|
 Iucunda
Semper
(De
Rosario mariali)
1.
It is always with joyful expectation and inspired hope
that We look forward to the return of the month of
October. At Our exhortation and by Our express order
this month has been consecrated to the Blessed Virgin,
during which for some years now the devotion of her
Rosary has been practised by Catholic nations throughout
the world with sedulous earnestness. Our reasons for
making this exhortation We have made known more than
once. For as the disastrous condition of the Church and
of Society proved to Us the extreme necessity for signal
aid from God, it was manifest to Us that aid should be
sought through the intercession of His Mother, and by
the express means of the Rosary, which Christians have
ever found to be of marvellous avail. This indeed has
been well proved since the very institution of the
devotion, both in the vindication of Holy Faith against
the furious attacks of heresy, and in restoring to
honour the virtues, which by reason of the Age's
corruption, required to be rekindled and sustained. And
this same proof was continued in all succeeding ages, by
a never failing series of private and public benefits,
whereof the illustrious remembrance is everywhere
perpetuated and immortalized by monuments and existing
institutions. Likewise in Our age, afflicted with that
tempest of various evils, it is a joy to Our soul to
relate the beneficent influence of the Rosary.
Notwithstanding all this, you yourselves, Venerable
Brethren, behold with your own eyes the persistence -
nay, the increase - of the reasons for renewing again
this year Our summons to the Faithful to turn with
increased ardour in prayer to Mary, the Queen of Heaven.
Besides, the more We fix Our thoughts upon the character
of the Rosary, the clearer its excellence and power
appear to Us. Hence, while Our wish increases that it
may flourish, Our hope grows also that through Our
recommendation it may come to be more greatly prized,
its holy use become more extended and flourish
abundantly. But We shall not now return to the various
instructions which in past years We have given upon this
subject. We shall take instead the opportunity of
pointing out the particular ruling and designs of
Providence which ordains that the Rosary should have new
power to instil confidence into the hearts of those who
pray, and new influence to move the compassionate heart
of Our Mother to comfort and succour Us with the utmost
bounty.
2.
The recourse we have to Mary in prayer follows upon the
office she continuously fills by the side of the throne
of God as Mediatrix of Divine grace; being by worthiness
and by merit most acceptable to Him, and, therefore,
surpassing in power all the angels and saints in Heaven.
Now, this merciful office of hers, perhaps, appears in
no other form of prayer so manifestly as it does in the
Rosary. For in the Rosary all the part that Mary took as
our co-Redemptress comes to us, as it were, set forth,
and in such wise as though the facts were even then
taking place; and this with much profit to our piety,
whether in the contemplation of the succeeding sacred
mysteries, or in the prayers which we speak and repeat
with the lips. First come the Joyful Mysteries. The
Eternal Son of God stoops to mankind, putting on its
nature; but with the assent of Mary, who conceives Him
by the Holy Ghost. Then St. John the Baptist, by a
singular privilege, is sanctified in his mother's womb
and favoured with special graces that he might prepare
the way of the Lord; and this comes to pass by the
greeting of Mary who had been inspired to visit her
cousin. At last the expected of nations comes to light,
Christ the Saviour. The Virgin bears Him. And when the
Shepherds and the wise men, first-fruits of the
Christian faith, come with longing to His cradle, they
find there the young Child, with Mary, His Mother. Then,
that He might before men offer Himself as a victim to
His Heavenly Father, He desires to be taken to the
Temple; and by the hands of Mary He is there presented
to the Lord. It is Mary who, in the mysterious losing of
her Son, seeks Him sorrowing, and finds Him again with
joy. And the same truth is told again in the sorrowful
mysteries.
3.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is in an agony;
in the judgment-hall, where He is scourged, crowned with
thorns, condemned to death, not there do we find Mary.
