Encyclical of Pope Piux XI - On The Rosary
|
INGRAVESCENTIBUS MALIS
To the Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops,
and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Holy See.
1. More than once have We asserted - and We recently repeated this in
the Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris (Acta Ap. Sedis, 1937, Vol. XXIX,
p. 65) - that there is no remedy for the ever-growing evils of our times
except a return to Our Lord Jesus Christ and to His most holy precepts.
Truly, only He "hath the words of eternal life" (Cf. John, vi,
69), and
individuals and society can only fall into immediate and miserable ruin
if they ignore the majesty of God and repudiate His Law.
2. However, anyone who studies with diligence the records of the Catholic
Church will easily recognize that the true patronage of the Virgin Mother
of God is linked with all the annals of the Christian name. When, in fact,
errors everywhere diffused were bent upon rending the seamless robe of
the Church and upon throwing the Catholic world into confusion, our fathers
turned with confident soul to her "alone who destroys all heresies
in the world" (Roman Breviary), and the victory won through her brought
the return of tranquillity.
3. When the impious Mohammedan power, trusting in its powerful fleet and
war-hardened armies, threatened the peoples of Europe with ruin and slavery,
then--upon the suggestion of the Sovereign Pontiff--the protection of
the heavenly Mother was fervently implored and the enemy was defeated
and his ships sunk. Thus the Faithful of every age, both in public misfortune
and in private need, turn in supplication to Mary, the benignant, so that
she may come to their aid and grant help and remedy
against sorrows of body and soul. And never was her most powerful aid
hoped for in vain by those who besought it with pious and trustful prayer.
4. But also in our day, dangers no less grave than in the past beset civil
and religious society. In fact, because the supreme and eternal authority
of God, which commands and forbids, is despised and completely repudiated
by men, the result is that the consciousness of Christian duty is weakened,
and that faith becomes tepid in souls or entirely lost, and his afterward
affects and ruins the very basis of human society.
5. Thus on the one hand are seen citizens intent on an atrocious struggle
among themselves because some are provided with abundant riches and others
must gain bread for themselves and their dear ones by the sweat of their
brows. Indeed, as we all know, in some regions the evil had reached such
a pitch that it seeks to destroy all private right of property, so that
everything might be shared in common.
6. On the other hand, there are not lacking men who declare that they
honor and exalt, above all, the power of the State. They say they must
use every means to assure civil order and enforce authority, and pretend
that only thus are they able totally to repulse the execrable theories
of the Communists. However, they despise the light of evangelic wisdom
and endeavor to revive the errors of the pagans and their way of life.
7. To this is added the clever and lamentable sect of those who, denying
and hating God, declare themselves the enemies of the Eternal, and who
insinuate themselves everywhere. They discredit and uproot all religious
belief from souls. Finally, they trample on every human and Divine right.
And while they cast scorn on the hope of heavenly reward, they incite
men
to seek, even by illicit means, false earthly happiness, and therefore
drive them with brazen temerity to the dissolution of the social order,
causing disorder, cruel rebellions and even the conflagration of civil
war.
8. Nevertheless, Venerable Brethren, though such great and numerous evils
hang over us, and others still greater are to be feared for the future,
we must not lose heart nor let the confident hope that rests solely on
God become fainter. He who "made the nations of the earth for health"
(Cf. Wisdom i, 14) without doubt will not let those perish whom He has
redeemed with His Precious Blood, nor will He abandon His Church. But
rather, as We said in the beginning, shall We beseech God through the
mediation of the Blessed Virgin, so acceptable to Him, since, to use the
words of St. Bernard: "Such is the will of God, who has wished that
we should have all things through Mary." (Sermon on the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary.)
9. Among the various supplications with which we successfully appeal to
the Virgin Mother of God, the Holy Rosary without doubt occupies a special
and distinct place. This prayer, which some call the Psalter of the Virgin
or Breviary of the Gospel and of Christian life, was described and recommended
by Our Predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, with these vigorous passages:
"Very admirable is this crown interwoven with the angelic salutation
which is interposed in the Sunday prayer, and unites with it the obligation
of interior meditation. It is an excellent manner of prayer . . . and
very useful for the attainment of immortal life" (Acta Leonis, 1898,
Vol. XVIII, pp. 154, 155).
10. And this can well be deduced from the very flowers that form this
mystic garland. What prayers in fact can be found more adaptable and holy?
