AUGUSTISSIMAE
VIRGINIS MARIAE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON
THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY ROSARY
To
Our Venerable Brethren, The Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries having
Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Blessing.
Whoever
considers the height of dignity and glory to which God has raised the
Most August Virgin Mary, will easily perceive how important it is, both
for public and for private benefit, that devotion to her should be assiduously
practised, and daily promoted more and more.
Mary's
Place in the Incarnation and Redemption
2. God
predestined her from all eternity to be the
Mother of the Incarnate Word, and for that reason so highly distinguished
her among all His most beautiful works in the triple order of nature,
grace and glory, that the Church justly applies to her these words: "I
came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures"
(Ecclus. xxiv., 5). And when, in the first ages, the parents of mankind
fell into sin, involving their posterity in the same ruin, she was set
up as a pledge of the restoration of peace and salvation. The Only-begotten
Son of God ever paid to His Most Holy Mother indubitable marks of honour.
During His private
life on earth He associated her with Himself in each of His first two
miracles: the miracle of grace, when, at the salutation of Mary, the infant
leaped in the womb of Elizabeth; the miracle of nature, when He turned
water into wine at the marriage-feast of Cana. And, at the supreme moment
of His public life, when sealing the New Testament in His precious Blood,
He committed her to his beloved Apostle in those sweet words, "Behold,
thy Mother!" (John xix., 27).
We
Must Follow Christ's Example
3. We,
therefore, who, though unworthy, hold the place of Vicar of Christ upon
earth, shall never cease to promote the glory of so great a Mother, as
long as life endures. And since, as old age draws on apace, We feel that
life cannot now last much longer, We are constrained to repeat to each
and all of our beloved children in Christ those last words of His upon
the Cross, left to us as a testament, "Behold, thy Mother!"
Greatly rewarded indeed shall We be, if Our exhortations succeed in making
even one of the faithful hold nothing dearer than devotion to Mary; so
that those words which St. John wrote about himself may be applied to
each, "the disciple took her to his own" (Ibid.).
4. As
the month of October again approaches, Venerable Brethren, We would not
willingly leave you without Our letters this year, also once more urging
you with all possible earnestness to strive by the recitation of the Rosary
to aid both yourselves individually, and the Church in her need. This
form of prayer appears, under the guidance of Divine Providence, to have
been wonderfully developed at the close of the century, for the purpose
of stimulating the lagging piety of the faithful. This is witnessed by
the splendid churches and much-frequented sanctuaries of the Mother of
God. To this Divine Mother we have offered the flowers of the month of
May; to her we would have also fruit-bearing October dedicated with especial
tenderness of devotion. It is fitting that both parts of the year should
be consecrated to her who said: "My flowers are the fruit of honour
and riches" (Ecclus. xxiv., 23).
Modern
Tendency to Association
5. The
natural tendency of man to association has never been stronger, or more
earnestly and generally followed, than in our own age. This is not at
all to be reprehended, unless when so excellent a natural tendency is
perverted to evil purposes, and wicked men, banding together in various
forms of societies, conspire "against the Lord and against His Christ"
(Ps ii., 2). It is, however, most gratifying to observe that pious associations
are becoming more and more popular among Catholics also. They are frequently
formed; indeed, all Catholics are so closely drawn" together and
united by the bonds of charity, as members of one household, that they
both may be and are truly styled brethren. But if the charity of Christ
be absent, none may glory in the name and fellowship of brethren. So wrote
Tertullian long ago in pungent words: "We are your brethren by right
of a common mother, nature, yet are ye less than men, because unnatural
brothers. How much more justly are they called and esteemed as brethren
who acknowledge one and the same Father, God; who have drunk in one and
the same spirit of charity; who have been borne from one and the same
womb of ignorance into the one light of truth?" (Apolog. c. xxxix.)
Usefulness
of Catholic Associations
6. There
are many reasons for Catholics joining useful associations of this kind.
We include in these
clubs, popular savings-banks, recreative classes, associations for the
care of youth, sodalities, and many other organizations for excellent
purposes. All these, though from their name, constitution, and special
ends, apparently of modern invention, are in reality of great antiquity.
Traces of societies of this kind are to be found even in the earliest
ages of Christianity. In later ages they were legally approved, distinguished
by special emblems, enriched with privileges, associated with divine worship
in the Churches, or devoted to works of spiritual or corporal mercy, and
at different epochs known under different names. Their numbers increased
to such an extent, especially in Italy, that no city or town, nay scarcely
any parish, was without one or more of them.
