bob and Penny Lord, pg. 186)

According to St. Louis Marie De Montfort, "Since simple and uneducated people are not able to say the Psalms of David, the Rosary is held to be just as fruitful for them as David's Psalter is for others. But the Rosary can be considered to be even more valuable than the latter for three reasons:

1. "Firstly, because the Angelic Psalter bears a nobler fruit, that of the Word Incarnate, whereas David's Psalter only prophesies His coming.
2. "Secondly, just as the real thing is more important than its than its prefiguration and as the body is more than its shadow, in the same way the Psalter of our Lady is greater that David's Psalter, which did no more than pre-figure it.
3. "And thirdly, because Our Lady's Psalter or the Rosary made up of the Our Father and Hail Mary is the direct work of the Most Blessed Trinity and was not made through a human instrument." (The Secret of the Holy Rosary, by St. Louis Marie De Montfort, pg. 25)

Father Saunders writes, "The fact that our Church continues to include the Feast of the Holy Rosary on the liturgical calendar testifies the importance and goodness of this form of prayer." ("Straight Answers, The Rosary, a Cherished Prayer", Arlington Catholic Herald, October 12, 2000) The Rosary is a great sign of devotion that carries with it many graces. With this in mind, come, let us weave a crown of roses for The Blessed Virgin Mary, our Heavenly Mother.