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How did The Blessed Virgin Mary become
associated with roses?
Michael
{
How
did The Blessed Virgin Mary become associated
with roses? }
Mike
replied:
Hi, Michael —
Thanks for the question.
She become associated with roses
through events that happened in the
twelfth century.
It was in the year 1214 that the
Church received the Rosary in
its present form and according
to the method we use today. It
was given to the Church by St.
Dominic, who had received it from
the Blessed Virgin as a means
of converting the Albigensians
and other sinners. Saint Dominic,
seeing that the gravity of people's
sins was hindering the conversion
of the Albigensians, withdrew
into a forest near Toulouse, where
he prayed continuously for three
days and three nights. During
this time he did nothing but weep
and did harsh penances in order
to appease the anger of God. At this point our Lady appeared to
him, accompanied by three angels,
and she said,
"Dear Dominic, do you know which
weapon the Blessed Trinity
wants to use to reform the
world?"
"Oh, my Lady," answered
Saint Dominic, "you know
far better than I do, because
next to your Son Jesus Christ,
you have always been the chief
instrument of our salvation."
Then Our Lady replied, "I
want you to know that, in this kind
of warfare, the principal
weapon has always been the Angelic
Psalter (nowadays: the Rosary), which is the foundation-stone
of the New Testament. Therefore,
if you want to reach these hardened
souls and win them over to God,
preach my Psalter."
So he arose, comforted, and burning
with zeal for the conversion of
the people in that district, he
headed straight for the cathedral.
At once, unseen angels rang the
bells to gather the people together,
and Saint Dominic began to preach.
The
following was taken from the
New Advent web site.
It is certain that in the course
of the twelfth century and before
the birth of
St. Dominic, the practice of reciting
50 or 150 Ave Marias had become
generally familiar.
As regards the origin of the name,
Rosary, the word rosarius means
a garland or bouquet of roses,
and it was not infrequently used
in a figurative sense —
e.g. as the title of a book, to
denote an anthology or collection
of extracts.
An early legend which after traveling
all over Europe penetrated even
to Abyssinia connected this name
with a story of Our Lady, who
was seen to take rosebuds from
the lips of a young monk when
he was reciting Hail Mary's and
to weave them into a garland which
she placed upon her head. A German
metrical version of this story
is still extant dating from the
thirteenth century. The name "Our
Lady's Psalter" can also
be traced back to the same period.
Corona or chaplet suggests the
same idea as rosarium.
The old English name found in
Chaucer and elsewhere was a
"pair of beads", in
which the word bead originally
meant prayers.
It should also be noted that Our
Lady has appeared with roses in many
approved and unapproved apparitions
of her.
I used to run a free Rosary for Protestants program that sent Rosaries to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but no longer have the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish get your hands on a free Rosary just Google for one.
It's a great devotion because whether you are a Catholic Christian, Protestant Christian, or non-Christian, we are meditating on the lives of both Jesus, Our Lord, and Mary, His Mother and it has many blessings attached to praying it.
Hope this answers your question.
Mike
Michael
replied:
Mike,
Thank you so much for this wealth
of information.
It is a huge help and it gives me
a number of solid paths to pursue
in further research.
Michael
Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