But she knew beforehand all these agonies; she knew and
saw them. When she professed herself the handmaid of the
Lord for the mother's office, and when, at the foot of
the altar, she offered up her whole self with her Child
Jesus - then and thereafter she took her part in the
laborious expiation made by her Son for the sins of the
world. It is certain, therefore, that she suffered in
the very depths of her soul with His most bitter
sufferings and with His torments. Moreover, it was
before the eyes of Mary that was to be finished the
Divine Sacrifice for which she had borne and brought up
the Victim. As we contemplate Him in the last and most
piteous of those Mysteries, there stood by the Cross of
Jesus His Mother, who, in a miracle of charity, so that
she might receive us as her sons, offered generously to
Divine Justice her own Son, and died in her heart with
Him, stabbed with the sword of sorrow.
4.
Thence the Rosary takes us on to the Glorious Mysteries,
wherein likewise is revealed the mediation of the great
Virgin, still more abundant in fruitfulness. She
rejoices in heart over the glory of her Son triumphant
over death, and follows Him with a mother's love in His
Ascension to His eternal kingdom; but, though worthy of
Heaven, she abides a while on earth, so that the infant
Church may be directed and comforted by her "who
penetrated, beyond all belief, into the deep secrets of
Divine wisdom" (St. Bernard, De XII Praerogativis
B.V.M., n. 3). Nevertheless, for the
fulfilment of the task of human redemption there remains
still the coming of the Holy Ghost, promised by Christ.
And behold, Mary is in the room, and there, praying with
the Apostles and entreating for them with sobs and
tears, she hastens for the Church the coming of the
Spirit, the Comforter, the supreme gift of Christ, the
treasure that will never fail. And later, without
measure and without end will she be able to plead our
cause, passing upon a day to the life immortal.
Therefore we behold her taken up from this valley of
tears into the heavenly Jerusalem, amid choirs of
Angels. And we honour her, glorified above all the
Saints, crowned with stars by her Divine Son and seated
at His side the sovereign Queen of the universe.
5.
If in all this series of Mysteries, Venerable Brethren,
are developed the counsels of God in regard to us -
"counsels of wisdom and of tenderness" (St.
Bernard, Sermo in Nativ. B.M.V., n. 6) - not less apparent is the greatness of the
benefits for which we are debtors to the Virgin Mother.
No man can meditate upon these without feeling a new
awakening in his heart of confidence that he will
certainly obtain through Mary the fulness of the mercies
of God. And to this end vocal prayer chimes well with
the Mysteries. First, as is meet and right, comes the
Lord's Prayer, addressed to Our Father in Heaven: and
having, with the elect petitions dictated by Our Divine
Master, called upon the Father, from the throne of His
Majesty we turn our prayerful voices to Mary. Thus is
confirmed that law of merciful meditation of which We
have spoken, and which St. Bernardine of Siena thus
expresses: "Every grace granted to man has three
degrees in order; for by God it is communicated to
Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from
the Virgin it descends to us" (Sermo VI in festis
B.M.V. de Annunc., a. I, c. 2). And we, by the very
form of the Rosary, do linger longest, and, as it were,
by preference upon the last and lowest of these steps,
repeating by decades the Angelic Salutation, so that
with greater confidence we may thence attain to the
higher degrees - that is, may rise, by means of Christ, to
the Divine Father. For if thus we again and again greet
Mary, it is precisely that our failing and defective
prayers may be strengthened with the necessary
confidence; as though we pledged her to pray for us, and
as it were in our name, to God.
6.
Nor can our prayers fail to ascend to Him as a sweet
savour, commended by the prayers of the Virgin. And He
it is who, all-benign, invites her: "Let thy voice
sound in My ears, for thy voice is sweet" (Sg
2:14). For this
cause do we repeatedly celebrate those glorious titles
of her ministry as Mediatrix. Her do we greet who found
favour with God, and who was in a signal manner filled
with grace by Him so that the superabundance thereof
might overflow upon all men; her, united with the Lord
by the most intimate of all conjunction; her who was
blessed among women, and who "alone took away the
curse and bore the blessing" (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Super Salut. Angel.) - that
fruit of her womb, that happy fruit, in which all the
nations of the earth are blessed. Her do we invoke,
finally, as Mother of God; and in virtue of a dignity so
sublime what graces from her may we not promise to
ourselves, sinners, in life and in the agonies of the
end?
7.
