A Weapon of Faith - Dr. Plinio Correa De Olivera

One great merit of the devotion to the rosary is that it was revealed by Our Lady to Saint Dominic as a means to revive the Faith in regions ravaged by the Albigensian heresy.

Indeed,the widespread practice of the rosary revived the Faith. With this, the rosary became, in times when there truly was faith in the world, one of the classic Catholic devotions. This led not only to the widespread making of statues of Our Lady of the rosary around the world but the practice of prayingthe rosary also became common among the faithful.Wearing the rosary hanging from the waist became an official component of the habits of many religious orders.

Among the thousand things that we could say about the rosary, I want to emphasize precisely this primary link between the rosary and the virtue of Faith, and between the rosary and the defeat of heretics. The rosary has always been considered an extremely powerful weapon of the Faith. We know that the virtue of Faith is the root of all virtues. Virtues are not true unless they spring from a living faith. Therefore,there is no point cultivating other virtues if one neglects Faith.

This devotion is particularly meaningful to those whose lives are marked by a continuous, legal and doctrinal struggle on behalf of orthodoxy,and who consider the victory of orthodoxy and of the Counter-Revolution in the world the ideal of our lives. This is because it establishes the link between our lives and devotion to Our Lady, who clearly appears here as the one who alone crushed all heresies,as the liturgy says. To a great extent, she has crushed them through the rosary.

The Best of Prayers - By Pope Leo XIII

In Mary, God has given us the most zealous guardian of Christian unity. There are, of course, more ways than one to win her protection by prayer, but as for us, We think the best and most effective way to her favor lies in the Rosary.
. . . When such faith is exercised by vocally repeating the Our Father and Hail Mary of the Rosary prayers, or better still in the contemplation of the mysteries, it is evident how close we are brought to Mary. For every time we devoutly say the Rosary in supplication before her, we are once more brought face to face with the marvel of our salvation; we watch the mysteries of our redemption as though they were unfolding before our eyes; and as one follows another, Mary stands revealed at once as God's Mother and our Mother.
. . . Meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, often repeated in the spirit of faith, cannot help but please her and move her, the fondest of mothers, to show mercy to her children.
For that reason We say that the Rosary is by far the best prayer by which to plead before her the cause of our separated brethren. To grant a favorable hearing belongs properly to her office of spiritual Mother. For Mary has not brought forth -- nor could she -- those who are of Christ except in the one same Faith and in the one same love; for "Can Christ be divided?

Indulgences for saying the Rosary

An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, a remission, which one of the faithful, properly disposed and under certain definite conditions, can acquire through the Church, which authoritatively dispenses, applying the treasure of the satisfactions of Christ and the Saints.

An indulgence is either PLENARY or PARTIAL, depending upon whether it frees one from the whole or from a part of the temporal punishment due to sin.

This means that one of the faithful who, with at least a contrite heart, performs a work enriched with a partial indulgence, is granted by the power of the Church that same amount of remission of temporal punishment as he has already obtained by the work itself. In other words, the remission is doubled, and that as often as the work prescribed is performed. A plenary indulgence means a full remission of temporal punishment, provided that several other conditions apply, in addition to the work performed or prayer said.

1. The faithful, whenever they recite a third part of the Rosary with devotion, may gain:
* A partial indulgence
* A Plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, if they do this for an entire month.

2. If they recite a third part of the Rosary in company with others, wheter in public or in private, they may gain:

* A partial indulgence, once a day;
* A plenary indulgence on the last Sunday of each month, with the addition of Confession, Communion and a visit to a church or a public oratory, if they perform such a recitation at least three times in any of the preceding weeks.
If however they recite this together in family group, besides the partial indulgence, they are granted:
* A plenary indulgence twice a month, if they perform this recitation, daily for a month, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, and visit some church or public oratory.

The faithful who daily recite a third part of the Rosary with devotion in a family group besides the indulgences already granted under

1. are also granted a Plenary indulgence on condition of Confession and Communion on each Saturday, on two other days of the week, and on each of the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Universal Calendar namely: the Immaculate Conception, the Purification, the Apparition of our Blessed Lady at Lourdes, the Annunciation, the Seven Dolors (Friday of Passion Week), the Visitation, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Our Lady of the Snows, the Assumption, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the Seven Dolors (Sept 15), Our Lady of Ransom, the Most Holy Rosary, the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin.

3. Those who piously recite a third part of the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, publicly exposed or even reserved in the tabernacle, as often as they do this, may gain:

* A plenary indulgence, on conditon of confession and Communion.

The faithful who at any time of the year devoutly offer their prayers in honor of our Lady of the Rosary, with the intention of continuing the same for 9 consecutive days, may gain:

o A partial indulgence on any day of the novena;
o A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions at the close of the novena.
The faithful who resolve to perform a devout exercise in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary for 15 uninterrupted Saturdays (or these being impeded, for any respective Sundays immediately following) if they devoutly recite at least a third part of the Rosary or meditate on its mysteries in some other manner may gain:
o A plenary indulgence on the usual conditions on any of these 15 Saturdays, or corresponding Sundays.

The faithful who during the month of October recite at least a third part of the Rosary, either publicly or privately, may gain:

o A partial indulgence each day;
o A plenary indulgence, if they perform this devout exercise on the Feast of the Rosary and throughout the Octave, and moreover, go to confession, receive Holy Communion and visit a church;
o A plenary indulgence, with the addition of confession, Communion and visit to a church, if they perform this same recitation of the Holy Rosary for at least 10 days after the Octave of the aforesaid Feast.

A partial indulgence may be gained once a day by the faithful who kissing a blessed Rosary, which they carry with them, at the same time recite the first part of the Hail Mary up to "Jesus" inclusive.