SUPERIORE
ANNO
ENCYCLICAL
OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE RECITATION OF THE ROSARY
To
All Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
and Bishops of the Catholic World in the Grace and
Communion of the Apostolic See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
Last
year, as each of you is aware, We decreed by an Encyclical Letter that,
to win the help of Heaven for the Church in her trials, the great Mother
of God should be honoured by the means of the most holy Rosary during
the whole of the month of October. In this We followed both Our own impulse
and the example of Our predecessors, who in times of difficulty were wont
to have recourse with increased fervour to the Blessed Virgin, and to
seek her aid with special prayers. That wish of Ours has been complied
with, with such a willingness and unanimity that it is more than ever
apparent how real is the religion and how great is the fervour of the
Christian peoples, and how great is the trust everywhere placed in the
heavenly patronage of the Virgin Mary. For Us, weighed down with the burden
of such and so great trials and evils, We confess that the sight of such
intensity of open piety and faith has been a great consolation, and
even gives Us new courage
for the facing, if that be the wish of God, of still greater trials. Indeed,
from the spirit of prayer which is poured out over the house of David
and the dwellers in Jerusalem, we have a confident hope that God will
at length let Himself be touched and have pity upon the state of His Church,
and give ear to the prayers coming to Him through her whom He has chosen
to be the dispenser of all heavenly graces.
2.
For these reasons, therefore, with the same causes in existence which
impelled Us last year, as We have said, to rouse the piety of all, We
have deemed it Our duty to exhort again this year the people of Christendom
to persevere in that method and formula of prayer known as the Rosary
of Mary, and thereby to merit the powerful patronage of the great Mother
of God. In as much as the enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their
aims, its defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly
help and the benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the more usually
the fruits of our perseverance. It is good to recall to memory the example
of that illustrious widow, Judith - a type of the Blessed Virgin-who curbed
the ill-judged impatience of the Jews when they attempted to fix, according
to their own judgment, the day appointed by God for
the deliverance of His city. The example should also be borne in mind
of the Apostles, who awaited the supreme gift promised unto them of the
Paraclete, and persevered unanimously in prayer with Mary the Mother of
Jesus. For it is indeed, an arduous and exceeding weighty matter that
is now in hand: it is to humiliate an old and most subtle enemy in the
spread-out array of his power; to win back the freedom of the Church and
of her Head; to preserve and secure the fortifications within which should
rest in peace the safety and weal of human society. Care must be taken,
therefore, that, in these times of mourning for the Church, the most holy
devotion of the Rosary of Mary be assiduously and piously observed, the
more so that this method of prayer being so arranged as to recall in turn
all the mysteries of our salvation, is eminently fitted to foster the
spirit of piety.
3. With respect to Italy, it is now most necessary to implore the intercession
of the most powerful Virgin through the medium of the Rosary, since a
misfortune, and not an imaginary one, is threatening-nay, rather is among
us. The Asiatic cholera, having, under God's will, crossed the boundary
within which nature seemed to have confined it, has spread through the
crowded shores of a French port, and thence to the neighbouring districts
of Italian soil. - To Mary, therefore, we must fly - to her whom rightly
and justly the Church entitles the dispenser of saving, aiding, and protecting
gifts - that she, graciously hearkening to our prayers, may grant us the
help they besought, and drive far from us the unclean plague.
4.
We have therefore resolved that in this coming month of October, in which
the sacred devotions to Our Virgin Lady of the Rosary are solemnised throughout
the Catholic world, all the devotions shall again be observed which were
commanded by Us this time last year.-We therefore decree and make order
that from the 1st of October to the 2nd of November following in all the
parish churches [curialibus templis], in all public churches dedicated
to the Mother of God, or in such as are appointed by the Ordinary, five
decades at least of the Rosary be recited, together with the Litany. If
in the morning, the Holy Sacrifice will take place during these prayers;
if in the evening, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for the adoration
of the faithful; after which those present will receive the customary
Benediction. We desire that, wherever it be lawful, the local confraternity
of the Rosary should make a solemn procession through the streets as a
public manifestation of religious devotion.
5.
That the heavenly treasures of the Church may be thrown open to all, We
hereby renew every Indulgence granted by Us last year. To all those, therefore,
who shall have assisted on the prescribed days at the public recital of
the Rosary, and have prayed for Our intentions - to all those also who
from legitimate causes shall have been compelled to do so in private -
We grant for each occasion an Indulgence of seven years and seven times
forty days. To those who, in the prescribed space of time shall have performed
these devotions at least ten times - either publicly in the churches or
from just causes in the privacy of their homes-and shall have expiated
their sins by confession and have received Communion at the altar, We
grant from the treasury of the Church a Plenary Indulgence. We also grant
this full forgiveness of sins and plenary remission of punishment to all
those who, either on the feast day itself of Our Blessed Lady of the Rosary,
or on any day within the subsequent eight days, shall have washed the
stains from their souls and have holily partaken of the Divine banquet,
and shall have also prayed in any church to God and His most holy Mother
for Our intentions. As We desire also to consult the interests of those
who live in country districts, and are hindered, especially in the month
of October, by their agricultural labours, We permit all We have above
decreed, and also the holy Indulgences gainable in the month of October,
to be postponed to the following months of November or December, according
to the prudent decision of the Ordinaries.
6. We doubt not, Venerable Brethren, that rich and abundant fruits will
be the result of these efforts, especially if God, by the bestowal of
His heavenly graces, bring an added increase to the fields planted by
Us and watered by your zeal. We are certain that the faithful of Christendom
will hearken to the utterance of Our Apostolic authority with the same
fervour of faith and piety of which they gave most ample evidence last
year. May our Heavenly Patroness, invoked by us
through the Rosary, graciously be with us and obtain that, all disagreements
of opinion being removed and Christianity restored throughout the world,
we may obtain from God the wished for peace in the Church. - In pledge
of that boon, to you, your clergy, and the flock entrusted to your care,
We lovingly bestow the Apostolic Benediction.
Given in Rome,
at St. Peter's, the 30th of August, 1884, in the Seventh Year of Our Pontificate.
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