Battling Modernism: Have You Prayed Your Rosary Today?

“Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for alone thou hast put an end to all heresies...”

—Tract from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Roman Missal

Today we face the greatest heresy to ever afflict the Church—modernism. Pope St. Pius X described modernism as the “synthesis of all heresies.” Now consider, just for a moment: The Madonna is hailed by the Church as “Conqueror of ALL Heresies.”

Putting two and two together, the solution to eradicating modernism is simple. To be rid of modernism—and, above all, for the good of our own souls—the first thing we must do is cultivate a true devotion to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the one who crushes the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). The foundation of such a devotion is to pray a daily Rosary. Yes, every day. It starts there, builds from there, and continues there.

WHY the ROSARY? Let’s hear what OUR LADY HERSELF said—

—To the three children of Fatima: “Pray the Rosary every day.” At each and every apparition, she repeated this motherly command. When she told them who she was, she said very simply: “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”

—To Blessed Alan de la Roche: “When you say your Rosary, the angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly guess. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary.”

—To St. Dominic, battling the Albigensian heresy: “Preach my Psalter” and “One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, I shall save the world.”

—To St. Matilda: “‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!’ No creature has ever said anything that was more pleasing to me, nor will anyone ever be able to find or say to me anything that pleases me more.”

WHAT GOD’S HOLY ONES SAID OF THE ROSARY:

—St. Bernardine of Siena: You must know that when you say ‘Hail, Mary,’ she immediately greets you! Don’t think that she is one of those rude women of whom there are so many—on the contrary, she is utterly courteous and pleasant. If you greet her, she will answer you right away and converse with you!”

—Blessed Alan de la Roche: “The Holy Rosary is the storehouse of countless blessings.”

—Pope Nicholas V: “The Rosary is the tree of life which raises the dead, heals the diseased, and preserves those who are in health.”

—Pope St. Pius X: “The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.”

—Pius XII called the Rosary “a compendium of the Gospel.”

—Sr. Lucia of Fatima (Servant of God): “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.

“With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”

—St. Francis de Sales: “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.”

—St. Louis de Montfort: “When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.”

He also said this: “If you say the Rosary faithfully unto death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, ‘you will receive a never-fading crown of glory’ (1 St. Peter 5:4).”

And this: “Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day become a formal heretic or be led astray by the devil.”

This, too: “If you persevere in reciting the Rosary, this will be a most probable sign of your eternal salvation.”

AND this: “Recite your Rosary with faith, with humility, with confidence, and with perseverance.”

For those who think themselves already condemned to eternal perdition, St. de Montfort counseled: “Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and will save your soul, if—and mark well what I say—if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.”

—St. John Bosco: “Where the Rosary is recited, there will be peace and tranquility.”

—St. Bernadette: “In the evening, when you go to sleep, hold your beads, doze off reciting them, like babies who go to sleep in their mother's arms, mumbling ‘Mamma! Mamma!’”

—St. Therese of Lisieux (the Little Flower): “The Rosary is a long chain that links heaven and earth. One end of it is in our hands and the other end is in the hands of the holy Virgin...The Rosary prayer rises like incense to the feet of the Almighty. Mary responds at once like a beneficial dew, bringing new life to human hearts.”

—St. Pio (Padre Pio): “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for the Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.”

These were only some of the Saints of God who spoke on the Rosary, testifying to a historical fact of centuries: After the Holy Mass, the Rosary is the prayer most pleasing to the Lord our God.