Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
Through his favorite prayer, the Rosary, St. Vincent de Paul was able to convert even the most hardened sinner.
One day a very sick man refused to confess his sins. To the saint’s attempt to convert him, he nastily responded: “I want to be condemned, in order to displease Christ.” Vincent replied: “But I want to save you from eternal condemnation to please Him.” He knelt down with the sisters and began to recite the Rosary in the man’s presence. In the beginning, the man was still very furious; but eventually he calmed down. At the end, he wished to confess; he died reconciled with God.
Saint Don Bosco (1815-1888)
“My work is built on the daily prayer of the Rosary. I am willing to give up many other devotions, but I will never give up this one. The Rosary bankrupts the devil.”
Roberto d’Azelio, a noble friend of his and the brother of the Prime Minister Ratazzi, visited Don Bosco and his boys. He was very impressed by everything this priest did for the youth, but one thing he didn’t understand: “I cannot understand that the boys have to pray the Rosary every day. Besides the waste of time, it’s simply too much at their age.” “My dear friend,” Don Bosco replied, “everything here depends on the Rosary. I’d rather renounce other important things – even this precious friendship with you, if necessary – but never the Rosary.”
Saint Brother Conrad of Parzham (1818-1894)
No matter what the weather conditions, Brother Conrad went to the Marian shrine Altötting every day to serve at the altar. Even during his lunch break he would go to visit Our Lady. Witnesses repeatedly testified to fiery sparks and fireballs coming out of his mouth and rising to the Marian altar while he was praying the Rosary. He always had the Rosary wrapped around the middle finger of his left hand. When his body was exhumed after his death, this finger on which he always had his rosary was incorrupt.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
“When I do not have any new inspirations, I take hold of my ‘miracle cord.’ Then I pray the Rosary in my room, walking back and forth. So many thoughts and tones come to me that I am hardly able to write them down quick enough.”
“I simply give thanks, and then joyful melodies come forth.”
Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916)
Adam Chmielowski, Br. Albert’s baptismal name, obviously didn’t know the catechism very well, since he participated in Spiritism sessions. He believed in God, but he didn’t practice his faith. After joining the convent he recounted:
“In those days table turning was in fashion even though the Church strictly prohibits such Spiritism sessions. Mrs. Siemienska, my friend’s wife, saw that her husband’s guests were very enthusiastic about it. She asked her confessor what she could do about it. On the one hand, she didn’t want to openly object to her husband; on the other hand, she couldn’t tolerate it in her house. The confessor counseled her to take the Rosary and pray quietly, without intervening in the session.”
Brother Albert continued: “One day we were sitting around a very big oak table which was so heavy, that it was difficult for two men to move it from its place. Under our fingers, the table began to spin and jump and answered all our questions with short and intense beats. Never before had it reacted so unleashed. … Mrs. Siemienska was sitting by the window praying silently the Rosary, as her confessor told her to do. At the same time, we were all moving through the saloon in wild turns with this diabolically jumping table. Finally, it became too much for Mrs. Siemienska. She jumped up, came over to us and threw her Rosary on the middle of the turning table. We heard something like a gun shot, and the table came to a sudden stop. As we lit the candles again, we saw that the table was split in half: the heavy oak top was cloven through the whole diameter, even though it was held together by two metal clamps. From that day on, we never entertained ourselves again with table turning.”
Mrs. Siemienska’s catechism defeated the “wise” once again. The 23 or 24 old student was shocked.
This table, which was powerfully stopped by the touch of a simple Rosary, and the wide gap, which only an ax only could split with great difficulty, made him think.
In his innocence, which was based on his ignorance, Adam had to admit that this certain “scientific” curiosity can lead one to the edge of the abyss.
(translated from “Das verhöhnte Antlitz”, M. Winowska, Otto Miller Verlag Salzburg, Page 30/31)
Saint Anna Schaeffer (1882-1925)
Arrogant, and happy about almost finishing work, a maid pushed 19-year-old Anna. She was standing on a small ledge, and fell into a tub of boiling suds for doing the wash.
Instead of helping her, the disgusted maid ran for help. Only then did the neighbor finally pull the boiling Anna, scalded by the steam, out of the tub. They took her to the hospital, dragging burnt pieces of her flesh behind her.
That’s how her terrible, 25 year long suffering began. In her bed she wrote:
“It’s the Holy Rosary which I always love to pray, since by this prayer one can obtain so much from the Lord. The Rosary is my faithful companion during the nights in my feverish hands, and also during the day it is my rose game, as I often call it, when I am not stitching, writing or doing something else. So the Rosary is my faithful friend in my sickbed. It teaches me to see and meditate the life, suffering and death of Jesus, and His glory. It is my best preparation for Holy Communion, it is my consolation in sleepless nights and tribulations, my guide into the eternal home, and it is my favorite conversation with Jesus and Mary. The Holy Rosary is my book, in which I forget all my suffering.”
Saint Padre Pio (1887-1968)
The little beads of this chain of prayer are a powerful “ammunition”! Saint Padre Pio describes the Rosary as his “weapon”. The night before his passing, he left his spiritual children a beautiful last will when they asked him for a thought:
“Love Our Lady, and do everything that she is loved. Always pray the Rosary.”
One day a woman came to him with three great intentions. She told him the first one, and P. Pio simply said: “Pray!” A little surprised about the brief answer she continued with her other two intentions. P. Pio repeated over and over again: “Pray!”
Somewhat disappointed, the woman left P. Pio. She had expected something more, not only this simple advise. She said to herself: “Everyone knows, that we have to pray.” Nevertheless she took heart and began to pray faithfully at home. For all three of her intentions, God granted her the best solutions. So she understood that P. Pio couldn’t have given her better counsel.