This first is that which our Divine Redeemer Himself pronounced when His
disciples asked Him: "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke xi, 1);
a very holy supplication which both offers us the way--as far as it is
possible for us--to render glory to God, and also takes into account all
the necessities of our body and soul. How can the Eternal Father, when
prayed to with the very words of His Son, refuse to come to our aid?
11. The other prayer is the Angelic Salutation, which begins with the
eulogies of the Archangel Gabriel and of St. Elizabeth, and ends with
that very pious supplication by which we beg the help of the Blessed Virgin
now and at the hour of our death. To these invocations, said aloud, is
added the contemplation of the sacred mysteries, through which they place,
as it were, under our eyes the joys, sorrows and triumphs of Jesus Christ
and of His Mother, so that we receive relief and comfort in our sorrows.
Following those most holy examples, we ascend to the happiness of the
heavenly country by steps of ever higher virtue.
12. This practice of piety, Venerable Brethren, admirably diffused by
St. Dominic, not without the heavenly suggestion and inspiration of the
Virgin Mother of God, is without doubt easy for all, even for the ignorant
and the simple. But those wander from the path of truth who consider this
devotion merely an annoying formula repeated with monotonous singsong
intonation,
and refuse it as good only for children and silly women!
13. In this regard, it is to be noted that both piety and love, though
always renewing the same words, do not always repeat the same thing but
always express something new issuing from the intimate sentiment of devotion.
And besides, this mode of prayer has the perfume of evangelic simplicity
and requires humility of spirit; and, if we disdain humility, as the Divine
Redeemer teaches, it will be impossible for us to enter the heavenly kingdom:
"Amen, I say to you, unless you become as little children
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. xviii, 3).
14. Nevertheless, if men in our century, with its derisive pride, refuse
the Holy Rosary, there is an innumerable multitude of holy men of every
age and every condition who have always held it dear. They have recited
it with great devotion, and in every moment they have used it as a powerful
weapon to put the demons to flight, to preserve the integrity of life,
to acquire
virtue more easily, and in a word to attain real peace among men.
15. Nor are there lacking men famous as to doctrine and wisdom who, although
intensely occupied in scientific study and researches, never even for
a day fail to pray fervently on bended knee, before the image of the Virgin,
in this most pious form. Thus kings and princes, however burdened with
most urgent occupations and affairs, made it their duty to recite the
Rosary.
16. This mystic crown, then, not only is found in and glides through the
hands of the poor, but it also is honored by citizens of every social
rank. And We do not wish here to pass over in silence the fact that the
Blessed Virgin herself, even in our times, has solicitously recommended
this manner of prayer, when she appeared and taught it to the innocent
girl in the Grotto of Lourdes.
17. Therefore why should We not hope for every grace if We supplicate
Our Heavenly Mother in this manner with due disposition and holiness?
We desire very earnestly, Venerable Brethren, that the Holy Rosary should
be recited in a special manner in the month of October and with increased
devotion both in the churches and in homes.
18. And so much the more must it be done since the enemies of the Divine
Name--that is, those who have rebelled against and denied and scorned
the Eternal God--spread snares for the Catholic Faith and the liberty
due to the Church, and finally rebel with insane efforts against divine
and human rights, to send mankind to ruin and perdition. Through efficacious
recourse to the Virgin Mother of God, they may be finally bent and led
to penance and return to the straight path, trusting to the care and protection
of Mary.
19. The Holy Virgin who once victoriously drove the terrible sect of the
Albigenses from Christian countries, now suppliantly invoked by us, will
turn aside the new errors, especially those of Communism, which reminds
us in many ways, in its motives and misdeeds, of the ancient ones.
20. And as in the times of the Crusades, in all Europe there was raised
one voice of the people, one supplication; so today, in all the world,
the cities, and even the smallest villages, united with courage and strength,
with filial and constant insistence, the people seek to obtain from the
great Mother of God the defeat of the enemies of Christian and human civilization,
to the end that true peace may shine again over tired and erring men.
21. If, then, all will do this with due disposition, with great faith
and with fervent piety, it is right to hope that as in the past, so in
our day, the Blessed Virgin will obtain from her divine Son that the waves
of the present tempests be calmed and that a brilliant victory crown this
rivalry of Christians in prayer.
22. The Holy Rosary, besides, not only serves admirably to overcome the
enemies of God and Religion, but is also a stimulus and spur to the practice
of evangelic virtues which it injects and cultivates in our souls. Above
all, it nourishes the Catholic Faith, which flourishes again by due meditation
on the sacred mysteries, and raises minds to the truth revealed to us
by God.
