Page 8 - St. Joseph Messenger October 2020

on a long string which was known as a paternoster This objection, however, is based on a Protestant
(Latin for “Our Father”). In English these little version of the Bible.
pebbles were called “beads,” which was another
word for prayers. The King James Version, which was published in
A.D. 1611, changes Matthew 6:7 to say that we
Throughout the Middle Ages the paternoster was should “use not vain repetitions” in our prayers.
used in varying forms, and finally evolved into King James I of England set up his own Biblical
what we know today as our Rosary devotions. commission to write its own version of the Bible,
removing or changing the passages of Scripture
The Evolution of the Rosary which did not suit the new teachings and practices
The first man to write about the devotion of the of the Church of England. In this case they
Rosary was a Dominican priest named Brabantinus changed Matthew 6:7 in order to suppress the
who studied under St. Albert the Great, He is traditional Catholic custom of meditative prayer.
credited with naming the Rosary as such. During
th
his time, the 13 century, the Latin word rosarium Later King James also prohibited devotional items
was known to mean a compilation of devotions, from being imported. Many Catholics, however,
and to Brabantinus the prayers of the Rosary continued to smuggle in rosaries, crosses, psalters,
seemed like a crown of spiritual roses that were and other Catholic devotional items.
presented to the Blessed Virgin. Roses have long
been associated with Mary. The true meaning of Matthew 6:7 is “don’t talk a
lot; don’t run off at the mouth; don’t rattle on like
Another Dominican, Alan de Rupe, who lived in the pagans do.” This is much different from saying
th
the 15 century, is credited with establishing the “do not repeat your prayers.” Matthew 6:7 is simp-
standard form of the Rosary prayers that we use ly a warning against confusing quantity with quali-
today. He spent years studying the history of ty. The repetition of prayers, as practiced with the
Rosary devotions, which took different forms in Rosary devotions, is the finest way to develop the
different localities throughout Europe, and formal- skill of Christian mental prayer. SJM
ized them for the whole Church. He also related in
his writings the tradition that Mary appeared to St.
Dominic, the founder of his order, showing him a
Rosary in this form, telling him how to pray it, and
that graces would flow from faithful devotion to
the Rosary.

Objections to the Rosary
Catholics sometimes hear various objections to the
repetitious aspect of the Rosary, but the point of
repeating the vocal prayers of the Rosary is not
simply to tally up a huge number of prayers. This
is what sets Christian prayer apart from many of
the Eastern religious traditions of prayer which Madonna of the Rosary,1841
require the repetition of mantras in order to clear Tommaso Minardi
the mind. But some object to the repetition of Oil on canvas
Christian prayers because they think that Matthew Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e
6:7 instructs that we should not repeat prayers. Contemporanea, Rome

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