Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/226

 ROSARY

188

ROSARY

The use of the Greek rosan- is prescribed in Rule 87 of the "Xomocanon", which reads: "The rosary should have one hundred [the Russian rule says 103] beads; and upon each bead the prescribed prayer should be recited." The usual form of this prayer prescribed for the rosarj' runs as follows: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Word of the hving God, through the intercessions of thy immaculate Mother [rrjs iravaxpi-vTov ffov Mijrpds] and of all thy Saints, have mercy and save us." If, however, the rosary be said as a penitential exercise, the prayer then is: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." The Russian rosary is divided by the four large beads so as to represent the different parts of the canonical Office which the recitation of the rosarj- replaces, while the four large beads them- selves represent the four Evangelists. In the mon- asteries of Mount Athos, where the severest rule is observed, from eighty to a hundred rosaries are said daily by each monk. In Russian monasteries the rosarj' is usually said five times a day, while in the recitation of it "the "great reverences" are reduced to ten, the remainder being simply sixty "little reverences" (bowing of the head no further than the waist) and sixty recitations of the penitential form of the prescribed prayer.

Among the Greek Uniats the rosary is but little used by the \si\ty. The Basilian monks make use of it in the Eastern style just described and in many cases use it in the Roman fashion in some monasteries. The more active life prescribed for them in following the example of Latin monks leaves less time for the recitation of the rosary according to the Eastern form, whilst the reading and recitation of the Office during the canonical Hours fulfils the original mo- nastic obligation and so does not require the rosary. Latterly the Melchites and the Italo-Greeks have in many places adopted among their laity a form of rosar>' similar to the one used among the laity of the Roman Rite, but its use is far from general. The Ruthenian and Rumanian Greek Catholics do not use it among the laity, but reserve it chiefly for the monastic clergy, although lately in some parts of Galicia its lay use has been occasionally introduced and is regarded as a latinizing practice. It may be said that among the Greeks in general the use of the rosar>- is regarded as a religious exerci.sc peculiar t*) the monastic life; and wherever among Greek Uniats its lay use has been introduced, it is an imita- tion of the Roman pradice. On this a('(ount it has never bfcn popularized among the laity of the peoples, who remain strongly attached to their venerable Eastern Rite.

Mai.tzew, Anilachtshxirh (Berlin, 1895), pp. civ sqq.; Dk Mlebteb, Voyage de deux Benidictins a I' Alhos (Paris, 1908), 180.

Andrew J. Shipman.

BREViAity Hymns of the Rosary. — The proper office granted by lx!0 XIII (.5 Aug., 1888) to the feast contains four hymns which, because of the pontiff's great devotion to the Rosary and his skilful work in classical Latin verse, were thought by some critics to be the compositions of the Holy Father himself. They havf Ijffn traced, however, to the Dominican Office published in 18.'i4 (see Chevaii<!r, "Reperto- rium Hymnologicum", under th(! four titles of the hymns) and were afterwards grant fid to the Dioceses of Sfjgoviaand Venice flS41 anrl 184S). Their author was a pious client of Mary, Eustace Sinina. Exclusive! of the cjymmon doxology fjc^su tibi sit gloria, etc.) each hymn wntains five four-lined stanzas of chissical dimeU.T iambi(». In tin; hymn for First V(«p(!rs (CfjclfJHtJH aula; nuntius) the. Five Joyful Myst«!ri(w are cxilebrated, a single stanza being given to a mys- tpry. In the same symnx-trical manner the hymn for Matins (In niont^; olivis conHito) deals with IIk; Five Sorrowful Mysteries and that for Lauds (Jam

morte victor obruta) with the Five Glorious Mysteries. The hymn for Second Vespers (Te gestientem gaudiis) maintains the symmetrical form by devoting three stanzas to a recapitulation of the three sets of mys- teries (Joj'ful, Sorrowful, Glorious), prefacing them with a stanza which sums up all three and devoting a fifth stanza to a poetical invitation to weave a crown of flowers from the "rosary" for the Mother of fair love. The compression of a single "mystery" into a single stanza may be illustrated by the first stanza of the first hymn, devoted to the First Joyful Mystery:

Coclestis aula; nuntius. Arcana pandens Numinis, Plenam salutat gratia Dei Parentem Virginem.

"The envoy of the Heavenly Court, Sent to unfold God's secret plan, The Virgin hails as full of grace. And Mother of the God made Man " (Bagshawe). The first (or prefatory) stanza of the fourth hymn sums up the three sets of mysteries:

Te gestientem gaudiis, Te sauciam doloribus, Te jugi amictam gloria, O Virgo Mater, pangimus.

The still greater compression of five mysteries within a single stanza may be illustrated by the second stanza of this hymn :

Ave, redundans gaudio Dum concipis, dum visitas, Et edis, off(rs, invenis. Mater beata, Filium.

"Hail, filled with Joy in heart and mind. Conceiving, visiting, or when Thou didst bring forth, offer, and find Thy Child amidst the learned men."

Ar('hl>ishop Bagshawe translates the hymna in his "Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences" (London, s. (1., pp. 114-18). As in the illustration quoted from oiu! of these, the stanza contains (in all the hymns) only two rhymes, the author's aim being "as much as possil)le to keep to the sense of the original, neither adding to this, nor taking from it" (preface). The other illustration of a fully-rhymed stanza is taken from another version of the four hymns (Henry in {\h\ "Rosary Magazine", Oct., 1891). Transhitions into Fr(m(h verse are given by Alliin, "La I'ocsie du Br^viaire", with slight comment, pp. 34.5-.'3(i.

H. T. Henry.

Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. — In accord- ance with the conclusion of the article Rosary no sufficient evidence is forthcoming to establish the (!xistence of any Rosary Confraternity before the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Dominican guilds or fraternities there were, but we cannot assume without i)roof that they were connected with the Rosary. W'c know, however, that through the preaching of Alan dc. Rupe such associations Ix-gan to be erected shortly bcff)re 1475; that (•stal)]islied at Cologne in 1474 by Fatli(T James Si)n'ng('r is eH|)ecially famf)us. People from all parts of the world desired to b(! enrolled in it.. A casual I'^tiglish example occurs in the; Plumpton Correspondenc(! (Camden Society, p. /jO), where a i)ri<'st in Lon<lon writes in 1480 to his patron in Yorkshire: "I send a jjapcr of {he Rosary of our Ladie of Coleyn and I have registered your name with both my Ladis nanicw, as the paper expresses, and ye be acoplcd as brethcr