The Secret of the Rosary - Twenty-sixth Rose

Twenty-sixth Rose - Sublime Prayer

WHATEVER YOU DO, do not be like a certain pious but
self-willed lady in Rome, so often referred to when speaking
about the Rosary. She was so devout and so fervent that she
put to shame by her holy life, even the strictest religious in
the Church.
Having decided to ask Saint Dominic's advice about her
spiritual life she asked him to hear her confession. For
penance he gave her one whole Rosary to say and advised
her to say it every day. She said that she had no time to say
it, excusing herself on the grounds that she made the
Stations[1] of Rome every day, that she wore sack-cloth and
also a hair shirt, that she gave herself the discipline several
times a week, that she carried out so many other penances
and fasted so much. Saint Dominic urged her over and over
again to take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would
not hear of it. She left the confessional, horrified at the tactics
of this new spiritual director who had tried so hard to
persuade her to take on a devotion that was not at all to her
liking.
Later on when she was in prayer she fell into ecstasy and
had a vision of her soul appearing before Our Lord's
Judgment Seat. Saint Michael put all her penances and other
prayers onto one balance of the scales and all her sins and
imperfections onto the other. The tray of her good works
was greatly outweighed by that of her sins and
imperfections.
Filled with terror she cried for mercy, imploring the help of
the Blessed Virgin, her gracious Advocate, who took the one
and only Rosary that she had said for her penance and
dropped it onto the tray of her good works. This one Rosary
was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well
as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for
having refused to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic
and for not saying the Rosary every day.
As soon as she came to herself she rushed and threw herself
at the feet of Saint Dominic and told him all that had
happened, begged his forgiveness for her unbelief and
promised to say the Rosary faithfully every day. By this
means she rose to Christian perfection and finally to the
glory of everlasting life.
You who are people of prayer----learn from this how
tremendous is the power, the value and the importance of
this devotion of the Most Holy Rosary when it is said
together with meditation on the mysteries.
Few Saints have reached the same heights of prayer as Saint
Mary Magdalene who was lifted up to Heaven each day by
Angels, and who had had the privilege of learning at the feet
of Our Lord Himself and His Blessed Mother. Yet one day
when she asked God to show her a sure way of advancing in
His love and of arriving at the height of perfection, He sent
Saint Michael the Archangel to tell her, on His behalf, that
there was no other way for her to arrive at perfection than to
meditate on Our Lord's passion. So he placed a Cross in the
front of her cave and told her to pray before it,
contemplating the Sorrowful Mysteries which she had seen
take place with her own eyes.
The example of Saint Francis de Sales, the great spiritual
director of his time, should spur you on to join the holy
confraternity of the Rosary, since, great Saint that he was, he
bound himself by oath to say the whole Rosary every single
day as long as he lived.
Saint Charles Borromeo said it every day also and strongly
recommended the devotion to his priests and to the
ecclesiastics in the seminaries and also to all his people.
Saint Pius V, one of the greatest Popes who have ever ruled
the Church, said the Rosary every day. Saint Thomas of
Villanova, Archbishop of Valence, Saint Ignatius, Saint
Francis Xavier, Saint Francis Borgia, Saint Theresa and Saint
Philip Neri as well as many other great men whom I have
not mentioned were deeply devoted to the Holy Rosary.
Follow their example; your spiritual directors will be pleased
and if they are aware of the benefit that you can derive from
this devotion, they will be the very first to urge you to adopt
it.
Notes:
1. This is a devotion that originated in the very early Church;
it consists in visiting certain stational churches in Rome and
saying prescribed prayers in each one. This practice was
usually penitential (Catholic Encyclopedia) M.B.

The Canada54 National Novena includes a daily reading from the Secret of the Rosary.

There are exactly 54 readings. 

• A white rose for priests;
• A red rose for sinners;
• A mystical rose tree for devout souls;
• A rosebud for little children;
• Plus 50 roses representing each Hail Mary recited during 5 decades of the Rosary

JesusMarie.com  - Le Secret du Rosaire - ICI

To purchase a hard copy of this defining work by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, please visit

CANADA - Sunrise Marian HERE

USA - Montfort Publications HERE 

Read the not-for-profit public domain PDF version HERE

Do you pray the Rosary? For the most powerful way to pray, click HERE

Do your children pray the Rosary? Click HERE

Visiting Our Lady of the Cape on Pilgrimage? What you need to know HERE

A priest discovers a pig chewing on a Rosary. What he does next transforms his dying parish into a National Shrine!

WATCH ONLINE WITH UNLIMITED STREAMING ON VIMEO HERE

BUY DVD HERE