Blessed Alan de la Roche: Rosary, life and prayer
"He called it the Rosary beads because it resembled a bunch of roses placed at the feet of the Virgin".
Alan de la Roche, a 15th-century Breton, was the founder of the Rosary brotherhood . He was a great Dominican preacher in France, Germany and the Netherlands, where he wanted to develop devotion to the Rosary. It was in Zwolle, Holland, that he began to contemplate the mysteries of Christ, then to meditate on them through the Rosary. Alan de la Roche is celebrated by the Catholic Church on September 9.
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The life of Blessed Alan de la Roche
Blessed Alan de la Roche was born around 1428 near Plouër-sur-Rance in Brittany. He took the Dominican habit in Dinan, in the diocese of Saint-Malo. He continued his studies in Paris, notably at the Jacobins convent on rue Saint-Jacques. He then left to teach theology in Lille and Douai, and finally in the Netherlands. In 1470, he founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in Douai.
In 1471, he defended his thesis on the importance of theAve Maria prayer. From then on, he traveled throughout France, Flanders, the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire, teaching the rosary. Very attached to Marian devotion, he never ceased to remind people that the Rosary should not be "a mechanical and experimental recitation of the Hail Mary, but a celebration of the mysteries of Jesus' life through the eyes and heart of Mary". Indeed, it was thanks to her that the Rosary was created, to meditate on the 15 mysteries: joyful, sorrowful and glorious. These mysteries refer to the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection of the Lord. The Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to him several times during his life.
He died in Zwolle on September 8, 1475, the feast of the Nativity of Mary. He is buried in the choir of the Dominican church in Zwolle.
Today, praying the Rosary has a very important place in the life of the Church. A fourth mystery, the Luminous Mystery, was added to the Rosary in 2002. October is Rosary Month, with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7. If you'd like to learn how to pray the Rosary, Hozana invites you to discover the Rosario application for group prayer.
Prayers of Blessed Alan de la Roche
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary
"Holy Virgin, whose glory, after that of God, surpasses all our thoughts; Virgin the holiest among all the saints, sovereign Dispenser of grace, Mother of our salvation and of all good things, could we without folly cease to love You, cease to honor You, to invoke You? Are You not our light, our help, our consoler, our refuge, and after Your adorable Son, all our hope, all our happiness? Oh, how happy are those who know how to love You, honor You and serve You as devoted children! O Mother! Here is my soul, here is my body, they are yours. May your Lessons, your Protection accompany me everywhere and always, You, my defense and my life! So be it."
The fifteen promises of the Rosary
1. He who perseveres in reciting my Rosary will receive all the Graces he asks for.
2. I promise my very special Protection and great Benefits to those who will devoutly recite my Rosary.
3. The Rosary will be a powerful shield against hell, will destroy vices, will deliver from sin, will bring down heresy.
4. The Rosary will make virtues germinate and obtain Divine Mercy for souls; it will substitute in hearts the Love of God for the love of the world, raising them to the desire of heavenly and eternal goods. How many souls will be sanctified in this way!
5. He who entrusts himself to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6. He who piously recites my Rosary, meditating on its Mysteries, will not die a bad death; a sinner, he will be converted; a just person, he will persevere in grace, and in any case, he will be admitted to eternal Life.
7. True devotees of my Rosary will not die without the help of the Church.
8. I want all those who recite my Rosary to find in their life and at their death light and fullness of graces, and to share in the merits of the Blessed.
9. I will promptly deliver from Purgatory those souls who are devoted to the Rosary.
10. The true sons of my Rosary will enjoy singular glory in Heaven.
11. Whatever one asks for through the Rosary, one will obtain.
12. I will assist in all their needs those who propagate my Rosary.
13. I have obtained from my Son that the confreres of the Holy Rosary have as brothers in life and in death the Saints of Heaven.
14. Those who recite my Rosary are my beloved sons, the brothers of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to the Rosary is a clear sign of predestination.
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