(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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Laetitiae Sanctae (Leo XIII) Commending Devotion to the Rosary
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII
promulgated on September 8, 1893.
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and
other Ordinaries, having Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable Brethren, Greeting and Apostolic Benediction.
The sacred joy which it has been given to Us to feel in attaining the fiftieth
anniversary of Our Episcopal Consecration has been deepened by the knowledge
that it was shared by the people of the whole Catholic world, and that as a
father in the midst of his children We have been consoled by the touching
testimonies of their loyalty and love. We gratefully accept it and record it as
a fresh proof of God's special providence, and one which is markedly full of
bounty to Ourselves, and of blessing to the Church.
2. At the same time We love to offer Our thanks for this signal benefit to the
august Mother of God, whose powerful intercession We feel to have been exercised
in Our behalf. For hers is the loving kindness which, during the length of years
and the vicissitudes of life, has never failed Us, and which day by day seems to
draw nearer to Us than ever, filling Our soul with gladness, and strengthening
Us with a confidence of which the surety is higher than the things of time. It
is as if the voice of the heavenly Queen made itself heard to Us, at one moment
graciously consoling Us in the midst of trials; at another guiding Us by her
counsel in directing the great work of the salvation of souls; at another,
urging Us to admonish the Christian people to advance in piety and in the
practice of every virtue. For Us it is once more a joy as well as a duty to
respond to her inspirations. Amongst the happy results which have already
rewarded Our exhortations which were due to her prompting, We have to reckon the
remarkable impulse given to the Devotion of the Most Holy Rosary. This awakening
has made itself felt in the increased number of Confraternities instituted for
the purpose, the voluminous literature of pious and learned works written upon
the subject, and the manifold tributes which Christian art has not failed to
bring to its service. And now, as if for yet another time, listening to the
voice of the same zealous Mother, who calls upon Us to "cry out and cease not,"
We rejoice once more to address you, Venerable Brethren, upon the subject of the
Rosary, standing as We do upon the eve of that month of October which, by the
award of special Indulgences, We have deemed it well to dedicate to this most
popular devotion. Our appeal to you, however, will not be directed so much to
add any further recommendation of a method of prayer so praiseworthy in itself,
nor yet to press upon the faithful the necessity of practicing it still more
fervently, but rather to point out how we may draw from this devotion certain
advantages which are especially valuable and needful at the present day.
3. For We are convinced that the Rosary, if devoutly used, is bound to benefit
not only the individual but society at large.
No one will do Us the injustice to deny that in the discharge of the duties of
the Supreme Apostolate We have labored--as, God helping, We shall ever continue
to labor--to promote the civil prosperity of mankind. Repeatedly have We
admonished those who are invested with sovereign power that they should neither
make nor execute laws except in conformity with the equity of the Divine mind.
On the other hand, we have constantly besought citizens who were conspicuous by
genius, industry, family, or fortune, to join together in common counsel and
action to safeguard and to promote whatever would tend to the strength and
well-being of the community. Only too many causes are at work, in the present
condition of things, to loosen the bonds of public order, and to withdraw the
people from sound principles of life and conduct.
4. There are three influences which appear to Us to have the chief place in
effecting this downgrade movement of society. These are--first, the distaste for
a simple and laborious life; secondly, repugnance to suffering of any kind;
thirdly, the forgetfulness of the future life.
5. We deplore--and those who judge of all things merely by the light and
according to the standard of nature join with Us in deploring-that society is
threatened with a serious danger in the growing contempt of those homely duties
and virtues which make up the beauty of humble life. To this cause we may trace
in the home, the readiness of children to withdraw themselves from the natural
obligation of obedience to the parents, and their impatience of any form of
treatment which is not of the indulgent and effeminate kind. In the workman, it
evinces itself in a tendency to desert his trade, to shrink from toil, to become
discontented with his lot, to fix his gaze on things that are above him, and to
look forward with unthinking hopefulness to some future equalization of
property. We may observe the same temper permeating the masses in the eagerness
to exchange the life of the rural districts for the excitements and pleasures of
the town. Thus the equilibrium between the classes of the community is being
destroyed, everything becomes unsettled, men's minds become a prey to jealousy
and heart-burnings, rights are openly trampled under foot, and, finally, the
people, betrayed in their expectations, attack public order, and place
themselves in conflict with those who are charged to maintain it.
