A story for every day...

The Holy Rosary was given by the Queen of Heaven to the glorious St. Dominic to bring the heretics back into the bosom of the Church and to convert sinners. We borrow from the Annals of the Missions of China a fact worthy of attention.
In Kiang-Nan, says the Chinese missionary, the devotion to the rosary is as old as the faith, and it is perhaps to it that the faith owes its preservation. In the parishes, the faithful wear the rosary in their buttonholes, and they are no less proud of this decoration than they are of a cross or a ribbon elsewhere. Also Mary grants them, in return, sensitive marks of Her protection. We will give just one example:

A poor woman, given over to all kinds of despair, and in bad terms with her husband, was horribly tempted to commit suicide, and she discovered her sinful plan to the missionary. He made every effort to dissuade her, and after exhorting her to put all her trust in Mary, he gave her a rosary, recommending that she never leave it. A month later, she returned and said to her confessor: “Father, have pity on me; I am very sorry! If I still exist, if I am not engulfed in hell, it is not my fault. I spared nothing to kill myself; but incredible! I didn’t succeed. I swallowed rusty copper coins and drank huge doses of poison several times, and each time I only felt pain in my guts accompanied by terrible vomiting. How many times I set out to rush into the river! and always an invisible hand held me to the water’s edge: my feet refused to leave the ground, however much I tried to detach them.”

As she spoke, tears flooded her face and her distressed features testified to her sincerity. Then the Father addressed question after question to her concerning her exercises of piety. “Father, for several months I have not, I assure you, said a single prayer; I have not even said my rosary (an incredible crime among these fervent Christians). I had in the depths of my soul the intimate persuasion that I was a victim doomed without hope to damnation.” For half an hour the missionary searched in vain for the secret knot of the affair; but the word of the rosary made him find it. He learned that the unfortunate woman, faithful to his recommendation, had never allowed herself to be separated from her Rosary, in spite of all the contrary suggestions of the enemy of the human race. “That is enough,” he told her, “go and humble yourself at the feet of the good Mother.” A sincere conversion was the fruit of this noteworthy protection.

Pious children of Mary, learn from the account of this pious missionary to have complete confidence in Our Lady of the Rosary. Apply yourselves to the holy practice of reciting the Rosary every day, and love to carry it with you; it will be a great help in making the Queen of Heaven favorable to you. How precious it is to love and serve Mary!