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Preface
BIOGRAPHERS have already told us much about St. Louis De
Montfort and the Rosary; now, with this first English edition
of
Tim Secret OP THE ROSARY, we can listen to Montfortspeaking for himself. Drawing upon
his own experience as wellas upon the experience of others,
1 he endeavors to bring hometo the reader, "in a simple and straight forward manner, .. as he
himself tells
us, the authentic message of the Rosary; namely,that it is a veritable school of Christian life. He sees it as
including essentially the meditation of the mysteries of the life,
death and glory of Jesus and Mary, with a view not only to
honoring but especially imitating their virtues as held up to
our consideration in each mystery.
For our Saint,
the Rosary was not simply a method ofprayer: it was
his most effective tool and weapon in his apostolicwork. Fittingly has the Church called
him an "Extraordinarypreacher of the Rosary." He preached it in season and
out of season; established it
in every parish where he gave amission
2 and judged the fruits of the mission by the subsequentperseverance in its recitation. There was no limit
to the powerof the Rosary and
to it he attributed much of his success withsinners. "Let me but place my
rosary around a sinner's neck,"he was wont
to say, "and he will not escape me."A Dominican Tertiary himself,
De Montfort represents thebest in the Dominican Rosary tradition. Speaking of our Saint's
contribution to the Rosary, Father R. Poupon, well known
Dominican writer says, "Montfort's genius prolongs in one
straight line that of Blessed Alan de Ia Roche and of
St. Dominic.He completes them by bringing forth a personal grace
and interpretation." Commenting on
De Montfort's book,Father William says,
''It goes far beyond mere research. Wemight say that it contains everything that can be said about the
1
See "Tenth Rose," for some of his source.1 It
is estimated that be enrolled over 100,000 persons in the Rosary Confraternity.(L.e
Crom, S.M.M. "St. L-M. de Montfort" Ch. XV, p. 311.)
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