6. For evils such as these let us seek a remedy in the Rosary, which consists in
a fixed order of prayer combined with devout meditation on the life of Christ
and His Blessed Mother. Here, if the joyful mysteries be but clearly brought
home to the minds of the people, an object lesson of the chief virtues is placed
before their eyes. Each one will thus be able to see for himself how easy, how
abundant, how sweetly attractive are the lessons to be found therein for the
leading of an honest life. Let us take our stand in front of that earthly and
divine home of holiness, the House of Nazareth. How much we have to learn from
the daily life which was led within its walls! What an all-perfect model of
domestic society! Here we behold simplicity and purity of conduct, perfect
agreement and unbroken harmony, mutual respect and love--not of the false and
fleeting kind--but that which finds both its life and its charm in devotedness
of service. Here is the patient industry which provides what is required for
food and raiment; which does so "in the sweat of the brow," which is contented
with little, and which seeks rather to diminish the number of its wants than to
multiply the sources of its wealth. Better than all, we find there that supreme
peace of mind and gladness of soul which never fail to accompany the possession
of a tranquil conscience. These are precious examples of goodness, of modesty,
of humility, of hard-working endurance, of kindness to others, of diligence in
the small duties of daily life, and of other virtues, and once they have made
their influence felt they gradually take root in the soul, and in course of time
fail not to bring about a happy change of mind and conduct. Then will each one
begin to feel his work to be no longer lowly and irksome, but grateful and
lightsome, and clothed with a certain joyousness by his sense of duty in
discharging it conscientiously. Then will gentler manners everywhere prevail;
home-life will be loved and esteemed, and the relations of man with man will be
loved and esteemed, and the relations of man with man will be hallowed by a
larger infusion of respect and charity. And if this betterment should go forth
from the individual to the family and to the communities, and thence to the
people at large so that human life should be lifted up to this standard, no one
will fail to feel how great and lasting indeed would be the gain which would be
achieved for society.
7. A second evil, one which is specially pernicious, and one which, owing to the
increasing mischief which it works among souls, we can never sufficiently
deplore, is to be found in repugnance to suffering and eagerness to escape
whatever is hard or painful to endure. The greater number are thus robbed of
that peace and freedom of mind which remains the reward of those who do what is
right undismayed by the perils or troubles to be met with in doing so. Rather do
they dream of a chimeric civilization in which all that is unpleasant shall be
removed, and all that is pleasant shall be supplied. By this passionate and
unbridled desire of living a life of pleasure, the minds of men are weakened,
and if they do not entirely succumb, they become demoralized and miserably cower
and sink under the hardships of the battle of life.
8. In such a contest example is everything, and a powerful means of renewing our
courage will undoubtedly be found in the Holy Rosary, if from our earliest years
our minds have been trained to dwell upon the sorrowful mysteries of Our Lord's
life, and to drink in their meaning by sweet and silent meditation. In them we
shall learn how Christ, "the Author and Finisher of Our faith," began "to do and
teach," in order that we might see written in His example all the lessons that
He Himself had taught us for the bearing of our burden of labor-- and sorrow,
and mark how the sufferings which were hardest to bear were those which He
embraced with the greatest measure of generosity and good will. We behold Him
overwhelmed with sadness, so that drops of blood ooze like sweat from His veins.
We see Him bound like a malefactor, subjected to the judgment of the
unrighteous, laden with insults, covered with shame, assailed with false
accusations, torn with scourges, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross,
accounted unworthy to live, and condemned by the voice of the multitude as
deserving of death. Here, too, we contemplate the grief of the most Holy Mother,
whose soul was not merely wounded but "pierced" by the sword of sorrow, so that
she might be named and become in truth "the Mother of Sorrows." Witnessing these
examples of fortitude,
not with sight but by faith, who is there who will not feel his heart grow warm
with the desire of imitating them?
