The rosary is a very powerful prayer. In fact, St. Alphonsus Liguori stressed the best way to help the souls in Purgatory, after having Masses said for them, is to pray rosaries and join the Confraternity of the Rosary. He also said that if we want to help the souls in Purgatory and bring them great relief, let us recite the Rosary.
Mary plays a key role in the release of souls from Purgatory. St. Bernard referred to her as the Plenipotentiary, meaning one who is all powerful over Purgatory because she has the graces and power from God to free the souls there. We are all her children and like any good mother she takes care of us, especially those children who are suffering. Her intercession brings relief to the holy souls, as she related to Bl. Alain de la Roche: I am the Mother of the souls in Purgatory and every prayer on my account relieves the pains of my devotees.
St. Pompilio Pirroti had a great devotion for the poor souls. When he prayed the rosary, the holy souls prayed along with him, shouting in response to each Hail Mary recited. The souls in Purgatory were tranquil and full of joy while the rosary was prayed.
St. Louis de Montfort in his book, The Secret of the Rosary, wrote about a woman delivered from Purgatory. A young lady of noble rank named Alexandra was converted by St. Dominic and enrolled in the Confraternity of the Rosary. When Alexandra died, she appeared to St. Dominic and told that him that she would have to spend the next 700 years in Purgatory to purify her soul because of the many sins in her life and also for leading others to commit sins by her poor example. She begged him and the Confraternity members to pray for her. He of course did so along with many other rosary devotees. Two weeks later, St. Dominic received another apparition of Alexandra. This time she was in full heavenly glory. She related that the intercessions through the rosary released her from Purgatory. She also told him that the holy souls begged him to continue preaching the rosary and to ask their relatives to pray for them using the rosary. The poor souls would greatly reward those who helped them when they entered Heaven.
There are many other miracles and stories about the power of the rosary for helping the holy souls. We need to use the rosary to free the poor souls from Purgatory. Everyone who prays rosaries should also join the Confraternity of the Rosary to increase the power of their prayers. We all have many family and friends who are in Purgatory that need our help. Spend 15 minutes a day with your rosary praying for them. It is a devotion that you will be greatly rewarded for doing.
Extract from Purgatory 101 by Johan Cyprich which can be downloaded as a free e-book here.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
I think part of the problem with the modern understanding of praying for the dead is that there is no feedback from Heaven to reward our efforts. Even if we recite 1000 Rosaries, there is no knowing if they have been effective.
This is a cultural thing derived from industry, where the measurement of outcomes is used to guide future investment of time and effort.
Industry has the exact opposite ethos to Love, where we must generously “give and not count the cost, fight and not heed the wounds, labour yet seek for no reward”. (Prayer of St Ignatius)
The only reason to Love is to further Love’s spreading.until Love is all in all.
Love is the only goodly infection that man can catch. We must work only to catch it, then our work becomes letting it ravage us to death, then ravish us onwards into eternity.
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…Exactly true..@burrito..ravished by love or as some of the more austere saints say become an immolated victim or a holocaust of love…
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Brother Beretta is right; and that “feedback from Heaven” which is not always visible is reflected on CP&S where the feedback is sometimes absent, even if we write 100 posts on revelations which the blog has revealed to us. 🙂
I can’t agree about industry having the “opposite ethos to Love”. Industry, lovingly undertaken, is a very high expression of Love. We may work for others in many different ways, personally and professionally; I would say that this is Love. You I believe are very industrious on behalf of your donkeys – is this not a form of love?
Being ravished has its pleasures too.
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Pastorioos,
I am a freelance burrito, I am industrious on behalf of no other donkeys.
You are clearly a troll. Not a funny or clever one at that.
I have the option of banning you from this site. Consider this your first and final warning.
God love you.
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…Industry through self denial and suffering for the sake of righteousness brings the great reward..otherwise we can say God is our enemy…since he would have provided a better example by which to emancipate us from the bondage if sin…other than selfless suffering for righteousness…
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…Just wanted to add that praying the rosary would be more efficacious than utiliziong it as an ornament for your rearview mirror..unless you are the member of some sort of gang where it could be considered a show of colours which would be more of a dubious confraternity….mmmm
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Toad is uncomfortably aware that he sounds rather like a Hugh Court Judge of the 1960’s here (“Who are The Beatles?”) – but, what is a troll?
What exactly constitutes trolling?
I see the word occasionally – and ponder.
Maybe I’m one myself?
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johnkonnor @ 18:35
Good point John! I’ve often seen rosaries swinging on mirrors in cars (front mirrors though, not rearview ones) and wondered about this too. Is it perhaps a way of asking for Our Lady’s protection?