The
Rosary Sodality: Its Excellence
7. We
do not hesitate to assign a pre-eminent place among these societies to
that known as the Society of the Holy Rosary. If we regard its origin,
we find it distinguished by its antiquity, for St. Dominic himself is
said to have been its founder. If we estimate its privileges, we see it
enriched with a vast number of them granted by the munificence of our
predecessors. The form of the association, its very soul, is the Rosary
of Our Lady, of the excellence of which We have elsewhere spoken at length.
Still the virtue and efficacy of the Rosary appear all the greater when
considered as the special office of the Sodality which bears its name.
Everyone knows how necessary prayer is for all men; not that God's decrees
can be changed, but, as St. Gregory says, "that men by asking may
merit to receive what Almighty God bath decreed from eternity to grant
them" (Dialog., lib. i., c. 8). And St. Augustine says, "He
who knoweth how to pray aright, knoweth how to live aright" (In Ps.
cxviii). But prayers acquire their greatest efficacy in obtaining God's
assistance when offered publicly, by large numbers, constantly, and unanimously,
so as to form as it were a single chorus of supplication; as those words
of the Acts of the Apostles clearly declare wherein the disciples of Christ,
awaiting the coming of the Holy Ghost, are said to have been "persevering
with one mind in prayer" (Acts i., 14). Those who practise this manner
of prayer will never fail to obtain certain fruit. Such is certainly the
case with members of the Rosary Sodality. Just as by the recitation of
the Divine Office,
priests offer a public, constant, and most efficacious supplication; so
the supplication offered by the members of this Sodality in the recitation
of the Rosary, or "Psalter of Our Lady," as it has been styled
by some of the Popes, is also in a way public, constant, and universal.
Special
Efficacy of Public Prayer
8. Since,
as We have said, public prayers are much more excellent and more efficacious
than private ones, so ecclesiastical writers have given to the Rosary
Sodality the title of "the army of prayer, enrolled by St. Dominic,
under the banner of the Mother of God,"-of her, whom sacred literature
and the history of the Church salute as the conqueror of the Evil One
and of all errors. The Rosary unites together all who join the Sodality
in a common bond of paternal or military comradeship; so that a mighty
host is thereby formed, duly marshalled and arrayed, to repel the assaults
of the enemy, both from within and without. Wherefore may the members
of this pious society take to themselves the words of St. Cyprian: "Our
prayer is public and in common; and when we pray, we pray not for one,
but for the whole people, for we, the entire people, are one" (De
Orat. Domin.). The history of the Church bears testimony to the power
and efficacy of this form of prayer, recording as it does the rout of
the Turkish forces at the naval battle of Lepanto, and the victories gained
over the same in the last century at Temesvar in Hungary and in the island
of Corfu. Our predecessor, Gregory XIIL, in order to perpetuate the memory
of the first-named victory, established the feast of Our Lady of Victories,
which later on Clement XI. distinguished by the title of Rosary Sunday
and commanded to be celebrated throughout the universal Church.
Difference
Between Prayer to God and to the Saints: An Objection Answered
9. From
the fact that this warfare of prayer is "enrolled under the name
of the Mother of God," fresh efficacy and fresh honour are thereby
added to it. Hence the frequent repetition in the Rosary of the "Hail
Mary" after each "Our Father." So far from this derogating
in any way from the honour due to God, as though it indicated that we
placed greater confidence in Mary's patronage than in God's power, it
is rather this which especially moves God, and wins His mercy for us.
We are taught by the
Catholic faith that we may pray not only to God himself, but also to the
Blessed in heaven (Conc. Trill. Sess. xxv.), though in different manner;
because we ask from God as from the Source of all good, but from the Saints
as from intercessors. "Prayer," says St. Thomas, "is offered
to a person in two ways-one as though to be granted by himself; another,
as to be obtained through him. In the first way we pray to God alone,
because all our prayers ought to be directed to obtaining grace and glory,
which God alone gives, according to those words of Psalm lxxxiii., 12,
"The Lord will give grace and glory." But in the second way
we pray to holy angels and men, not that God may learn our petition through
them, but that by their prayers and merits our prayers may be efficacious.
Wherefore, it is said in the Apocalypse (viii., 4): "The smoke of
the incense of the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God from the
hand of the angel" (Summa Theol. 2a tae, q. lxxxiii. a. iv.). Now,
of all the blessed in heaven, who can compare with the august Mother of
God in obtaining grace? Who seeth more clearly in the Eternal Word what
troubles oppress us, what are our needs? Who is allowed more power in
moving God? Who can compare with her in maternal affection? We do not
pray to the Blessed in the same way as to God; for we ask the Holy Trinity
to have mercy on us, but we ask all the Saints to pray for us (Ibid.).
