MISSION MOMENTS is provided by Miracle of the Rosary Mission, Inc.

MissionMoments@MiracleRosaryMission.org 
Http://www.MiracleRosaryMission.org

My friends,

In light of the request of our Holy Father, John Paul II, we are going 
to
send you a series of documents by Pope Leo XIII on devotion to the 
rosary.
Pope Leo XIII was keenly aware of the times in which we live and is
remembered by many for composing the prayer to Saint Michael. 
Unfortunately,
he has been less remembered by many for his great love of the Church 
and our
Lady. I hope you will take time to read the documents. They are short 
and
worth the effort. I hope they will encourage to a greater devotion to 
the
rosary of our Lady. It is the sure weapon for the faithful in these 
times.
God bless you, one and all.

Darrell Bennett

Miracle of the Rosary Mission, Inc.

------------------------------------
ON DEVOTION OF THE ROSARY - SUPREMI APOSTOLATUS OFFICIO

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII - SEPTEMBER 1, 1883

To all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops of the 
Catholic
World in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.

The supreme Apostolic office which we discharge and the exceedingly
difficult condition of these times, daily warn and almost compel Us to 
watch
carefully over the integrity of the Church, the more that the 
calamities
from which she suffers are greater. While, therefore, we endeavor in 
every
way to preserve the rights of the Church and to obviate or repel 
present or
contingent dangers, We constantly seek for help from Heaven--the sole 
means
of effecting anything--that our labors and our care may obtain their 
wished
for object. We deem that there could be no surer and more efficacious 
means
to this end than by religion and piety to obtain the favor of the great
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the guardian of our peace and the 
minister
to us of heavenly grace, who is placed on the highest summit of power 
and
glory in Heaven, in order that she may bestow the help of her patronage 
on
men who through so many labors and dangers are striving to reach that
eternal city. Now that the anniversary, therefore, of manifold and
exceedingly great favors obtained by a Christian people through the 
devotion
of the Rosary is at hand, We desire that that same devotion should be
offered by the whole Catholic world with the greatest earnestness to 
the
Blessed Virgin, that by her intercession her Divine Son may be appeased 
and
softened in the evils which afflict us. And therefore We determined,
Venerable Brethren, to despatch to you these letters in order that, 
informed
of Our designs, your authority and zeal might excite the piety of your
people to conform themselves to them.

2. It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous
times to fly for refuge to Mary, and to seek for peace in her maternal
goodness; showing that the Catholic Church has always, and with 
justice, put
all her hope and trust in the Mother of God. And truly the Immaculate
Virgin, chosen to be the Mother of God and thereby associated with Him 
in
the work of man's salvation, has a favor and power with her Son greater 
than
any human or angelic creature has ever obtained, or ever can gain. And, 
as
it is her greatest pleasure to grant her help and comfort to those who 
seek
her, it cannot be doubted that she would deign, and even be anxious, to
receive the aspirations of the universal Church.

3. This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of 
Heaven,
has never shone forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church 
of
God has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy spread 
abroad, or
by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful 
enemies.
Ancient and modern history and the more sacred annals of the Church 
bear
witness to public and private supplications addressed to the Mother of 
God,
to the help she has granted in return, and to the peace and 
tranquillity
which she had obtained from God. Hence her illustrious titles of 
helper,
consoler, mighty in war, victorious, and peace-giver. And amongst these 
is
specially to be commemorated that familiar title derived from the 
Rosary by
which the signal benefits she has gained for the whole of Christendom 
have
been solemnly perpetuated. There is none among you, venerable brethren, 
who
will not remember how great trouble and grief God's Holy Church 
suffered
from the Albigensian heretics, who sprung from the sect of the later
Manicheans, and who filled the South of France and other portions of 
the
Latin world with their pernicious errors, and carrying everywhere the 
terror
of their arms, strove far and wide to rule by massacre and ruin. Our
merciful God, as you know, raised up against these most direful enemies 
a
most holy man, the illustrious parent and founder of the Dominican 
Order.
Great in the integrity of his doctrine, in his example of virtue, and 
by his
apostolic labors, he proceeded undauntedly to attack the enemies of the
Catholic Church, not by force of arms, but trusting wholly to that 
devotion
which he was the first to institute under the name of the Holy Rosary, 
which
was disseminated through the length and breadth of the earth by him and 
his
pupils. Guided, in fact, by divine inspiration and grace, he foresaw 
that
this devotion, like a most powerful warlike weapon, would be the means 
of
putting the enemy to flight, and of confounding their audacity and mad
impiety. Such was indeed its result. Thanks to this new method of
prayer--when adopted and properly carried out as instituted by the Holy
Father St. Dominic--piety, faith, and union began to return, and the
projects and devices of the heretics to fall to pieces. Many wanderers 
also
returned to the way of salvation, and the wrath of the impious was
restrained by the arms of those Catholics who had determined to repel 
their
violence.

