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 Superiore
Anno
(De
perseverantia in Rosarii marialis recitatione)
1.
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.
LEO XIII
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