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| Confraternity of the Rosary |
The propagation of the Rosary seems to have begun in France where Saint Dominic used it as a means of teaching the truth of the Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ to people who were being led astray by the false doctrine of the Cathars and Albigensians. After safely enclosing the noble women he converted in the monastery at Prouille and instructing them with the Rosary Prayer, Saint Dominic gathered men about him for the preaching mission and set out through the north of Italy and parts of Spain.
Several Dominican convents and monasteries were founded in Italy and Spain, but as Mother Francis Raphael Drane wrote, “It is uncertain what share St. Dominic himself had in their establishment. Nor is there any universal agreement among authors as to the cities he visited, though it seems certain that he made some stay at the Palencia, the scene of his early university life. We have an interesting memorial of this visit in the will of Anthony Sersus, who leaves a certain sum for candles for the confraternity of the Holy Rosary, founded in that place by the good Dominic of Guzman as he terms him. We find, by this, how very early a date may be claimed for the confraternities of the Rosary, which indeed were founded in almost every city wherein Dominic preached, especially in the north of Italy. For still, as he passed from place to place, his work was ever the same; he preached without rest and intermission, and many of the miracles attributed to him by popular tradition are given to us associated with stories of the propagation of the Rosary." The most famous of these stories is based on a vision of Saint Dominic receiving the Rosary from the Blessed Mother while Saint Catherine of Siena receives one from the hand of the Infant Christ.
We do know that Saint Dominic preached in Siena, Italy, but as Mother Frances Raphael Drane recorded it is likely to have been in the year 1220. "As he preached in one of the churches of that city, Tancredo Tancredi, a young noble of high birth and renowned for learning, stood amid the crowd. As he listened and gazed at the celebrated preacher, he saw another figure standing beside him in the pulpit and whispering in his ear; it was the Blessed Virgin who was inspiring the words of her faithful servant. The sight filled Tancred with admiration, but, as the saint descended the pulpit stairs, that same glorious vision of Mary floated nearer and nearer to the spot where he stood. It pointed with its hand to the figure of the Preacher, and a low sweet voice uttered in his ear, “Tancred, follow after that man, and do not depart from him.” From that time, Tancred became what he had been so sweetly called to be, a close and faithful follower of his great master."
Drane, Augusta Theodosia (Mother Francis Raphael), The Life of St. Dominic and a Sketch of the Dominican Order with an Introduction to the America edition by Rev Joseph Sadoc Alemany, D.D., P. O’Shea Publisher, New York, New York, 1867, (p. 150; p. 181-182).