Also, at some shrines or grottos of Our Lady there are often many rosaries draped over her statue. I often think to myself how Our Blessed Lady would probably much prefer the people who put them there to keep them and use them to pray on, rather than do this…… (though I suppose they might have belonged to deceased people, and have been put there by their families.)
And what do people think of women wearing rosaries like necklaces? On a recent trip to Lourdes, one of my sons brought me back a lovely rosary as a present. On examining it I realised that it had a clasp half-way through the beads of the third decade, so it could be worn round the neck if wanted!
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Toad asks “what is a troll?” Does he feel alluded to as well by Burrito’s comment to Pasto?
“Maybe I’m one myself?”
Perhaps you are dear Toad. 😉 Better watch it, eh?
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Before I commit seppuku in a few hours by lése majesté towards hmmm Brother Buritto, (we are healthily international here. Jpnse, Frnch, Spnsh 🙂 ), I might add re: those 60s Judges and dirty ole D.H. Lawrence – “Would you let your servants read this? “.
Hmmmph! E-e-e-er NOPE!
Yet tradition has its uncompromising place and as the Japanese rightly say ‘The protruding nail will be hammered flat”. Actually they said ‘proud’ – but this might provoke unwelcome activity in the stables, given the slippery nature of the word!
I’ll never learn. Can’t help it. In past centuries, it’d be auto da fé for me! 🙂
Sigh. It was always thus. 🙂
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I bought my first set of Rosary beads at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré 45 years ago, which was 38 years before I was confirmed into the Church. I lost the beads somewhere along the way, but still have the original Crucifix. There is the possibility – nay, the likelihood – that taking it out of its box, looking at it and thinking about it from time to time over the years, kept the True Faith always present somewhere in the recesses of my consciousness, until the time came to cross over.
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What a lovely story John Henry! My mother (who was raised an Anglican) found a rosary on the ground when she was a little girl and asked her mother what it was, never having seen one before. She treasured it too, and at the age of 18, after studying and learning about Catholicism, she also converted to the Catholic Faith. Perhaps her path was somewhat like yours. 🙂
Deo Gratias.
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“Does (Toad) feel alluded to as well by Burrito’s comment to Pasto?”
Well, Kathleen, as you know, Toad never lies – at least not unless it suits it suits him to do so. So, yes, it did cross his little green mind.
What is your opinion?
And anyone else’s?
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Yours is a special anecdote, too, Kathleen, and makes me wonder if “accidentally” dropping Rosaries along footpaths in parks, or “forgetfully” leaving them on park benches (not overdoing things, of course), might not qualify as missionary activity, especially when we observe that people often go to parks in a reflective, even prayerful, state of mind.
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“For who hath known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11:34a)
Who knows the ways Our Blessed Lord will make use of to draw us to Himself? That suggestion of yours John Henry might well be the instrument that will find a searching or lost soul somewhere!
I once lost a rosary I was specially fond of, and when St. Anthony failed to ‘return’ it to me after I prayed to him, I then prayed that the person who found my rosary would be led somehow to God. Probably a much better prayer! 🙂
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Johnhe has spoken, and it is good. I am glad that “in the recesses of [his] consciousness” he has kept the true faith “somewhere”, as he himself says.
Johnhe, keep on taking the cross out of its box “and looking at it”. This is good. Continue the practice of dropping “forgetfully’ as it were, those ‘missionary’ rosaries, though you modestly deny the ‘missionary’ position here. Humility is a virtue by which we aspire to live.
You will, I am sure, be rewarded in heaven for your true Christian charity and indeed, your generosity to mankind.
Faith of our fathers….
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Makes (^) me glad I was kicked off Damian Thompson’ s blog. Too much of that sort of pseudo-ironic humour is bad for the mind, to say nothing of the soul.
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You mean you were seen as a troll?
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Me “seen as a troll?” Hardly, Pasta. No . Actually, I got caught in the cross-fire between two real trolls whilst commenting during their joint meltdown; and all three of us were banned, without benefit of clergy no less!. A mindless judgement call by the moderators there, as most habitués chez Thompson agree. Not that it isn’t possible to get back in the game there, as all three of us have since proven; but it really is a drag coming up with new usernames, passwords, etc. So now, I’m transferring my custom to this august establishment. Enjoy!
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And as Teresa has already told you John Henry, we are delighted to have you here!
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Very kind, Kathleen. My plan is to comment thoughtfully rather than frequently. My habit, truth to tell, is sometimes the reverse. I think the general tenor of this blog will keep me in line, however.
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Just noticed that CP&S was launched on Independence Day (July 4th). Symbolic or what?
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Well johnhe, it is a relief to read that you were unjustly accused with two ‘real trolls’ but “kicked off” as a result as you yourself said.
