The Importance of The Holy Rosary

Since the early beginnings of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, prayer has been accompanied with guides in form of beads, knots or strings which eventually evolved to the present day Rosary. From the Latin word rosarium which means “rose garden,” the rosary is a channel of Marian devotion. Mama Mary is said to be symbolized by roses because of miraculous apparitions and miracles which includes rose flowers. For nearly half a millennium, the Rosary helped Roman Catholics around the world in paving the way for greater understanding of the mysteries of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is said that the Holy Rosary is one of the most important gift to the world from Mama Mary. Basically, it is a combination of silent and verbal prayers of Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be to the Father. During the recital of the Rosary, these prayers should be recited five times. After meditation, this will be followed by the Hail Holy Queen and the Litany of Loreto.

We can see the importance of the Rosary to most Roman Catholics as most of them are doing this every day. Some catholic homes have dedicated a special place for a shrine or an altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Places have been made famous as a site for Marian apparition such as Lourdes and Fatima wherein the blessed Mary has strongly requested the importance of the rosary in salvation.

The Church claims that the importance of the Rosary is its emblematic symbol of a Catholic’s strong devotion. In one of his Apostolic Letters, Pope Leo XIII said that “As the various mysteries present themselves one after another in the formula of the Rosary, for the meditation and contemplation of men's minds, they also make clear what we owe to Mary for our reconciliation and salvation.” Pope Leo XIII is also known as the Rosary Pope because of his strong devotion to the Rosary that he issued twelve Apostolic Letters and five encyclicals purely devoted to the development and propagation of praying using the rosary.

Pope Leo XIII also influenced our present-day devotion of the whole month of October as the Marian Month. During this time, Roman Catholics around the world are expected to recite the rosary every day. In this event, the Catholic Church also suggested an importance of Marian devotion.  It was Pope Leo XIII who can be credited for the popularity of the Rosary at present times.

Pope John Paul II devoted October 2002 to October 2003 as the Year of the Rosary, to strongly emphasize and promote the recital of the Rosary in the whole Roman Catholic world. For most Catholics, it was an invitation to deepen Marian Devotion, in order to fulfill salvation and the apostolate of Mary for Jesus Christ. In this way, the catholic world brings this devotion to the rest of us. For most Catholics around the world, the contemplation and devotion of prayer using the Rosary leads to a natural desire for reconciliation and peace.

The importance of the Holy Rosary can be countless. It could be numerous as the number of individuals who recite the Rosary religiously and with strong devotion. The addition of the Luminous Mysteries by Pope John Paul II in 2002 created another way of Marian devotion as cited in his Apostolic Letter entitled Rosarium Virginis Mariae