MARVELS OF THE
ROSARY ~ St. Louis de
Montfort, Secret of the Rosary
IT WOULD HARDLY be possible for me to put into words
how much Our Lady thinks of the Holy Rosary and of how she vastly prefers it to
all other devotions. Neither can I sufficiently express how highly she rewards
those who work to preach the devotion, to establish it and spread it, nor on
the other hand how firmly she punishes those who work against it.
All during life, Saint Dominic had nothing more at
heart than to praise Our Lady, to
preach her greatness and to inspire everybody
to honor her by saying her Rosary. As a reward he received countless graces
from her; exercising her great power as Queen of Heaven she crowned his labors
with many miracles and prodigies. Almighty God always granted him what he asked
through Our Lady. The greatest honor of all was that she helped him crush the
Albigensian heresy and made him the founder and patriarch of a great religious
order.
As for Blessed Alan de la Roche who restored the
devotion to the Rosary, he received many privileges from Our Lady; she
graciously appeared to him several times to teach him how to work out his
salvation, to become a good priest and perfect religious, and how to pattern
himself on Our Lord.
He used to be horribly tempted and persecuted by
devils, and then deep sadness would fall upon him and sometimes he used to be
near to despair----but Our Lady always comforted him by her sweet presence
which banished the clouds of darkness from his soul.
She taught him how to say the Rosary, explaining its
value and the fruits to be gained by it and gave him a great and glorious
privilege: the honor of being called her new spouse. As a token of her chaste
love for him she placed a ring upon his finger and a necklace made of her own
hair about his neck and gave him a Rosary. Blessed Alan died at Zunolle in
Flanders September 8th, 1475, after having brought over 100,000 people into the
Confraternity.
Blessed Thomas of Saint John was well known for his
sermons on the Most Holy Rosary, and the devil, jealous of the success he had
with souls, tortured him so much that he fell ill and was sick so long that the
doctors gave him up. One night when he really thought that he was dying, the
devil appeared to him in the most horrible form imaginable. There was a picture
of Our Lady near his bed; he looked at it and cried with all his heart and soul
and strength: "Help me, save me, my sweet, sweet Mother!" No sooner
had he said this than the picture seemed to come alive and Our Lady put out her
hand, took him by the arm and said:
"Do not be afraid, Thomas my son, here I am and I
am going to save you: get up now and go on preaching my Rosary as you used to
do. I promise to shield you from your enemies."
When Our Lady said this the devil fled and Blessed
Thomas got up, finding that he was in perfect health. He then thanked the
Blessed Mother with tears of joy. He resumed his Rosary apostolate and his
sermons were marvelously successful.
Our Lady blesses not only those who preach her Rosary,
but she highly rewards all those who get others to say it by their example.
Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, very much wanted
all his servants to honor the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary. So he used
to hang a large rosary on his belt and always wore it, but unfortunately never
said it himself. Nevertheless his wearing it encouraged his courtiers to say
the Rosary very devoutly.
One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was
given up for dead he found himself, in a vision, before the judgment seat of
Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed
and Our Lord as Sovereign Judge was just about to condemn him to Hell when Our
Lady appeared to intercede for him. She called for a pair of scales and had his
sins placed in one of the balances whereas she put the Rosary that he had
always worn on the other scale, together, with all the Rosaries that had been
said because of his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than
his sins.
Looking at him with great kindness Our Lady said:
"As a reward for this little honor that you paid me in wearing my Rosary,
I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for
a few more years. See that you spend these years wisely, and do penance."
When the King regained consciousness he cried out:
"Blessed be the Rosary of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been
delivered from eternal damnation!"
After he had recovered his health he spent the rest of
his life in spreading devotion to the Holy Rosary and said it faithfully every day.
People who love the Blessed Virgin ought to follow the
example of King Alphonsus and that of the Saints whom I have mentioned so that
they too may win other souls for the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. They
will then receive great graces on earth and eternal life later on. "They
that explain me shall have life everlasting." (Ecclus. 24:31.)
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