Stories

A Spanish countess who had learned the Rosary from St. Dominic prayed it faithfully every day and made great progress in her soul. Wanting to go further, she asked a bishop, a famous preacher, for practices that would help her toward perfection.

A nobleman placed one of his daughters in a monastery that had grown lax, where the nuns cared only for vanity and amusement. Their confessor, however, was a zealous priest devoted to the Rosary, and to guide this young nun he told her to pray it every day while meditating on the life, passion, and glory of Jesus Christ.

In 1578 a woman of Antwerp had given herself to the devil and signed a contract to that effect with her own hand. Almost at once she was struck with remorse and longed to undo the terrible thing she had done, so she went looking for a wise and kindly confessor who could tell her how to be set free.

Several soldiers who fought under the protection of Our Lady of the Rosary found themselves delivered again and again against impossible odds. Simon de Montfort saw small companies scatter forces many times their size, and a papal legate, Cardinal Pierre, once saw three thousand men who had prayed the Rosary carried safely through a battle against a hundred thousand.

St. Dominic had a cousin named Don Perez who was living a thoroughly immoral life. Hearing that Dominic's preaching on the Rosary was converting many, he said, "I had given up all hope of being saved, but now I begin to take heart again. I must hear this man of God." So he came to a sermon, and Dominic, seeing him, preached against sin with all his force and begged God to show his cousin the true state of his soul.

Alphonsus, a king in Spain, had been living a disordered life, and after many misfortunes he was driven to take refuge in a town belonging to one of his allies. It happened that St. Dominic was there on Christmas Day, preaching the Rosary and the graces it wins, and saying that those who prayed it devoutly would overcome their enemies and regain all they had lost.

Blanche of Castile, Queen of France, grieved for twelve years because her marriage had given her no children. When St. Dominic visited her, he told her to pray the Rosary every day and ask God for the grace of motherhood, and she followed his counsel faithfully. In time she gave birth to a son, Philip, but the child died in infancy.

Blessed Alan de la Roche told of a man he knew who was possessed by an evil spirit and had tried every kind of devotion to be rid of it, but nothing worked.

A lady in Rome led such a strict and fervent life that she put even the strictest religious to shame. When she came to St. Dominic for direction and made her confession, he gave her one Rosary for her penance and urged her to pray it every day.

Blessed Alan de la Roche told of a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Rosary. For several years before she died she was bedridden and suffered agonizing pain, and at last she died.