ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD LEO XIII., BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 27, 24 October 1884, Page 19

ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD LEO XIII., BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE.

To all Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, PrimateS Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic See. LEO PP. XIII. Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction :— Last year, as each of you is aware, We decreed by an Encyclical Letter that to win the help of Heaven for the Chorch in her tiials, the great Mother of God should be honoured by the means ? lv? «r * ° y Roßarv during the whole of the month of October. In this We followed both Our own impulse and the example of Our predecessors, who in times of difficulty were wont to have recourse with increased fervour to the Blessed Virgin, and to seek her aid with special prayers. That wish of Ours has been complied with, with such a willingness and unanimity that it is more than ever apparent how real is the religion and how great is the fervour of the Christian peoples, and how great is the trust everywhere placed in the heavenly patronage of the Virgin Mary. For Us, weighed down with the burden of such and so great trials and evils, We confess that the sight of such intensity of open piety and faith has been a great consolation, and even gives Us new courage for the facing, If that be the wish of God, of still greater trials. Indeed, from the spirit of prayer which is poured out over the house of "David and the dwellers" in Jerusalem, We have a confident hope that God will at length let Himself be touched and have pity upon the state of His Church, and give ear to the prayers coming to Him through her whom He h s chosen to be the dispenser of all heavenly graces. For these reasons, therefore, with the same causes in existence w ? «r 611 ?* 1 Us laßfc year, as We have said, to rouse the piety of all, We have deemed it Our duty to exhort again this year the people of Christendom to persevere in that method and formula of prayer known as the Rosary of Mary, and thereby to merit the powerful ► Patronage of the great Mother of God. Inasmuch as the enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their aims, its defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly help and benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the more usually the fruits of our perseverance. It is good to recill to memory the example of that illustrious widow, Judith— a type of the Blessed Virgin-who curbed the ill-judged impatience of the Jews when they attempted to fix, according to their own judgment, the day appointed by God for the deliverance of His city. The example should also be bojne in mind * *v ~P ostles » who awaited the supreme gift promised unto them of the Paraclete, and persevered unanimously in prayer with Mary, Mother of Jesus. For it is, indeed, an arduous and exceeding weighty matter that is n»w in hand : it is to humiliate an old and most subtle enemy in the spread-out array of his power ; to win back the freedom of the Church and of her Head ; to preserve and secure the fortifications within which should rest in peace the safety and weal of human society. Care must be taken, therefore, that, in these times of mourning for the Church, the most holy devotion of the Kosary of Mary be assiduously and piously observed, the more so that this method of prayer being so arranged as to recall in turn all the mysteries of our salvation, is eminently fitted to foster the SDirit of piety. r With respect to Italy, it is now most necessary io implore the intercession of the most powerful Virgin through the medium of the Rosary, since a misfortune, and not an imaginary one, is threatening —nay, rather is among us. The Asiatic cholera, having, under God's will, crossed the boundary within which natufe seemed to have confined it, has spread through the crowded shores of a French port, and thence to the neighbouring districts on Italian soil.— To Mary, therefore, we must fly— to her whom rightly and justly the Church entitles the dispenser of saving, aiding, and protecting gifts— that she, gracionsly hearkening to our prayers, may grant us the help they besought, and drive far from us the unclean plague. We have therefore resolved that in this coming month of October, in which the sacred devotions to Our Virgin Lady of the RosHry are solemnised throughout the Catholic world, all the devotions shall again be observed which were commanded by Us this time last year. — We therefore decree and make order that from the Ist of October to the 2nd of November following in all the parish churches (curialibus templis), in all public churches dedicated to the Mother of God, or in such as are appointed by the Ordinary, five decades at least of the Rosary be recited, together with the Litany. If in the morning the Holy Sacrifice will take place during these prayers ; if, in the evening, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for the adoration of |Fhe faithful; after which those present will receive the customary Benediction. We desire that, wherever it be lawful, the local confraternity of the Rosary should make a solemn procession through the streets as a public manifestation of religious devotion. That the heavenly treasures of the Church may be thrown open o all, We hereby renew every Indulgence granted by Us last year To all those, therefore, who shall have assisted on the prescribed days at th.c public recital of the Rosary, and have prayed for Our intentions — to all those also who from legitimate causes sha 1 have been compelled to do so in private — We grant for each occasion an Indulgence of seven years and seven times forty days. To these who, in the prescribed space of time shall have performed these devotions-at least ten times-cither publicly in the churches or from just causes in the privacy of their homes— and shall have expiated their sins by confession and have received Communion at the altar We grant from the treasury of the Church a Plenary Indulgence! We also grant this full forgiveness of sins and plenary remission of punishment to all those who, either on the feast day itself of Our Blessed Lady of the Rosaiy, or on any day wiihin the subsequent eight days, shall have washed the stains from their souls and have holily partaken of the Divine banquet, and shall have also prayed in any church to God and His most holy Mother for our intentions. As We desire also to consult the interests of those who live in country districts, and are hindered, especially in the month of October, by

their agricultural labours, We permit all We have above deceed, and also the holy Indulgences gainable in the month of October, to be postponed to the following months of November or December according to the prudent decision of the Ordinaries. We doubt not, Venerable Brethren, that rich and abundant fruits will be the result of these efforts, especially if God, by the bestowal of His heavenly graces, bring an added increase to the fields planted by Us and watered by yonr zeal. We are certain that the faithful of Christendom will hearken to the utterance of Our Apostolic authority with the same fervour of faith and piety of which they gave most ample evidence last year. May our Heavenly Patroness, invoked by us through the Rosary, graciously be with us and obtain that, all disagreements of opinion being removed and Christianity restored throughout the world, we may obtain from God the wisbed-for peace in the Church. — In pledge of that boon, to yon, your clergy, and the flock entrusted to your care, We lovingly bestow the Apostolic Benediction. Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, the 30th of 'August, 1881, in the Seventh Year of Our Pontificate.

LEO PP. XIII.