The Rosary for the FamilyRead Time 10 min

October, the month dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, is an opportunity for us to reflect on the importance of the Rosary in family life. In the briefest way possible, I think it would be important to at least consider three things: why the Rosary is so highly favored, how it can help our families, and why this and not another of the many devotions in our Church.

So Highly Favored

Saints and popes have recognized the importance and the power of the Rosary. St. Dominic wielded the Rosary as a weapon against heresy in the 13th century so effectively that he converted thousands. Pope St. Pius V called on all Catholics to pray the Rosary for victory in the Battle of Lepanto on Oct. 7, 1571. This is how Pope Leo XIII in 1883 explained it in his Encyclical on the Rosary, Supremi Apostolatus Officio, no. 4:

And thus Christ’s faithful warriors, prepared to sacrifice their life and blood for the salvation of their faith and their country, proceeded undauntedly to meet their foe near the Gulf of Corinth, while those who were unable to take part formed a pious band of supplicants, who called on Mary, and unitedly saluted her again and again in the words of the Rosary, imploring her to grant the victory to their companions engaged in battle.

Our Sovereign Lady did grant her aid; for in the naval battle … the Christian fleet gained a magnificent victory … And it was to preserve the memory of this great boon thus granted, that the same Most Holy Pontiff [St. Pius V] desired that a feast in honor of Our Lady of Victories should celebrate the anniversary of so memorable a struggle, the feast which Gregory XIII dedicated under the title of “The Holy Rosary.”

Pope Leo XIII goes on to enumerate several other popes before him who promoted the Rosary as an aid against all kind of evils and errors, those predecessors included: Urban IV, Sixtus IV, Leo X, St. Pius V, and Gregory XIII. He says:

We, who seek a remedy for similar evils, do not doubt therefore that the prayer introduced by that most blessed man [St. Dominic] with so much advantage to the Catholic world, will have the greatest effect in removing the calamities of our times also. Not only do We earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house and family, and that unceasingly, but we also desire that the whole of the month of October in this year should be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary. — Supremi Apostolatus Officio, 8

Since St. Pius V, at least 11 popes have explicitly promoted the Rosary in formal documents or public calls to prayer. Additionally, among the saints and blesseds who most promoted the Rosary can be found: St. Dominic, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl. Alan de la Roche, St. Louis of Granada, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Vincent de Paul, St. John Bosco, St. Rose of Lima, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bl. Bartolo Longo, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Louis de Montfort, St. Josemaría Escrivá and St. John Paul II. The Rosary has been promoted for so long by so many because they have all found it to be an effective means of calling down God’s grace through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for all types of needs, big and small.

Help for Our Families

By personal family experience, I can echo the following quotes about the efficacy of the Most Holy Rosary prayed in the family:

The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God. — St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 41.

Other popes also commented on this:

“If you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.” — St. Pius X

“There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family than the daily recitation of the Rosary.” — Pope Pius XII

I have seen firsthand siblings squabbling and fighting before the Rosary and united and calm after the Rosary. When before the Rosary there is agitation and unease, after the Rosary there is a stillness and peace. At first, it was challenging to find the time after dinner to sit everyone down to pray, but after a few weeks it got easier, and now it is just a normal routine that strengthens our family unity and returns a palpable tranquility to our home.

Why This Devotion

There are so many wonderful and holy devotions in our Catholic Church. But no devotion outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has received so much attention from the popes and saints over the years. It is a wonderful devotion that centers us on Jesus Christ and his Most Holy Mother. No other devotion has shown the favor of heaven by repeated and continual miracles and graces received, year after year, decade after decade, century after century. This is a devotion that is heaven sent and here to stay.

Among all the devotions approved by the Church, none has been favored by so many miracles as the devotion of the most Holy Rosary. — Pope Pius IX

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 her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother. You must always hold fast to the Rosary. When you do so, the Blessed Mother will wrap you in her mantle and draw you closer to the Sacred Heart of her Son. — St. Padre Pio

If you are a devotee of the Most Holy Rosary, congratulations, you know what I am talking about — keep up the good work. If you don’t currently pray the Rosary, find an easily available guide or app online or a booklet at your nearest Catholic bookstore and try it for a week; I think you will be pleasantly surprised how something so simple can be so effective.