A story for every day...

From the time of St. Dominic, all the true servants of God have held the Most Holy Rosary in high esteem. Pope St. Pius V recited it every day, without being prevented from doing so by the many affairs of his office. St. Charles Borromeo was very faithful to the same practice, and recommended it to his seminarians.

We read in the life of St. John Baptist de la Salle, founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, that he never failed to recite the Rosary every day. Convinced that no prayer could be holier and more pleasing to God, he held it in singular esteem and made a point of saying it everywhere. In the streets, he would hold his hat in his hand and under his cassock he would pray a small pewter rosary, reciting it with great devotion. He did the same on his travels, a practice he left to his Brothers or disciples, to keep them in the recollection, modesty and spirit of their holy state. They themselves taught the children how to say the Rosary with fruitfulness, and during their classes, on certain days, they would designate two of them to recite it in particular, and they would be replaced by two others when the first ones had finished; this did not contribute little to maintain among their pupils the spirit of piety and to attract the heavenly blessings on their studies.

– From his earliest years, Saint Francis de Sales made devotion to Mary the delight of his loving heart. From that time on, he joined the confraternities or congregations erected in her honor. He vowed to recite the rosary every day of his life, which he observed so faithfully that he never omitted it, and so devoutly that he often spent a whole hour meditating on the mysteries of each decade with a recollection and attention that filled his heart with the most tender outpourings of love towards his beloved Sovereign. In the evening, no matter how late the night was, no matter how tired he was, he did not cut back on this practice. When he was so ill that he could not speak, he would have one of his people recite the rosary and accompany the recitation mentally.

– Venerable Sister Mary Crucified prepared herself for the solemnity of the Most Holy Rosary by offering to Mary fifteen acts of virtue each day, namely: five acts of humility, five acts of contrition and five acts of love for God, in honor of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary; this she continued to the end of her life.

– The Hail Mary is very pleasing to the spotless Virgin, and why? Because it reminds Her of Her divine Motherhood, the source of all Her privileges. She declared to St. Mechtilde that no more pleasing greeting could be addressed to Her. She even promised St. Gertrude as much help at the hour of death as she would have recited Hail Marys. This prayer, said by a pious heart, will never go unrewarded.