Mary is in truth a spiritual, a mystic rose.  The rose therefore is a fitting symbol of the virtuous life of the mother of God.  As mystical rose she deserves our admiration and veneration, and she must be our example and model in all Christian virtues, the model of a true spiritual life.

The name rosary, therefore, is well suited to this devotion.  For it is a wreath of spiritual roses, as it were, which we place at the feet of Mary, in order to show our love and veneration.

The rose has, moreover, been at all times regarded as a symbol of love.  It was already the custom of the early Christians to adorn on feast days the pictures and statues of the saints with wreaths of roses, especially on feast days of the Blessed Virgin.

St. Dominic, inspired and instructed by Mary, formed from the beautiful and efficacious prayers, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, together with the principal mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary, a beautiful wreath, and called it the “Rosary.”

The threefold mysteries represented in the devotion again give it a resemblance to the rose.  The green of the rose is the color of hope and confidence.  It is represented in the glorious rosary.  The thorns are represented in the sorrowful rosary.  The beautiful red petals of the rose, finally, are represented in the joyful rosary, in the glories of Jesus and Mary.

Thus is shown therefore the deep and significant meaning of the name rosary.  And as the rosary reminds us of all the virtues, the spiritual beauty and sublimity of Mary, and as it is a worthy manifestation of our love and veneration for the mother of God it is meet that we hold the rosary in high esteem.  And Mary finds delight in this devotion, for it reminds her of all the good God did for her, and for which all nations pronounce her blessed.

Oh, let us then resolve to wind this wreath frequently, to lay it often at the feet of the noble, the gracious queen of the Rosary!

II.  THE ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY

“The Highest himself hath founded her.”—­Ps. lxxxvi.

My dear brethren, in our consideration on the rosary let us to-day reflect upon its origin.

Its origin and age bestow on this devotion a great dignity.  From the earliest times of Christianity it has been the custom of the Christians to observe in their prayers method and perseverance.  Thus it was the custom of the hermits of the Orient, as far back as the fourth century, to devise a sequence of certain prayers, which they counted on pebbles.  We also know that long ago in England a so-called Paternoster-cord was used for this purpose.  St. Gregory, at the end of the fourth century, spoke of such a method of devotion in veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This pious bishop thought a wreath of spiritual roses would be more pleasing to the blessed Virgin than the natural roses with which the faithful adorned her altar.  He selected, therefore, a number of prayers, in praise of the blessed Virgin, and united them into a wreath.  And this was the origin of the rosary, woven by pious hands for the veneration of Mary, the mystical rose.