It is from him that we first learn the story of Our Lady giving the rosary to Saint Dominic, and it may be that Alan wrote the story of the Virgin's milk in imitation of the similar story concerning Saint Bernard. Unfortunately, another point of dubious historical accuracy concerns the conversion of the Albigensians, since this came about not so much through the preaching of the friars as through military force. Yet Alan had struck a winner: through the promotion of the Dominicians, and later of the Jesuits, the modern rosary became hugely popular and quickly supplanted other techniques of bead meditation in the Catholic world.
At a later date, the rosary was associated with another conflict - also partly religious in character. In 1571, the extraordinary victory of European Christians over Ottoman Turks at the battle of Lepanto was attributed by Catholics to the power of the rosary, since large number of people had recited rosaries through the streets of Rome, in petition for the success of the European fleet, before the battle was fought. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on the anniversary of the battle, 7th October.
An image that is sometimes found in Church wall-painting of the late Middle Ages is that which art historians term the Marian psychostasis. This shows Saint Michael holding the balances in which souls are weighed for their good and evil deeds on the Day of Judgement. In one pan of the scales is a soul being weighed and around the other pan there are devils trying to pull it down.
If the souls weighs more heavily, then that indicates that it is righteous, and therefore will be saved. But if the soul is sinful, then the devils will pull down their scale-pan and the souls will be damned. The Virgin Mary, however, is throwing weights, or, more often, a string of rosary beads, into the pan on the soul's side, thereby ensuring the soul's salvation. Thus the Virgin's intercession is associated directly with the rosary, and images of this kind may well have been promoted by rosary confraternities association of lat people who met to pray the rosary, and in particular to pray for the faithful departed.
Perhaps, the popularity of the modern rosary derives in part from the particular sequence of the mysteries. The first five concern a woman who gives birth for the salvation of the world; the second five concern a man, the son whom she has borne, who dies for the salvation of the world; and the third group concerns the reunion of man and woman in the accomplishment of that salvation. The balancing of man and woman and of birth and death, together with the reuniting of the man and the woman in their transcendence of birth and death, is a satisfying pattern.
Yet even since the general establishment of the modern rosary, people have explored other ways of using the beads - a sign that the tradition has remained vibrant. Rev, Fr, Francis Borgia, for example, the third general of the Society of Jesus, in 1613 wrote a set of meditations that begins with recollection of one's sins, and then moves on to meditation on the Immaculate Conception, before continuing with other mysteries of the lives of Our Lady and Our Lord.
Another variation in rosary meditation is that promoted by devotees of Our Lady of Fatima. This variation consists in the addition of the prayer 'O my Jesus' after the 'Glory be' at the end of each decade. Indeed, promotion of the rosary has come to be a mainstay of the devotions associated with modern Marian apparitions, and Medjugorje prayer groups, for example, make it an important feature of their meetings, again adding a distinctive touch of their own, in this case by reciting the prayers very slowly in order to allow more time for meditation.
Dolour rosaries, rosary rings (to wear on the finger) and bracelets, and strings of ten Pater Noster beads are again becoming widely available which suggests that bead meditation is currently alive and well.
Number tend to acquire a certain significance of their own. The modern rosary has three sets of mysteries - three being the number of the Blessed Trinity - and five mysteries in each set - five being noted supremely as the number of Our Lord's precious wounds, although it is also a 'natural; number in the sense that it is the number of fingers on a human hand. In the fourteenth-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is solemnly equipped to set out on his mission to meet the Green Knight in the Green Chapel at New Year. On his shield is painted a gold pentacle on a red ground. The pentacle is the five-pointed star made of a single continuous line.
The author explains the symbolism of the pentacle at some length. It was devised by king Solomon and is called 'the endless knot.' This should certainly be read not just as a description of its physical appearance, but as indicating that it is a symbol of eternity - that which has no point of beginning or end: and one might understand the ring of rosary beads in a similar manner. Among the several points signified by the five points of the pentacle, the author of the medieval poem mentions Gawain's trust in the five wounds of Christ and the five Joys of Our Lady, both of which occur in different ways in rosary meditation. The image of Our Lady is painted on the inside of Gawain's shield, so that he might look upon it to give him heart. This constant reminder or evocation of Mar's presence again has a certain correspondence to the repetition of the 'Hail Mary' in rosary recitation.