A soul that shall devoutly repeat these prayers, that
shall ponder with faith these mysteries, will, without
doubt, be filled with wonder at the Divine purposes in
this great Virgin and in the work of the restoration of
mankind. Doubtless, this soul, moved by the warmth of
love for her and of confidence, will desire to take
refuge upon her breast, as was the sweet feeling of St.
Bernard: "Remember, O most pious Virgin Mary, that
never was it heard that any who fled to thy protection,
called upon thy help, and sought thy intercession, was
left forsaken." But the fruits of the Rosary appear
likewise, and with equal greatness, in the turning with
mercy of the heart of the Mother of God towards us. How
sweet a happiness must it be for her to see us all
intent upon the task of weaving crowns for her of
righteous prayers and lovely praises! And if, indeed, by
those prayers we desire to render to God the glory which
is His due; if we protest that we seek nothing
whatsoever except the fulfilment in us of His holy will;
if we magnify His goodness and graciousness; if we call
Him Our Father; if we, being most unworthy, yet entreat
of Him His best blessings - Oh, how shall Mary in all
these things rejoice! How shall she magnify the Lord!
There is no language so fit to lead us to the majesty of
God as the language of the Lord's Prayer. Furthermore,
to each of these things for which we pray, things that
are righteous and are ordered, and are in harmony with
Christian faith, hope, and charity, is added a special
joy for the Blessed Virgin. With our voices she seems to
hear also the voice of her Divine Son, Who with His own
mouth taught us this prayer, and by His own authority
commanded it, saying: "You shall pray thus"
(Mt 6:9). And seeing how we observe that command, saying our
Rosary, she will bend towards us with the more loving
solicitude; and the mystical crowns we offer her will
be to her welcome, and to us fruitful of graces. And of
this generosity of Mary to our supplications we have no
slight pledge in the very nature of a practice that has
the power to help us in praying well. In many ways,
indeed, is man apt, by his frailty, to allow his
thoughts to wander from God and to let his purpose go
astray. But the Rosary, if rightly considered, will be
found to have in itself special virtues, whether for
producing and continuing a state of recollection, or for
touching the conscience for its healing, or for lifting
up the soul. As all men know, it is composed of two
parts, distinct but inseparable - the meditation of the
Mysteries and the recitation of the prayers. It is thus
a kind of prayer that requires not only some raising of
the soul to God, but also a particular and explicit
attention, so that by reflection upon the things to be
contemplated, impulses and resolutions may follow for
the reformation and sanctification of life.
8.
Those same things are, in fact, the most important and
the most admirable of Christianity, the things through
which the world was renewed and filled with the fruits
of truth, justice, and peace. And it is remarkable how
well adapted to every kind of mind, however unskilled,
is the manner in which these things are proposed to us
in the Rosary. They are proposed less as truths or
doctrines to be speculated upon than as present facts to
be seen and perceived. Thus presented, with the
circumstances of place, time, and persons, these
Mysteries produce the most living effect; and this
without the slightest effort of imagination; for they
are treated as things learnt and engraven in the heart
from infancy. Thus, hardly is a Mystery named but the
pious soul goes through it with ease of thought and
quickness of feeling, and gathers therefrom, by the gift
of Mary, abundance of the food of Heaven. And yet
another title of joy and of acceptation in her eyes do
our crowns of prayer acquire. For every time that we
look once more with devotional remembrance upon these
Mysteries we give her a sign of the gratitude of our
hearts; we prove to her that we cannot often enough call
to mind the blessings of her unwearied charity in the
work of our salvation. At such recollections, practised
by us with the frequency of love in her presence, who
may express, who may even conceive, what ever-new joys
overflow her ever-blessed soul, and what tender
affections arise therein, of mercy and of a mother's
love! Besides these recollections, moreover, as the
sacred Mysteries pass by they cause our prayers to be
transformed into impulses of entreaty that have an
indescribable power over the heart of Mary. Yes, we fly
to thee, we miserable children of Eve, O holy Mother of
God. To thee we lift our prayers, for thou art the
Mediatrix, powerful at once and pitiful, of our
salvation. Oh, by the sweetness of the joys that came to
thee from thy Son Jesus, by thy participation in His
ineffable sorrows, by the splendours of His glory
shining in thee, we instantly beseech thee, listen, be
pitiful, hear us, unworthy though we be!
