''The Secret of the Rosary'' is a book about the

Holy Rosary Holy Rosary may refer to: * Rosary, a set of prayer beads used in a traditional Roman Catholic devotion * The Holy Rosary, a prayer based on the rosary See also * Holy Rosary Academy (disambiguation), one of several Roman Catholic schools with ...

written by

Saint Louis de Montfort Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Roman Catholic priest and confessor. He was known in his time as a preacher and was made a missionary apostolic by Pope Clement XI. As well as preaching, Montfort ...

, a French priest and Catholic

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

who died in 1716. The English translation of the book bears the

Imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn The Diocese of Brooklyn is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the U.S. state of New York. It is headquartered in Brooklyn and its territory encompasses the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. ...

. The book revolves around the views of the rosary and the

power of the rosary In the Catholic Church, prayer is "the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." It is an act of the moral virtue of religion, which Catholic theologians identify as a part of the cardinal virtue of jus ...

and consists of a number of short sections called

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s each being about one or two pages long. Each Rose discusses a separate viewpoint about the Rosary and may be addressed to a different cross section of the audience, e.g. priests versus lay people. This book discusses two different

methods of praying the rosary Five methods of praying the rosary are presented within the works of Saint Louis de Montfort, a French Roman Catholic priest and writer of the early 18th century. Montfort was an early proponent of Mariology, and much of his work is devoted to the ...

, while three additional methods (i.e. five altogether) are listed in the book ''

God Alone God Alone was the motto and the title of the collected writings of Saint Louis de Montfort, one of the leading figures in the French school of spirituality and Roman Catholic Mariology. Montfort wrote "God Alone" on all his correspondences and a ...

'', based on the collected writings of St. Louis. The book consists of an introduction, plus two main parts. Part I: “What the Rosary is” and Part II: “How to Recite it”. The book is structured in terms of 53 Roses, i.e. sections. The introduction consists of three Roses, Part I embodies the First Rose to the Fortieth Rose and Part II includes the Fiftieth Rose. The introduction has three Roses: The White Rose for

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

s, the Red Rose for

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

ners, and the Mystical Rose Tree for devout souls. These three Roses epitomize the multi-view approach taken by the book. The advice to priests about using the Rosary to save sinners directly relates to the advice given to sinners on how to use the Rosary for

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

. This theme continues throughout the book, each Rose gently leading to another, in the process gradually revealing various “secrets” on how to approach the Rosary, how to recite and how to use it for optimal spiritual benefits. An example of the multi-perspective, yet pragmatic, method with which the book deals with the Rosary is the way the concepts of focus and respect are conveyed through a set of Roses. This starts with the Forty First Rose called “Purity of Intention”. This Rose points out that it is not the length of a

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

that matters, but the fervor, purity and respect with which it is said, e.g. a single properly said

Hail Mary The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

is worth many that are badly said. This Rose is followed by the two Roses “Attention” and “Fighting Distractions”. These provide advice for achieving the proper mindset for saying the Rosary. The topic then concludes with the Rose “With Reverence” which returns to respect. Although each of these is a separate Rose, they are cleverly inter-related to present multiple dimensions for focus and respect. Hence, although the book is highly readable and unassuming on the surface, it is based on a well structured “multi-perspective analysis” of the Rosary. The fifty three sections are intricately connected and clearly thought out. Hence the term “secret” is quite becoming, for the book reveals these interconnections in terms of a coherent theme. But the typical reader need not be concerned with the analyses because the flow of the text is natural, pure and pious and appeals to laymen as well as priests. The book has been read by Catholics worldwide for over two centuries and continues to be a great spiritual resource.

References

, ''The Secret of the Rosary'' Tan Books & Publisher, 1976. .

, ''

: The Collected Writings of St. Louis Marie De Montfort'' Montfort Publications, 1995 {{ISBN, 0-910984-55-7 Rosary Christian literature Christian devotional literature 18th-century books Books about Christianity