23. Every one can understand how salutary it is, especially in our times
wherein sometimes a certain annoyance of the things of the spirit is felt
even among the Faithful, and a dislike, as it were, for the Christian
doctrine. Therefore, revive the hope of immortal welfare, while the triumph
of Jesus Christ and of His Mother, meditated on by us in the last part
of the Rosary, shows us Heaven open and invites us to the conquest of
the Eternal Country.
24. Thus while an unbridled longing for the things of this earth has penetrated
into the hearts of mortals and each one more ardently longs for the short-lived
riches and ephemeral pleasures, all feel a fruitful call back to the heavenly
treasures "where thieves do not break in and neither rust nor moth
doth consume" (Matt. xii, 33), and to the wealth that will never
perish.
25. And the charity which has been weakened and cooled in many, how can
it fail to be rekindled into love in the souls of those who recall with
a full heart the tortures and death of our Redeemer and the afflictions
of His Sorrowful Mother? From this charity towards God, then, there cannot
but rise a more intense love of one's neighbor if one dwells on the labors
and sorrows that Our Lord suffered for all, reinstating the lost inheritance
of the children of God.
26. Therefore see to it, Venerable Brethren, that such a fruitful practice
shall be more diffused, more highly esteemed by all, and that common piety
be increased. Through your work and that of the priests who help you in
the care of souls, its praises and advantages shall be preached and repeated
to the Faithful of every social class.
27. From it, the young will draw fresh energy with which to control the
rebellious tendencies to evil and to preserve intact the stainless purity
of the soul; also in it, the old will again find repose, relief and peace
from their anxious cares. To those who devote themselves to Catholic Action
may it be a spur to impel them to a more fervent and active work of apostolate;
and to all those who suffer in any way, especially the dying, may it bring
comfort and increase the hope of eternal happiness.
28. The fathers and mothers of families particularly must give an example
to their children, especially when, at sunset, they gather together after
the day's work, within the domestic walls, and recite the Holy Rosary
on bended knees before the image of the Virgin, together fusing voice,
faith and sentiment. This is a beautiful and salutary custom, from which
certainly there cannot but be derived tranquillity and abundance of heavenly
gifts for the household.
29. When very frequently We receive newly married couples in audience
and address paternal words to them, We give them rosaries, We recommend
these to them earnestly, and We exhort them, citing Our own example, not
to let even one day pass without saying the Rosary, no matter how burdened
they may be with many cares and labors.
30. For these reasons, Venerable Brethren, We have thought fit earnestly
to exhort you, and through you, all the Faithful, to carry out this pious
practice. Nor do We doubt that you, listening, with your usual response
to Our paternal invitation will bring about abundant fruits once more.
31. And in addressing this Encyclical to you, another motive impels Us.
We wish that, together with Us, Our many children in Jesus shall unite
and render thanks to the Mother of God for the better health We have happily
regained.
32. This grace, as We have had occasion to write (Cf. Letter to Cardinal
E. Pacelli, Osservatore Romano, September 5, 1937), We attribute to the
special intercession of the virgin of Lisieux, St. Therese of the Child
Jesus. But We know, though, that everything comes to us from Almighty
God through the hands of Our Lady.
33. And lastly, as there has been launched in the public press with rash
insolence, a very grave injury to the Blessed Virgin, We cannot do less
than profit by this occasion to offer, together with the Episcopate and
the people of that nation which venerates Mary as "Queen of the Kingdom
of Poland," and with the homage of our piety, due reparation to the
august Queen, and denounce to the whole world this sacrilege committed
with impunity, as a painful and unworthy thing.
34. Meanwhile, with a full heart We impart to you, Venerable Brethren,
and to the flock entrusted to the care of each of you, the Apostolic Blessing
as an augury of heavenly graces and in token to Our Paternal benevolence.
Given at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, on the 29th day of the month of September,
on the Feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel, in the year
1937, the sixteenth of Our Pontificate.
[[Home]
[Gemstone
Chained Rosaries] [Gemstone
Strung Rosaries] [Litany to
Mary Rosaries] [About Us] [Search
this Site]
[Rosaries Under $50.00] [Design
Your Own Rosary] [FAQ's] [Order Information] [Rosary
Tutor] [Links]
[Marian Prayers] [Novenas,
Consecrations & Saintly Prayers] [Encyclical
of Pius XI - On The Rosary]
[Mary Speaks] [Our
Lady in Scripture] [Protect The Unborn]
[Contact Rosaries For Our
Lady] [Webmaster]