The symbol of the rose is another aspect of bead meditation that has been handed down from the Middle Ages. The Tibetan rosary is called a mala which means 'garland' and likewise, the word 'rosary' means 'rose garland' or 'rose garden'. The nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-ring-a-roses' may have its ancestry in a song about the rosary. The rose is a very rich symbol, and doubtless its full significance can be grasped only through meditation rather than explanation. The following, therefore, are merely pointers for further reflection.
When you look at a rose window, such as that in Durham Cathedral or in the Gothic cathedrals of France, you see layers and layers of stained-glass petals radiating around a central image. If you start at the outermost lights, you will usually find saints closer to the Lord - are the saints or angels represented the successive layers. When you come to the centre, there is usually an image of Christ or the Virgin and Child. In the East Rose or Laon Cathedral, the central image is of the Virgin and Child enthroned, with the Virgin holding up a rose in her right hand. When the Virgin in Majesty holds a flower in her right hand, this is usually taken to be a rod of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) understood typologically: she herself is the shoot, and Christ is the flower.
Yet when we look through the layers of rose petals and come at the heart of the flower to the Virgin and Child raising a rose to our gaze, we might sense that something even more mysteries is at work here. It is as though the rose that she holds up to the viewer is an initiatory or revelatory symbol which they will comprehend only when they have attained a sufficient degree of spiritual maturity and understanding.
In Catholic tradition, Mary herself is the Mystic Rose par excellence. She is the noblest flower at whose centre is contained the most precious jewel in the universe, Christ himself. As it says in the English carol:
There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesus.
Alleluia.
For in that rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space:
Res miranda.
Because the Blessed Virgin received the Word of God in her womb, because she was the rose who bore God at the very centre of her being, it is possible for each human person to receive that Word and be transformed by it, and so come to recognize God at the heart of all created things. This is the work which rosary meditation is designed to help the meditator accomplish.
The number of different prayers used in the standard Catholic rosary, together with the number of different subjects for meditation, mean that, whatever method is used, it is an exceptionally complicated technique. There are some people who prefer to repeat one prayer only and to focus on one subject for meditation.This subject may be one no the standard mysteries, or some other scriptural or sacred scene, or it may be more akin to that striving towards God which is described most famously in the Cloud of Unknowing. An individual devotee may try different forms of meditation to discover what is most helpful.
Some of the early books of rosary meditations consist of a series of pictures of the mysteries, with the intention that the reader look at the image while passing the beads through the fingers and reciting the prayers. For many people, this is probably a very helpful means of meditation, and in the 1940s Maisie Ward produced a book containing a sequence of prints of paintings by Fra Angelico for this purpose. But rosarians can compile their own collection of favourite images for meditation.
Another method of rosary meditation is to imagine the scene and the drama of each mystery in detail. This is helpful for those who have the kind of visual imagination that can conjure up such a 'stage set' and many Ignatian meditators will fall into this category. For others, it is more helpful to focus on a single image, word or sensation which draws them into the particular mystery.
Of course, even among devout Catholics with a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, there are those for whom bead meditation has little to offer. Having said this, one should not ignore the fact that, for most people, to become at all expert in the technique of rosary meditation demands a good deal of practice. It is like learning a new language or cultivating a new friendship: you really have to devote time and effort to it.
And what about the beads themselves? Some people feel drawn to beads that are very simple - perhaps made of wood. Others like beads that sparkle or look precious (or, indeed, really are precious!) One can find beads carved or moulded in the shape of stylized roses, or made from crushed rose petals which retain their scent. Traditionally, you should not buy your own rosary, but should be given it or find it. For the devout person, a rosary is not only a lovely thing to receive, but also to give. When Cretan craftsmen of 3000 BC made their beads of precious stoned and gold, those who used the beads must have understood that the beauty of the material world gave them an inkling of heaven. And so it remains with the modern rosary and its mysteries.
BY SARAH JANE BOSS
Page 2
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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