by the HOLY SEE More than 500 Years Ago
The Rosary Confraternity is a spiritual association (of the Catholic Church), the members of which strive to pray the entire Rosary during the course of each week. They form a union of countless hundreds of thousands of the faithful throughout the world who, along with their own intentions, include the intentions and needs of all its members, while they in turn pray for them.
Since the Holy Father has recently added the five luminous mysteries, we encourage members of the Confraternity to include that extra weekly Rosary. However, we have as yet received no official statement regarding this matter. Those who recite only the fifteen traditional mysteries will continue to share in the benefits of the Confraternity until some official source declares the contrary.
As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, "whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members, and they in turn render him the same service many times over."
Each member includes deceased fellow members as well; and thus he knows that in turn he will be included in the prayers of hundreds of thousands both now and hereafter. This led the Cure of Ars to say: "If anyone has the happiness of being in the Confraternity of the Rosary, he has in all corners of the world brothers and sisters who pray for him." The deceased cannot be enrolled in the Confraternity.
Read the obligations, benefits, indulgences, and Fifteen Promises of the Blessed Virgin to Christians who faithfully pray the Rosary. There is also a Rosary Confraternity Prayer.
Those who pray the Rosary regularly would do well to be enrolled in the Confraternity to gain extra spiritual benefits for each Rosary they pray. Enrol in the Confraternity or write to The Rosary Center, PO Box 3617, Portland, OR 97208, USA.
THE ROSARY CONFRATERNITY'S OBLIGATIONS, BENEFITS, INDULGENCES and PROMISES
OBLIGATIONS
Each member strives to pray fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each week (this does not bind under sin), and must have his/her name inscribed in the register of the Confraternity. There are no meetings, no dues.
Since the Holy Father has recently added the five luminous mysteries, it would seem that members of the Confraternity should strive to include that extra weekly Rosary. However, we have as yet received no official statement regarding this matter. Those who recite only the fifteen traditional mysteries will continue to share in the benefits of the Confraternity until some official source declares the contrary.
THE ROSARY CONFRATERNITY'S BENEFITS
1. The special protection of the mother of God.
2. A share in the prayer of countless thousands of members the world over, and this even after death.
3. A share in the prayers, Masses and apostolic works of the entire Dominican Order.
4. The intercession of the entire heavenly court.
5. Various plenary and partial indulgences.
6. Six times a year the Rosary Center publication THE ROSARY, LIGHT AND LIFE is sent to those members who wish it. Its purpose is to provide sound doctrine and spiritual guidance for readers everywhere.
INDULGENCES IN GENERAL
1. An indulgence is the cancellation of temporal punishment due for sin, when the sin's guilt has already been pardoned.
2. An indulgence is partial if it frees the Christian partially from the temporal punishment due for his sins, plenary if it frees him wholly.
3. Both partial and plenary indulgences can always be applied to the dead, but only by way of suffrage.
4. Since the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI on Indulgences, a partial indulgence is no longer expressed in reference to time, i.e. days or years.
5. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day, except by those on the threshold of death.
6. To gain a plenary indulgence the person must perform the indulgenced act, and satisfy these conditions: Sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the Pope's intention, and freedom from all attachment to sin, even venial sin. If this detachment is not present, or if any of the above conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence is partial.
ROSARY INDULGENCES
1. For members of the Rosary Confraternity, a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, is granted:
a. on the day of enrollment. (When application is made, a certificate of membership is sent, indicating the day of the enrollment.)
b. on the following feast days: Christmas, Easter, Annunciation, Purification, Assumption, Our Lady of the Rosary, and Immaculate Conception.
2. For those who pray the Rosary, a plenary indulgence is granted under the usual conditions, when the Rosary is prayed in Church, or in a Public Oratory, in a family (family Rosary), Religious Community, or Pious Association. Otherwise a partial indulgence is granted.
FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN TO CHRISTIANS WHO FAITHFULLY PRAY THE ROSARY
1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
4. The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
Rosary Confraternity Prayer
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary and Mother of us all, we come to you for help in our sorrows, trials and necessities. Sin leaves us weak and helpless but Divine Grace heals and strengthens.
We ask for the grace to love Jesus as you loved Him, to believe as you believed, to hope as you hoped; we ask to share your purity of mind and heart. Give us true sorrow for sin and make us love people as you and Jesus loved them. Obtain for us the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we may be wise with your wisdom, understand with your understanding, know with your knowledge, prudent with your prudence, patient with your patience, courageous with your fortitude and desire justice ardently for everyone with the all consuming desire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus your Son.
Open our minds that as we pray the Rosary we will understand the teachings of the Gospel contained in its mysteries.
We pray especially for the members of the Rosary Confraternity whom we love. Help them wherever they may be; guide them, watch over them and make them strong in their trials and suffering. We are drawn together by a common bond of great charity for you and for each other; keep us faithful to your Son and to your Rosary till death.
Intercede for the souls in Purgatory, especially for the members of the Rosary Confraternity who have died. May they rest in peace. Finally we ask for grace of final perseverance for ourselves and for our loved ones that we may all be reunited in heaven forever.
Saint Dominic, you who received so much Grace and Strength from the Rosary, Pray for us.
Imprimi Potest:
Thomas P. Raftery O.P., Lect. S.Th., J.C.D.
Provincial
Nihil Obstat:
+ Paul E. Waldschmidt CSC, D.D., S.T.D.
Imprimatur:
+ Cornelius M. Power, D.D., J.C.D.
Archbishop of Portland
March 30, 1979
What the Saints and Popes say about the Confraternity
St. Charles Borromeo esteemed the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary so highly that he ordered it to be erected in all parishes of his large Archdiocese of Milan.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori wrote on the usefulness of the Confraternity: “In the many missions I have preached, I have come to the conclusion that there are more sins in one single person who does not belong to the Confraternity of Mary than in twenty that do!”
The Curé of Ars said: “If anyone has the happiness of being in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, they have, in all corners of the globe, brethren who pray for them.” He added: “For a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary to succeed in losing their soul, they would have to do as much violence to themselves as the other faithful do to save their souls, so abundant are the graces of this Confraternity.”
Pope Innocent VIII called it “a most devout Confraternity” (Splendor Paternæ Gloriæ, 26 February 1491).
Pope Leo XIII insisted very much on the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, especially in the encyclicals Lætitiæ Sanctæ of 1893 and Augustissimæ Virginis Mariæ of 1897. Among the different associations,” he wrote inAugustissimæ Virginis Mariæ, we do not hesitate to give the place of honour to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.” After explaining how the Confraternity multiplies the benefits of the Rosary, he appealed to priests: “You ought to apply yourselves with the greatest zeal to founding, developing and directing these Confraternities of the Holy Rosary. This appeal is not only addressed to the sons of St. Dominic, for whom this is an important duty of their state, but to all priests who have the care of souls. It is also our earnest desire that missionaries, those who take the Gospel to pagan lands and those who preach in Christian countries, give themselves with equal zeal to this activity.” These appeals are still applicable today.
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