Next to the Holy Mass, the Holy Rosary is the greatest form of prayer available only in the Catholic Church. It is the highest honour accorded Mary as the most dependable intercessor for sinful mankind. 

Since her memorable intervention at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (see John 2:1-11) where Jesus performed his first miracle by turning mere water into the choicest of wines at the instance of his mother, Mary has found herself being approached again and again to influence the intervention of her only begotten Son in human affairs. 

Like every dutiful child, Jesus has a soft spot for His mother, and just as he found Himself performing His first miracle prematurely (“Woman, my hour has not yet arrived,” - John 2:4), Jesus is ever willing to outreach Himself for us in deference to His mother. 

The relationship between mother and child goes beyond the physical because the child is a psychological extension of the mother who carried him or her in the womb inseparably for a crucial period of nine months. The physical severance of the umbilical cord at the point of birth does not terminate the psychological bond which lasts forever.

Hence, since Mary is as human as the rest of us, we find it easier to seek her assistance in reaching out to Christ who is too fond of His mother to turn down her request at any time. 

This is why Mary’s intervention is often considered most critical and strategic in our divine communication with God. The warmest path to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is through the Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary has had a long and eventful history. Its antecedents could be found in the repetitive prayer patterns associated with Monasteries, where a particular set of prayers could be said several times, for effect. Stones and prayer ropes were initially used to keep track of the number of times the prayers were being said. 

Mariology, the part of Christian theology concerned with the study of the Virgin Mary, suggests that the wording of the rosary was contributed by different authors over more than a thousand years, starting with the message delivered by Angel Gabriel to Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28). “Around 1050 AD, the words Elizabeth used to greet Mary during the Visitation were added: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb’” (Luke: 1:42). In 1261, Pope Urban IV (1195-1264) added the name of Jesus to the end of Elizabeth’s words” (Internet source). 

Furthermore, St. Peter Canisius (1521-1597) was said to have published the Hail Mary “in his 555 Catechism with almost the entire final petition: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.’” The Roman Catechism or Catechism of the Council of Trent (compiled under Archbishop Charles Borromeo of Milan, who lived from 1538 to 1584) included, for the first time, the entire final petition, concluding with the words “now and at the hour of our death. Amen” (Internet source). 

The same source confirms that the Hail Mary we pray today was given official approval in 1568. The use of prayer beads is neither original nor peculiar to Catholics, as this had earlier been found in other faiths and religious cultures; even Moslems also employ beads in their prayer rituals. 

The Holy Rosary comprises 59 beads: 6 for Our Father, 53 for Hail Mary, while intervening spaces between the beads are used for the Glory Be and the Hail, Holy Queen, ending with a concluding prayer. 

The Rosary recitation normally starts with the Apostles’ Creed after the sign of the Cross, and proceeds in five decades, ending with the sign of the Cross. “It is widely believed that in 1214, St. Dominic (1170-1221) had a vision of Mary, presenting him with the rosary, both the beads and the prayers to be prayed” (Internet source). 

Dominic subsequently promoted the praying of the rosary in small Catholic groups, and praying the rosary is today at the heart of Dominican practice. St. Louis de Monfort, a French priest ordained in 1700, was also an avid promoter of the rosary through his staunch devotion to Mary as the surest gateway to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Pope Gregory the Great (Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604 AD) also popularized an earlier version of the Hail Mary by asking it to be prayed on the fourth Sunday of Advent. After the full development of the Hail Mary prayer, the term “rosary” was finally given in 1597 (Internet source). 

With the mysterious appearances of Mary to three shepherd children in Fatima, a Municipality in Portugal, at six different times, over a period of six months (from May 13 to October 13, 1917), the Fatima Prayer (“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins…”) was added to the end of each decade of the rosary after her final appearance, and this has now become a permanent feature of the rosary prayer. 

The “Miracle of the Sun” when, for close to ten minutes, the noonday sun appeared to have slightly shifted in the sky, exhibiting varying colours, was witnessed across Portugal on that memorable October 13, 1917 by more than 70,000 people (who could not all have suffered from optical illusion!). 

Fatima also now boasts one of the greatest Marian Shrines in the world, annually visited by thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the globe. ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ has also become one of the many official titles of Mother Mary. 

On October 16, 2002, almost six centuries after the original three Mysteries were established, Pope John Paul II introduced a new set of Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries or the Mysteries of Light. Each of the Mysteries highlights specific events (either joyful, sorrowful, glorious or luminous) in the life of Christ. The Mysteries are assigned as follows: Joyful (Mondays and Saturdays), Sorrowful (Tuesdays and Fridays), Glorious (Sundays and Wednesdays), and Luminous (Thursdays only). 

So, today, the Holy Rosary has fully evolved as a complete powerful medium for the exaltation of Mary and effective connection with Christ. Each time the rosary is prayed, Mary’s face can be imagined glowing with pride and her heart being full of joy. This puts her in the ready frame of mind to listen to our requests and intercede for us. 

Catholics are therefore enjoined to pray the rosary as often as possible to facilitate the answering of their prayers. Fortunately, no specific prayer mode is prescribed for saying the rosary: It can be said on one’s knees, lying down in bed, standing upright, sitting down, while taking a stroll, or inside a vehicle; in the noisy marketplace, and while travelling by road, sea, or air. 

Each time one prays the rosary with absolute concentration, one feels a certain sense of personal security and joy that all is well with one’s soul. May Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Queen of Heaven and Earth, continue to intercede for us. Amen.