Publisher's Synopsis
This work will be excellent for those who wish to truly make the First Saturdays advised by Our Lady of Fatima, as an essential requirement is fifteen minutes meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary in addition to reciting a third part of the Rosary. THE name of the world-renowned preacher, Father Monsabre, the author of the Meditations now presented to English readers, is a sufficient recommendation of their utility and intrinsic value. The devotion of the HOLY ROSARY has always been a favorite religious exercise among English-speaking Catholics, and it becomes more and more popular in these countries according as Providence has improved our condition and multiplied our numbers in the present century. Hence we offer these admirable Meditations on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary to our co-religionists of all classes with respectful confidence. In order to clear away all doubts as to the person holding authority to establish canonically, in any mission or parish, the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, it may be well to remark that this jurisdiction is vested solely in the Master-General of the Dominican Order, or in his vicar when the general is absent from Rome. This is manifest from a great number of Papal decrees issued on the subject during the last six hundred years. Special attention is called to two decrees of Pope Innocent XI., issued respectively on the 18th of April, 1678, and on the 31st of July, 1679. The same fact is elaborately and definitively explained in the Bull of Pope Benedict XIII. bearing date of the 20th of May, 1727. Hence, that the confraternity may be canonically established, application must be made to the Master-General of the Dominicans in Rome; and this is usually done through the Provincials of the different nations in which the Order of St. Dominic exists. The explanation hereby given has for its object the securing to all devout clients of the Rosary whatever indulgences and spiritual benefits may have been, at any time, attached to this great devotion. Father Monsabre has published seven series of "Meditations" on the Rosary, only three of which we give at present to English readers. The success of our first venture will insure the early publication of the remainder. The French work has gone through twelve editions. We attach to onr little volume the Encyclical of our present Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII., given on the 1st of September, 1883. This magnificent document relating to the Rosary, along with his other letters to the same effect, may be said to constitute a new epoch in the history of this devotion. THE ROSARY is a form of vocal prayer accompanied with a meditation upon one of the fifteen mysteries, distributed into three series the Joyful, the Sorrowful, and the Glorious Mysteries. The Joyful Mysteries are the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. The Sorrowful Mysteries are the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carriage of the Cross, the Crucifixion. The Glorious Mysteries are the Resurrection of Our Lord, the Ascension, the Coming of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and Her Coronation. The sacred art of the Rosary consists in reciting devoutly the prescribed prayers, whilst the soul, piously occupied in meditation on the Mysteries, conteluplates and draws fruit from the various circumstances in which our Blessed Saviour and His Most Holy Mother appear.