9.
Thus the excellence of the Rosary; considered under the
double aspect We have here set forth, will convince you,
Venerable Brethren, of the reasons We have for an
incessant eagerness to commend and to promote it. At the
present day - and on this We have already touched -
there is
a signal necessity of special help from Heaven,
particularly manifest in the many tribulations suffered
by the Church as to her liberties and her rights, as
also in the perils whereby the prosperity and peace of
Christian society are fundamentally threatened. So it is
that it belongs to Our office to assert once again that
We place the best of Our hopes in the holy Rosary,
inasmuch as more than any other means it can impetrate
from God the succour which We need. It is Our ardent
wish that this devotion shall be restored to the place
of honour; in the city and in the village, in the family
and in the workshop, in the noble's house and in the
peasant's; that it should be to all a dear devotion and
a noble sign of their faith; that it may be a sure way
to the gaining of the favour of pardon. To this end it
is indispensable that zeal should be redoubled, while
impiety daily redoubles its efforts and labours to move
the justice of God and to provoke, for the general ruin,
His terrible vengeance. Amongst so many causes of grief
to all good men, and to Ourself, not the least is this,
that in the very midst of Catholic nations there exist
persons who are ever ready to rejoice in that which
insults and outrages our august religion; and that they
themselves, with incredible effrontery and with all
publicity, seize every opportunity of teaching the
multitude to hold reverend things in contempt and of
persuading them from their old confidence in the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin. During the last
months the very person of Our Divine Redeemer has not
been spared. Such a depth of shameless indignity has
been reached that Jesus Christ Himself has been dragged
upon the stage of a theatre often contaminated with
corruptions, and has been represented there discrowned
of that Divinity upon which rests the whole work of
human salvation. And the last touch of shame was added
in an attempt to rescue from the execration of ages the
guilty name of him who was the very sign of perfidy, the
betrayer of Christ. At the consummation of such excesses
in the cities of Italy there arose a general cry of
indignation, and energetic protest against the violation
and trampling under foot of the inviolable rights of
religion, and this in a nation that has for its greatest
and most righteous boast that it is Catholic. The
Bishops rose at once, on fire with holy zeal. And first
they made their vigorous appeal to those whose sacred
duty it is to safeguard the decorum of the religion of
the country. Next, they informed their people of the
gravity of the scandal, and exhorted them to special
acts of reparation towards our most loving Saviour
exposed to such slanders.
10.
We have pleasure, however, in rendering praise to the
free and fruitful faith manifested by men of good will;
and this has brought Us comfort in the bitterness
inflicted upon the very quick of Our heart. And having
regard to the duties of Our supreme ministry, We take
this occasion to lift up Our voice and to unite Our
complaints and protests to those of the Bishops and of
their people, authenticated by Our Apostolic authority.
And with a like ardour to that wherewith we condemned
this sacrilegious offence, do We preach faith to all
Catholics, and particularly to the Italians. Let them
with jealous care guard this inestimable inheritance
received from their fathers, let them defend it with
courage, let them not cease from magnifying it with good
actions of which their faith is the inspiring motive.
This is a motive the more for the enkindling, in private
and in common prayer, throughout the coming month of
October, of a holy emulation in celebrating and
honouring the Mother of God, the mighty succourer of the
Christian people, the most glorious Queen of Heaven. For
Our own part, We confirm with all Our heart the favours
and indulgences We have already awarded upon this point.
11.
Now may God, "Who in His most merciful Providence
gave us this Mediatrix" (St.
Bernard, De XII Praerogativis B.V.M., n. 2), and "decreed that all
good should come to us by the hands of Mary" (St.
Bernard, Sermo in Nativ. B.M.V., n. 7), receive propitiously our common prayers and
fulfil our common hopes. May you receive a pledge
thereof in the Apostolic Benediction which We give to
you, to your clergy, and to your people, with all
affection in Our Lord.
Given
in Rome at St. Peter's, on September 8, 1894, in the
seventeenth year of our Pontificate.
LEO XIII
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