4. The efficacy and power of this devotion was also wondrously 
exhibited in
the sixteenth century, when the vast forces of the Turks threatened to
impose on nearly the whole of Europe the yoke of superstition and 
barbarism.
At that time the Supreme Pontiff, St. Pius V., after rousing the 
sentiment
of a common defense among all the Christian princes, strove, above all, 
with
the greatest zeal, to obtain for Christendom the favor of the most 
powerful
Mother of God. So noble an example offered to heaven and earth in those
times rallied around him all the minds and hearts of the age. And thus
Christ's faithful warriors, prepared to sacrifice their life and blood 
for
the salvation of their faith and their country, proceeded undauntedly 
to
meet their foe near the Gulf of Corinth, while those who were unable to 
take
part formed a pious band of supplicants, who called on Mary, and 
unitedly
saluted her again and again in the words of the Rosary, imploring her 
to
grant the victory to their companions engaged in battle. Our Sovereign 
Lady
did grant her aid; for in the naval battle by the Echinades Islands, 
the
Christian fleet gained a magnificent victory, with no great loss to 
itself,
in which the enemy were routed with great slaughter. And it was to 
preserve
the memory of this great boon thus granted, that the same Most Holy 
Pontiff
desired that a feast in honor of Our Lady of Victories should celebrate 
the
anniversary of so memorable a struggle, the feast which Gregory XIII.
dedicated under the title of "The Holy Rosary." Similarly, important
successes were in the last century gained over the Turks at Temeswar, 
in
Pannonia, and at Corfu; and in both cases these engagements coincided 
with
feasts of the Blessed Virgin and with the conclusion of public 
devotions of
the Rosary. And this led our predecessor, Clement XI., in his 
gratitude, to
decree that the Blessed Mother of God should every year be especially
honored in her Rosary by the whole Church.

5. Since, therefore, it is clearly evident that this form of prayer is
particularly pleasing to the Blessed Virgin, and that it is especially
suitable as a means of defense for the Church and all Christians, it is 
in
no way wonderful that several others of Our Predecessors have made it 
their
aim to favor and increase its spread by their high recommendations. 
Thus
Urban IV. testified that "every day the Rosary obtained fresh boon for
Christianity." Sixtus IV. declared that this method of prayer 
"redounded to
the honor of God and the Blessed Virgin, and was well suited to obviate
impending dangers;" Leo X. that "it was instituted to oppose pernicious
heresiarchs and heresies;" while Julius III. called it "the glory of 
the
Church." So also St. Pius V., that "with the spread of this devotion 
the
meditations of the faithful have begun to be more inflamed, their 
prayers
more fervent, and they have suddenly become different men; the darkness 
of
heresy has been dissipated, and the light of Catholic faith has broken 
forth
again." Lastly Gregory XIII. in his turn pronounced that "the Rosary 
had
been instituted by St. Dominic to appease the anger of God and to 
implore
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

6. Moved by these thoughts and by the examples of Our Predecessors, We 
have
deemed it most opportune for similar reasons to institute solemn 
prayers and
to endeavor by adopting those addressed to the Blessed Virgin in the 
recital
of the Rosary to obtain from her son Jesus Christ a similar aid against
present dangers. You have before your eyes, Venerable Brethren, the 
trials
to which the Church is daily exposed; Christian piety, public morality, 
nay,
even faith itself, the supreme good and beginning of all the other 
virtues,
all are daily menaced with the greatest perils.

7. Nor are you only spectators of the difficulty of the situation, but 
your
charity, like Ours, is keenly wounded; for it is one of the most 
painful and
grievous sights to see so many souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
snatched from salvation by the whirlwind of an age of error, 
precipitated
into the abyss of eternal death. Our need of divine help is as great 
today
as when the great Dominic introduced the use of the Rosary of Mary as a 
balm
for the wounds of his contemporaries.

