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[Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 and Luke 11:1-4.  These scriptures are from the Roman calendar.  This is a major Dominican feast and the scriptures will vary at Dominican locations.]

     "Lord, teach us to pray..." [Luke]

     The request of a disciple in the Gospel According to Luke results in the "Our Father..."  But, when Catholics gather to pray, the rosary is never far away and the Our Father is one of the prayers that is part of the rosary.  Outside the sacraments, I cannot think of a more popular prayer in the Latin Rite ,(to which most of my Beloved Congregation belong) than the rosary.  

     The form of the rosary that most of us are familiar with was fixed by Pope Pius V in the 16th century in thanksgiving for a major naval victory of Christian forces against the Turks at Lepanto.  However, the rosary as we know it had been around for at least two centuries before then, and in other forms earlier.  Although there is a pious legend that the rosary was given by the Blessed Mother to St. Dominic, that story has had to yield to historical evidence that Dominicans took an existing form and popularized it.  Blessed Alan de la Roche, OP, (1428-1475) who had the dream from which the legend came, was instrumental in establishing Confraternities of the Rosary in the 15th century which enabled the widespread popularization of this prayer.  We Dominicans adopted a fifteen decade rosary as part of our habit soon after that time.

     Whatever the history of the rosary, its original purpose was intended to educate as well as devotionally edify.  Only three basic "prayers" had to be memorized.  The real goal was and is to meditate on aspects of the life of Jesus or Mary in what we call "the mysteries."  Nowadays, the effort to educate finds its way into the "scriptural" rosary, but I suspect the "devotional" aspect is more common.  I recall vividly in my own dad's last illness, he kept his rosary draped around his neck so he could easily reach it.  The familiar Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries endured untouched until St. John Paul II added the "Luminous" mysteries during his pontificate.  There is no law that requires Catholics to use any of these.  We may substitute five parables, miracles or other events from the life of Jesus or Mary or the apostles, etc. that enable us to contemplate important scriptural truths.  It is the scriptural side of the rosary that tends to be lost and I recommend anything that will recover this important aspect!  

     We Dominicans have our own group form of the rosary in which the leader and "congregation" alternate leading a decade.  The Apostles' creed and the "Fatima Prayer" (Oh my Jesus, etc.) are not part of that.  But the flexibility and portability of the rosary are part of its popularity.  Different religious congregations have worn different configurations of the beads, and I have seen rosaries made from very unusual materials!  On this feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we can be thankful to God and to Mary for this prayer form that is such a comfort and blessing as well as a way of learning.  AMEN.    .