Consequences of Mariani Posts
To all who will recite my Rosary I promise my very special protection. Il Rosario sarà un’arma potentissima contro l’inferno, it will destroy the vices, he will dispel sin and overthrow heresies. Chi si raccomanderà col Rosario non perirà .
Chiunque reciterà devotamente il Rosario, with the meditation of the Mysteries, si convertirà se peccatore, crescerà in grazia se giusto, e sarà fatto degno della vita eterna. I free the devoted Souls of my Rosary from Purgatory every day. The true children of my Rosary will enjoy great joy in Heaven. What you will ask for with the Rosary, you will get it. Those who pray my Rosary, saranno da me soccorsi in ogni loro necessità . The devotion of the Holy Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
(Message of Our Lady of the Rosary, 1400)
How the messages of the alleged apparitions have influenced Catholic practices? What has changed since before the apparitions?
There are two main practices that became part of Catholic customs as a result of the “heavenly messages”: the prayer of the rosary and the use of the scapulars.
The Rosary
The so-called Dominican rosary is one of the most popular and well-known forms of prayer in the Catholic Church. Prayer of the Rosary is considered a pious practice that aims to combine singing and contemplative prayer. The rosary is made up of a string of memorized prayers divided into 15 decades of “Ave Maria”, each preceded by a “Our father”, and followed by a “Glory”. The prayers are accompanied by meditations on some aspects of the life of Jesus and Mary, denominated “mystery”. The faithful recite the prayers by heart, but he dwells on the mysteries assigned to the decade he is reciting. The mysteries are of three kinds (gaudiosi, painful, glorious), with five meditations in each division.
The worshiper keeps track of these many prayers by means of a string of pearls (precisely called rosary), to which a crucifix is attached. The prayer of the rosary is clearly focused on’ Ave Maria, which is repeated 150 times at the end of 15 decades (usually “pray the rosary” it means praying only five of the fifteen years). The Ave Maria is recited in two parts:
Ave Maria, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;. You are blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Santa Maria, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The origin of the Rosary and its connection with St. Dominic, has been vigorously debated. The “Pious tradition” teaches that the Virgin Mary appeared to Dominic in an apparition and gave him the rosary. She commissioned him to proclaim the many benefits it would bring to those who had had it and performed it, and promised him many personal blessings, if he did. This tradition starts in the 15th century and gained approval due to its inclusion in many papal and encyclical bulls, who promised various indulgences for those who had faithfully recited it.
The connection of the origin of the rosary with the apparition to St. Dominic has been contested by modern Catholic scholars. The New Catholic Encyclopedia he claims:
Those who favored the tradition, however, failed to gather convincing evidence to support it […] the most satisfactory explanation of the origin of the Rosary is that it gradually developed as a Marian devotion to which it merged”. however, many Catholics still believe this pious tradition.
While the origin of the rosary cannot be linked to a convincing apparition of Mary, the command to say the Rosary is a central motif in almost all Marian apparitions approved by the Catholic Church. As we have seen, following the first Marian messages of 1400 the apparitions continued to command the prayer of the rosary (particularly that of Lourdes and of Fatima). The apparitions said that praying the rosary was a way to avert the apocalyptic catastrophe, thus instilling fear in the faithful. Even the message of Medjugorje follows this pattern. During one of the apparitions in Medjugorje, Our Lady asked that the rosary be complete with 15 decades and that you have to recite it every day. According to Miravalle, the Rosary is the fundamental form of the devotional prayer requested in Medjugorje.
Le Apparizioni di Maria hanno così fatto molto per aumentare la popolarità del rosario tra i cattolici.
Deepening: Recite the Rosary: it is biblical?
The Scapulars
Take this Scapular. Chiunque muoia indossandolo non patirà il fuoco dell’inferno. Esso sarà simbolo di salvezza, protection from danger and the promise of peace. This is the privilege for you and yours: chiunque morirà rivestendolo, sarà salvo.
(Cambridge Apparition Message of 16 July 1251 a San Simone Stock, Prior General of the Carmelite Order. The apparition takes the name of “Our Lady of Mount Carmel”)
Take this Scapular. Another object of Catholic devotion that is attributed to a Marian apparition is the scapular. The Scapulars are devoutly worn by millions of Catholics around the world.
The first scapulars were worn by monks since the 11th century (religious dress) to protect their habits during manual work. At first, it consisted of a large cloth, worn over the shoulder (scapular in Latin it means “shoulder”). Today, however, they consist of two small squares of double fabric, hanging from the shoulders by two strings or ropes. Over the course of time, a symbolic meaning has been assigned to various ecclesiastical leaders with different colors and shapes. They were considered to be a kind of cross worn on the shoulders – a sign of divine protection. There are now about twenty different scapulars linked to the various religious orders.
The oldest and best known of the Marian scapulars is the brown scapular dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Its origin is presumably linked to a Marian apparition.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains:
According to the Carmelite legend, Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock in Cambridge in 1251 e, showing him a brown scapular, he declared that whoever carried him to his death would be saved from’ inferno, and on the first Saturday after his death he would be taken to heaven.
Historically, non è chiaro se questa apparizione o lo scapolare associato era noti ai frati carmelitani nella metà del XIII secolo. Some believe it was a pious invention of a later time. however, the promise of deliverance from hell was a source of controversy. While theologians insist that the scapular is not to be considered as guaranteeing salvation in and of itself (The inner disposition of the soul must be considered primary), however, many Catholics attribute a magical action to the scapular.
Once again, as for the rosary or the various rites, for many Catholics, a practice established by an apparition makes a guarantee for heaven!
