We have seen what an excellent prayer the Hail Mary is. It follows that
it is also an efficacious prayer. When the Hail Mary was uttered for
the first time by the Archangel it ushered in the most stupendous of
all miracles. And whenever we devoutly repeat this salutation with
faith and confidence, it will be for us also a means of grace and
blessing. Whenever you salute Mary, says St. Bernard, she returns the
greeting, she gives you in return consolation and blessing.

Let us then recite this beautiful and excellent prayer most diligently
and piously, and let us give special preference to the devotion of the
Rosary which is a garland woven to blessed Mary from this prayer of
praise. The quarter of an hour spent in reciting the beads will bring
us blessings in life and a happy death. How we shall rejoice when we
behold Mary face to face and greet her with the words: Hail Mary, full
of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, to whom be praise for all
eternity. Amen.




IX. THE PRAYER TO INCREASE THE THREE DIVINE VIRTUES


"And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the
greatest of these is charity."--I. Cor. xiii, 13.

Dear brethren, in beginning the Rosary one Our Father and three Hail
Marys are said in supplication for the three divine virtues. These
virtues are called divine because they have God for their Author or