8. That great saint indeed, divinely enlightened, perceived that no 
remedy
would be more adapted to the evils of his time than that men should 
return
to Christ, who "is the way, the truth, and the life," by frequent 
meditation
on the salvation obtained for Us by Him, and should seek the 
intercession
with God of that Virgin, to whom it is given to destroy all heresies. 
He
therefore so composed the Rosary as to recall the mysteries of our 
salvation
in succession, and the subject of meditation is mingled and, as it 
were,
interlaced with the Angelic salutation and with the prayer addressed to 
God,
the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We, who seek a remedy for similar
evils, do not doubt therefore that the prayer introduced by that most
blessed man with so much advantage to the Catholic world, will have the
greatest effect in removing the calamities of our times also. Not only 
do We
earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of 
the
pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house 
and
family, and that unceasingly, but we also desire that the whole of the 
month
of October in this year should be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the
Rosary. We decree and order that in the whole Catholic world, during 
this
year, the devotion of the Rosary shall be solemnly celebrated by 
special and
splendid services. From the first day of next October, therefore, until 
the
second day of the November following, in every parish and, if the
ecclesiastical authority deem it opportune and of use, in every chapel
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin--let five decades of the Rosary be 
recited
with the addition of the Litany of Loreto. We desire that the people 
should
frequent these pious exercises; and We will that either Mass shall be 
said
at the altar, or that the Blessed Sacrament shall be exposed to the
adoration of the faithful, Benediction being afterwards given with the
Sacred Host to the pious congregation. We highly approve of the
confraternities of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin going in
procession, following ancient custom, through the town, as a public
demonstration of their devotion. And in those places where this is not
possible, let it be replaced by more assiduous visits to the churches, 
and
let the fervor of piety display itself by a still greater diligence in 
the
exercise of the Christian virtues.

9. In favor of those who shall do as We have above laid down, We are 
pleased
to open the heavenly treasure-house of the Church that they may find 
therein
at once encouragements and rewards for their piety. We therefore grant 
to
all those who, in the prescribed space of time, shall have taken part 
in the
public recital of the Rosary and the Litanies, and shall have prayed 
for Our
intention, seven years and seven times forty days of indulgence, 
obtainable
each time. We will that those also shall share in these favors who are
hindered by a lawful cause from joining in these public prayers of 
which We
have spoken, provided that they shall have practiced those devotions in
private and shall have prayed to God for Our intention. We remit all
punishment and penalties for sins committed, in the form of a 
Pontifical
indulgence, to all who, in the prescribed time, either publicly in the
churches or privately at home (when hindered from the former by lawful
cause) shall have at least twice practiced these pious exercises; and 
who
shall have, after due confession, approached the holy table. We further
grant a plenary indulgence to those who, either on the feast of the 
Blessed
Virgin of the Rosary or within its octave, after having similarly 
purified
their souls by a salutary confession, shall have approached the table 
of
Christ and prayed in some church according to Our intention to God and 
the
Blessed Virgin for the necessities of the Church.

10. And you, Venerable Brethren,--the more you have at heart the honor 
of
Mary, and the welfare of human society, the more diligently apply 
yourselves
to nourish the piety of the people towards the great Virgin, and to 
increase
their confidence in her. We believe it to be part of the designs of
Providence that, in these times of trial for the Church, the ancient
devotion to the august Virgin should live and flourish amid the 
greatest
part of the Christian world. May now the Christian nations, excited by 
Our
exhortations, and inflamed by your appeals, seek the protection of Mary 
with
an ardor growing greater day by day; let them cling more and more to 
the
practice of the Rosary, to that devotion which our ancestors were in 
the
habit of practicing, not only as an ever-ready remedy for their 
misfortunes,
but as a whole badge of Christian piety. The heavenly Patroness of the 
human
race will receive with joy these prayers and supplications, and will 
easily
obtain that the good shall grow in virtue, and that the erring should 
return
to salvation and repent; and that God who is the avenger of crime, 
moved to
mercy and pity may deliver Christendom and civil society from all 
dangers,
and restore to them peace so much desired.

11. Encouraged by this hope, We beseech God Himself, with the most 
earnest
desire of Our heart, through her in whom he has placed the fullness of 
all
good, to grant you. Venerable Brethren, every gift of heavenly 
blessing. As
an augury and pledge of which, We lovingly impart to you, to your 
clergy,
and to the people entrusted to your care, the Apostolic Benediction.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, the 1st of September, 1883, in the sixth 
year
of Our Pontificate.

Unsubscribe: seers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com URL to this page:
Subscribe:  joycelist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seers