9. Then, be it that the "earth is accursed" and brings forth "thistles and
thorns,"--be it that the soul is saddened with grief and the body with sickness;
even so, there will be no evil which the envy of man or the rage of devils can
invent, nor calamity which can fall upon the individual or the community, over
which we shall not triumph by the patience of suffering. For this reason it has
been truly said that "it belongs to the Christian to do and to endure great
things," for he who deserves to be called a Christian must not shrink from
following in the footsteps of Christ. But by this patience, We do not mean that
empty stoicism in the enduring of pain which was the ideal of some of the
philosophers of old, but rather do We mean that patience which is learned from
the example of Him, who "having joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising
the shame" (Heb. xvi., 2). It is the patience which is obtained by the help of
His grace; which shirks not a trial because it is painful, but which accepts it
and esteems it as a gain, however hard it may be to undergo. The Catholic Church
has always had, and happily still has, multitudes of men and women, in every
rank and condition of life, who are glorious disciples of this teaching, and
who, following faithfully in the path of Christ, suffer injury and hardship for
the cause of virtue and religion. They re- echo, not with their lips, but with
their life, the words of St. Thomas: "Let us also go, that we may die with him"
(John xi., 16).
10. May such types of admirable constancy be more and more splendidly multiplied
in our midst to the weal of society and to the glory and edification of the
Church of God!
11. The third evil for which a remedy is needed is one which is chiefly
characteristic of the times in which we live. Men in former ages, although they
loved the world, and loved it far too well, did not usually aggravate their
sinful attachment to the things of earth by a contempt of the things of heaven.
Even the right-thinking portion of the pagan world recognized that this life was
not a home but a dwelling-place, not our destination, but a stage in the
journey. But men of our day, albeit they have had the advantages of Christian
instruction, pursue the false goods of this world in such wise that the thought
of their true Fatherland of enduring happiness is not only set aside, but, to
their shame be it said, banished and entirely erased from their memory,
notwithstanding the warning of St. Paul, "We have not here a lasting city, but
we seek one which is to come" (Heb. xiii., 4).
12. When We seek out the causes of this forgetfulness, We are met in the first
place by the fact that many allow themselves to believe that the thought of a
future life goes in some way to sap the love of our country, and thus militates
against the prosperity of the commonwealth. No illusion could be more foolish or
hateful. Our future hope is not of a kind which so monopolizes the minds of men
as to withdraw their attention from the interests of this life. Christ commands
us, it is true, to seek the Kingdom of God, and in the first place, but not in
such a manner as to neglect all things else. For, the use of the goods of the
present life, and the righteous enjoyment which they furnish, may serve both to
strengthen virtue and to reward it. The splendor and beauty of our earthly
habitation, by which human society is ennobled, may mirror the splendor and
beauty of our dwelling which is above. Therein we see nothing that is not worthy
of the reason of man and of the wisdom of God. For the same God who is the
Author of Nature is the Author of Grace, and He willed not that one should
collide or conflict with the other, but that they should act in friendly
alliance, so that under the leadership of both we may the more easily arrive at
that immortal happiness for which we mortal men were created.
13. But men of carnal mind, who love nothing but themselves, allow their
thoughts to grovel upon things of earth until they are unable to lift them to
that which is higher. For, far from using the goods of time as a help towards
securing those which are eternal, they lose sight altogether of the world which
is to come, and sink to the lowest depths of degradation. We may doubt if God
could inflict upon man a more terrible punishment than to allow him to waste his
whole life in the pursuit of earthly pleasures, and in forgetfulness of the
happiness which alone lasts for ever.
