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The Secret of the Rosary

than to say that he had been found worthy to be the guardian of the Queen of Heaven. The
congregation was made up of theologians and other eminent people who were used to hearing unusual
and polished discourses; but Saint Dominic told them that it was not his wish to give them a
learned discourse, wise in the eyes of the world, but that he would speak in the simplicity of the
Holy Spirit and with His forcefulness.
So he began preaching the Holy Rosary and explained the Hail Mary word by word as he would to a
group of children and used the very simple illustrations which were in the book Our Lady had given
him. 
Carthagena, the great scholar, quoting Blessed Alan de la Roche in "De Dignitate Psalterii,"
describes how this took place:
"Blessed Alan writes that one day Father Dominic said to him in a vision: 'My son, it is good to
preach; but there is always a danger of looking for praise rather than the salvation of souls.
Listen carefully to what happened to me in Paris so that you may be on guard against this kind of
mistake: I was to preach in the great church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and I was
particularly anxious to give a brilliant sermon, not out of pride, but because of the high
intellectual stature of the congregation.
'An hour before the time I had to preach, I was recollectedly saying my Rosary-as I always did
before giving a sermon
-when I fell into ecstasy. I saw my beloved friend the
Mother of God coming towards me with a book in her hand. 'Dominic,' she said, 'your sermon for
today may be very good indeed, but no matter how good it is I have brought you one that is very
much better.'
'Of course I was overjoyed, took the book and read every
word of it. Just as Our Lady had said, found exactly the right things to say in my sermon, so I
thanked her with all my heart.
'When it was time to begin, I saw that the University of Paris had turned out in full force as well
as a large number of noblemen :They had all seen and heard of the great things
that the good Lord had been doing through me. So I went up into the pulpit.
 
'It was the feast of Saint John the Apostle but all I said about him was that he had been found
worthy to be the
guardian of the Queen of Heaven. Then I addressed the congregation:

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