V. THE APOSTLES' CREED
VI. THE GLORY BE TO THE FATHER
VII. THE OUR FATHER
VIII. THE HAIL MARY
IX. THE PRAYER TO INCREASE THE THREE DIVINE VIRTUES
X. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ROSARY IN REGARD TO ITS FORM
XI. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ROSARY ON ACCOUNT OF THE MYSTERIES
COMMEMORATED



THE ROSARY
CONFERENCES FOR SODALITIES B. V. M.




I. THE NAME OF THIS DEVOTION


"I was exalted as a rose plant in Jericho."--Eccles. xxiv, 18.

My dear brethren, when Pope Pius IX, on May 23, 1877, gave audience to
a number of pious pilgrims he said to them: "Have courage, my dear
children! I exhort you to fight against the persecution of the Church
and against anarchy, not with the sword, but with the rosary, with
prayer and good example." This Pope, who with great wisdom and strong
hand has guided for thirty-two years the bark of Peter, which in many
violent storms had been rocked to and fro, he who well knew the great
dangers of our times, regarded the rosary as a conquering weapon.