All things, even the holiest, are subject to change, especially when they are dependent on man's free will. It is hardly to be wondered at, then, that the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary only retained its first fervor for one century after it was instituted by Saint Dominic. After this, it was like a thing buried and forgotten. Doubtless, too, the wicked scheming and jealousy of the devil were largely responsible for getting people to neglect the Holy Rosary, and thus block the flow of God's grace which it had drawn down upon the world. Thus, in 1349, God punished the whole of Europe and sent the most terrible plague that had ever been known into every land. It started first in the east and spread throughout Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and Hungary, bringing desolation wherever it came - for out of a hundred men hardly one lived to tell the tale. Big towns, little towns, villages, and monasteries were almost completely deserted during the three years that the epidemic lasted. This scourge of God was quickly followed by two others: the heresy of Flagellantes and a tragic schism in 1376. Later on when these trials were over, thanks to the mercy of God, Our Lady told Blessed Alan to revive the ancient Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. Blessed Alan was one of the Dominican Fathers from the monastery at Dinan, in Brittany. He was an eminent theologian and was famous for his sermons. Our Lady chose him because, since the Confraternity had originally been started in this province, it was most fitting that a Dominican from the very same province, should have the honor of re-establishing it. Blessed Alan began this great work in 1460 after a special warning from Our Lord, Who wished to spur him on to preach the Holy Rosary, spoke to him in the Sacred Host: "How can you crucify Me again so soon?" Jesus said. "What did You say, Lord?" asked Blessed Alan, horrified. "You crucified Me once before by your sins," answered Jesus, "and I would willingly be crucified again rather than have My Father offended by the sins you used to commit. You are crucifying Me again now because you have all the learning and understanding that you need to preach My Mother's Rosary, and you are not doing so. If you only didi this you could teach many souls that right path and lead them away from sin - but you are not doing it and so, you yourself are guilty of the sins that they commit." This terrible reproach made Blessed Alan solemnly resolve to preach the Rosary unceasingly. Our Lady too, spoke to him one day to inspire him to preach the Holy Rosary more and more: "Your were a great sinner in your youth," she said, "but I obtained the grace of your conversion from my Son. Had such a thing been possible I would have liked to have gone through all kinds of suffering to save you because converted sinners are a glory to me. And I would have done this also to make you worthy of preaching my Rosary far and wide." Saint Dominic appeared to Blessed Alan as well and told him of the great results of his ministry: he had preached the Holy Rosary unceasingly, his sermons had borne great fruit and many people had been converted during his missions. He said to Blessed Alan: "See the wonderful results I have had through preaching the Holy Rosary! You and all those who love Our Lady ought to do the same so that, by means of this holy practice of the Rosary, you may draw alll people to the real science of the virtues." Briefly, then, this is the history of how Saint Dominic established the Holy Rosary and of how Blessed Alan de la Roche restored it.
Woodblock in the Alanus Psalter, 1492
Alanus de Rupe (also Alan, Alain de la Roche, or Blessed Alain de la Roche); (c. 1428 – 8 September 1475) was a Roman Catholic theologian noted for his views on prayer. Some writers claim him as a native of Germany, others of Belgium; but his disciple, Cornelius Sneek, says that he was born in Brittany. He died at Zwolle.
Life
Born in Dinan, Brittany in around 1428, he entered the Dominican Order in 1459 at age thirty-one. While pursuing his studies at Saint Jacques, Paris, he distinguished himself in philosophy and theology. From 1459 to 1475 he taught almost uninterruptedly at Paris, Lille, Douay, Ghent, and Rostock in Germany, where, in 1473, he was made Master of Sacred Theology. During his sixteen years of teaching he became a most renowned preacher. He was indefatigable in what he regarded as his special mission, the preaching and re-establishment of the Rosary, which he did with success throughout northern France, Flanders, and the Netherlands. He established a Confraternity of the Psalter of the Glorious Virgin Mary, around 1470 which was instrumental in disseminating the rosary throughout Europe.
Alanus published nothing during his lifetime, but immediately after his death the brethren of his province were commanded to collect his writings for publication. These were edited at different times and have occasioned some controversy among scholars. A list of writings attributed to Alanus was compiled by J. G. T. Graesse in Trésor des livres rares et précieux (1859).
Alanus on Dominic and the Rosary
According to an old Dominican tradition, during the time of the Albigensians in southern France in the latter part of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, Dominic was distressed at his lack of success in his preaching in countering their teachings, and turned to the Mother of God for help. She reportedly appeared to him and told him to use her Psalter in conjunction with his preaching, as an instrument in combatting the great heresy of his day. The Marian Psalter, (a custom of praying 150 "Aves" rather than Psalms) developed into the Rosary.
The tradition of Alanus de Rupe's revelation concerning Dominic receiving the Rosary was generally accepted until the 17th century when the Bollandists concluded that the account of Dominic's supposed apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary is not mentioned in any documents of the Church or Dominican Order prior to the writings of Blessed Alanus over two hundred years later.
Alanus' descriptions of the visions and sermons of Dominic, supposed to have been revealed to him in 1460, are, according to Bishop John T. McNicholas O.P., not to be regarded as historical. Some of Alanus' more colorful accounts have been attributed to oratorical imaginings designed to enliven sermons. While granting that Alanus de Rupe was a pious and learned person, Herbert Thurston held that his visions were those of an individual "deluded" and "a victim of the most astounding hallucinations". While conceding that Alanus was a very earnest and devout man, Thurston also says that he based his revelations on the imaginary testimony of writers that never existed.
According to Alanus, the Blessed Virgin Mary reportedly made fifteen specific promises to Christians who pray the rosary. The fifteen rosary promises range from protection from misfortune to meriting a high degree of glory in heaven. A commonly printed pamphlet of the promises carries the imprimatur of Patrick J. Hayes who was Archbishop of New York from 1919 to 1938. The pamphlet may possibly be an excerpt from an earlier work carrying Hayes’ imprimatur. Such an imprimatur would have been issued following the issuance of a "nihil obstat" (meaning nothing obstructs) by a censor who reviewed the material to determine if it contradicted Catholic teaching. Under the rules of Canon Law, neither a "nihil obstat" nor an "imprimatur" would necessarily reflect the personal opinion of either the censor or the archbishop regarding the document reviewed. It was Hayes' predecessor, John Cardinal Farley, who issued an imprimatur for the edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia that holds the rosary promises as not historical.
Notes
- ^ McNicholas, John. "Alanus de Rupe." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 2 Aug. 2014
- ^ Rabenstein, Katherine I. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 July 2020
- ^ Graesse, J.G.T., Trésor des livres rares et précieux, Volume 6, pt. 1, pg 193, 1859.
- ^ Thurston, Herbert. "Alan de Rupe and his Indulgence", The Month, Vol. 100, p.284, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1902
- ^ Thurston, Herbert, and Andrew Shipman. "The Rosary." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 30 April 2014
- ^ Rosary Center, Dominican Fathers
- ^ Akin, Jimmy. "Are the 15 Rosary Promises Reliable?", National Catholic Register, October 14, 2010
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Alanus de Rupe". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