Yet our manner of praying to the Blessed Virgin has something in common
with our worship of God, so that the Church even addresses to her the
words with which we pray to God: "Have mercy on sinners." The
members of the Rosary Sodality, therefore, do exceedingly well in weaving
together, as in a crown, so many salutations and prayers to Mary. For,
so great is her dignity, so great her favour before God, that whosoever
in his need will not have recourse to her is trying to fly without wings.
Union
of Prayer and Work with the Angels
10. We
must not omit to mention another excellence of this Sodality. As often
as, in reciting the Rosary, we meditate upon the mysteries of our Redemption,
so often do we in a manner emulate the sacred duties once committed to
the Angelic hosts. The Angels revealed each of these mysteries in its
due time; they played a great part in them; they were constantly present
at them, with countenances indicative now of joy, now of sorrow,
now of triumphant exultation. Gabriel was sent to announce the Incarnation
of the Eternal Word to the Virgin. In the cave of Bethlehem, Angels sang
the glory of the new-born Saviour. The Angel gave Joseph command to fly
with the Child into Egypt. An Angel consoled, with his loving words, Jesus
in His bloody sweat in the garden. Angels announced His resurrection,
after He had triumphed over death, to the women. Angels carried Him up
into Heaven; and foretold His second coming, surrounded by Angelic hosts,
unto whom He will associate the souls of the elect, and carry them aloft
with Him to the heavenly choirs, "above whom the Holy Mother of God
is exalted." To those, therefore, who make use of the pious prayers
of the Rosary in this Sodality, may be well applied the words with which
St. Paul addressed the new Christians: "You are come to Mount Sion,
and to the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to the
company of many thousands of Angels" (Heb. xii., 22). What more divine,
what more delightful, than to meditate and pray with the Angels? With
what confidence may we not hope that those who on earth have united with
the Angels in this ministry will one day enjoy their blessed company in
Heaven?
The Popes and the Rosary Sodality
11. For
these reasons the Roman Pontiffs have ever given the highest praise to
this Sodality of Our Lady. Innocent VIII. calls it "a most devout
confraternity" (Splendor Paternae Gloriae, Feb. 26, 1491.) Pius V.
declares that by its virtue "Christians began suddenly to be transformed
into other men, the darkness of heresy to be dispelled, and the light
of Catholic faith to shine forth" (Consueverunt Romani Pontifices,
September 17, 1569). Sixtus V., noting how fruitful for religion this
Sodality was, professed himself most devoted to it. Many others, too,
enriched it with numerous and very special indulgences, or took it under
their particular patronage, enrolling themselves in it and giving it many
testimonies of their goodwill.
Concluding Exhortation
12. We
also, Venerable Brethren, moved by the example of Our predecessors, earnestly
exhort and conjure
you, as We have so often done, to devote special care to this sacred warfare,
so that by your efforts fresh forces may be daily enrolled on every side.
Through you and those of your clergy who have care of souls, let the people
know and duly appreciate the efficacy of this Sodality and its usefulness
for man's salvation. This We beg all the more earnestly as of late that
beautiful devotion to our Blessed Mother, called "the living Rosary,"
has once more become popular. We have gladly blessed this devotion, and
We earnestly desire that you would sedulously and strenuously encourage
its growth. We cherish the strongest hope that these prayers and praises,
rising incessantly from the lips and hearts of so great a multitude, will
be most efficacious. Alternately rising by night and by day, throughout
the different countries of the earth, they combine a harmony of vocal
prayer with meditation upon the divine mysteries. In ages long past this
perennial stream of praise and prayer was foretold in those inspired words
with which Ozias in his song addressed Judith: "Blessed art thou,
O daughter, by the Lord, the Most High God, above all women upon the earth
. . . because He bath so magnified thy name this day that thy praise shall
not depart out of the mouth of man." And all the people of Israel
acclaimed him in these words: "So be it, so be it!" (Judith
xiii., 23, 24, Z6).
13. Meanwhile,
as a pledge of heavenly blessings, and a testimony of Our paternal affection,
We lovingly impart to You, in the name of the Lord, Venerable Brethren,
and to all the clergy and people committed to your faithful care, the
Apostolic Benediction.
Given at St. Peter's, in Rome, on the 12th day of September, 1897, in
the 20th year of Our Pontificate.
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