14. It is from this danger that they will be happily rescued, who, in the pious
practice of the Rosary, are wont, by frequent and fervent prayer, to keep before
their minds the glorious mysteries. These mysteries are the means by which in
the soul of a Christian a most clear light is shed upon the good things, hidden
to sense, but visible to faith, "which God has prepared for those who love Him."
From them we learn that death is not an annihilation which ends all things, but
merely a migration and passage from life to life. By them we are taught that the
path to Heaven lies open to all men, and as we behold Christ ascending thither,
we recall the sweet words of His promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." By
them we are reminded that a time will come when "God will wipe away every tear
from our eyes," and that "neither mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any
more," and that "We shall be always with the Lord," and "like to the Lord, for
we shall see Him as He is," and "drink of the torrent of His delight," as
"fellow-citizens of the saints," in the blessed companionship of our glorious
Queen and Mother. Dwelling upon such a prospect, our hearts are kindled with
desire, and we exclaim, in the words of a great saint, "How vile grows the earth
when I look up to heaven!" Then, too, shall we feel the solace of the assurance
"that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works
for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. iv., 17).
15. Here alone we discover the true relation between time and eternity, between
our life on earth and our life in heaven; and it is thus alone that are formed
strong and noble characters. When such characters can be counted in large
numbers, the dignity and well-being of society are assured. All that is
beautiful, good, and true will flourish in the measure of its conformity to Him
who is of all beauty, goodness, and truth the first Principle and the Eternal
Source.
16. These considerations will explain what We have already laid down concerning
the fruitful advantages which are to be derived from the use of the Rosary, and
the healing power which this devotion possesses for the evils of the age and the
fatal sores of society. These advantages, as we may readily conceive, will be
secured in a higher and fuller measure by those who band themselves together in
the sacred Confraternity of the Rosary, and who are thus more than others united
by a special and brotherly bond of devotion to the Most Holy Virgin. In this
Confraternity, approved by the Roman Pontiffs, and enriched by them with
indulgences and privileges, they possess their own rule and government, hold
their meetings at stated times, and are provided with ample means of leading a
holy life and of laboring for the good of the community. They are, are so to
speak, the battalions who fight the battle of Christ, armed with His Sacred
Mysteries, and under the banner and guidance of the Heavenly Queen. How
faithfully her intercession is exercised in response to their prayers,
processions, and solemnities is written in the whole experience of the Church
not less than in the splendor of the victory of Lepanto.
17. It is, therefore, to be desired that renewed zeal should be called forth in
the founding, enlarging, and directing of these confraternities, and that not
only by the sons of St. Dominic, to whom by virtue of their Order a leading part
in this Apostolate belongs, but by all who are charged with the care of souls,
and notable in those places in which the Confraternity has not yet been
canonically established. We have it especially at heart that those who are
engaged in the sacred field of the missions, whether in carrying the Gospel to
barbarous nations abroad, or in spreading it amongst the Christian nations at
home, should look upon this work as especially their own. If they will make it
the subject of their preaching, We cannot doubt that there will be large numbers
of the faithful of Christ who will readily enroll themselves in the
Confraternity, and who will earnestly endeavor to avail themselves of those
spiritual advantages of which We have spoken, and in which consist the very
meaning and motive of the Rosary. From the Confraternities, the rest of the
faithful will receive the example of greater esteem and reverence for the
practice of the Rosary, and they will be thus encouraged to reap from it, as We
heartily desire that they may, the same abundant fruits for their souls'
salvation.
18. This then is the hope, which, amid the manifold evils which beset society,
brightens, consoles, and supports Us. May Mary, the Mother of God and of men,
herself the authoress and teacher of the Rosary, procure for Us its happy
fulfillment. It will be your part, Venerable Brethren, to provide that by your
efforts Our words and Our wishes may go forth on their mission of good for the
prosperity of families and the peace of peoples.
19. And as a pledge of the Divine favor, and of Our own affection, We lovingly
bestow upon you, your clergy, and your people, the Apostolic Benediction.
Given at St. Peter's, Rome, this 8th day of September, in the year of Our Lord
1893, and the 16th of Our Pontificate.