As Kathleen has “already” insisted, you are welcome here, though no-one has said anything else, 🙂 which is lovely, and perhaps you can tell us why you preferred the other site till you were “kicked off” as a troll unjustly. I am certain that it was unjust as you have assured us. Was it better or worse than here in the years you were there? You tell us too that you rejoined that site; certainly with honesty and openness about your identity?
I am a tad disappointed that *you* say (not me! 🙂 ) that it “was a drag coming up with new names etc, so ” therefore you came here. Well I’m sure that’s a good motive, and not to be dismissed.
Enjoy!
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…Mister toad i believe this quote encapsulates nicely what sort of disposition you purvey…”The world has held great Heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!”… 🙂
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Sigh. Fact is, Pasto, I started on Damian’s “Holy Smoke” blog close to four years ago (not long after you were born?) and have many good friends there. I was v. reluctant to part from them, and couldn’t spare the time to participate on two blogs, much as I have always admired this one. So, I stayed with my original blog family. Now, having been pushed away by Dr Thompson (his robot minions, more like) I shall, happily, make and/or renew friendships here. God bless.
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Well said johnhe.
About your last blog; you tell us you were “reluctant to part from them” but as you say yourself, you “were kicked off” as a troll, and then you came back here to the blog you “have always admired” tho’ you “couldn’t spare” the time for it. And that can only be good 🙂 I am relieved that you tell us you weren’t really a troll but falsely accused.
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It’s only twenty past 6 o’clock where I am, (unlike you, where it’s who knows what hour), so it’s not like I’m being obsessive; but really, Pasto, your efforts to paint me in a bad light, with your oh-so-faux-charitable analysis of me and my motives are laughably weak. Carry on, though. I’ve got your number.
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I’d paste a Happy Face here, but WordPress tells me you’ve used them all.
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Hi, Pasto; my reply to yours is “awaiting moderation”. Moderators are attracted to me like bees to honey. I’m sure you’re upset. I feel your pain.
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Br Beretta. Through clenched teeth and foamed lips you tell me you will ban me. I hope you don’t treat your donkeys like that.
Yet h-e-e-ere’s johnhe!, who tells us he was booted off a Catholic blog as a troll. Oh dear. It’ s your choice. 🙂 Kathleen likes him.
I apologise for disagreeing with you about Love. Mea culpa. You know best when you demonstrate the power of Love.
It seems you began this blog, yet you seldom comment. Wise.
Thanks for the threat. I will go to the pyre unrepentant, and bless your good name as you light the blue touch paper then retire. We all love a good religious tradition!
May you be “ravished onwards into eternity” as you wished above.
You’re banned. 🙂
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Well, there (^) you go. Just what I was hoping to get away from by emigrating from Holy Smoke to CP&S. Anyway, I’m here for the duration.
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…My question here is what is the mystical symbolism behind Christ making his triumphal entry into Jerusalum seated on a donkey…well..because a donkey is a worker animal..faithful and patient yet obstinate at times…the worker animal symbolizes good works… Christ symbolizes grace…so you see we must carry the grace we receive upon the shoulders of our works…..mmmm….well and like a donkey we are obstinate at times preferring our will when it is bad for us…anyway sorry to hear. About PAstorius…such a clever person… 🙂
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I’m “awaiting moderation” again. Obviously because you’re on the way out, Pasto. I am, again, collateral damage. “Such is life”, as my favourite bête noire, on Damian’s blog, used to say.
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Paysage Bords de Seine:
See, miracles do ‘appen!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9540074/Renoir-masterpiece-discovered-in-5-box-of-trinkets.html
[This a test made in the quiet hours]
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This is all very well, and we clearly can’t have too many Johns as some young business ladies are reputed to believe – but Toad, as usual, would appreciate a few straight answers.
The first being what exactly constitutes “Trolling?” and what does not? It seems a good idea to get that out of the way pronto. Ignorance is no excuse.
Bro. Burrito seems to disfavour the practice, whatever it is, and – as he plainly has clout here – his thoughts on this are paramount.
However, on to vastly more important issues…
“The world has held great Heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!”…
You are very gracious, JohnKon, but that is another Toad of the same name. Far more illustrious than this miserable specimen.
(Whose ‘ed JohnHen once threatened to bash in on Damian, or so Toad The Lesser seems to recall. There’ll be none of that here, by God! This is a peaceable “site.”)
.
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Johnhenry
The explanation can be found here: https://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/comments-a-reminder/
No-one is in the departure lounge.
Yet.
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“(W)hat exactly constitutes “Trolling?” and what does not?” asks Toad again.
Hard to put in a nutshell, to tell you the truth, as some of the comments on CP&S might well be considered pretty negative or unedifying, and thus some would consider such talk as “trolling”. On the whole we are pretty tolerant I believe, and some negative comments (like lots of yours ;-)) can also be the catalyst for others to put forth good solid Catholic teaching in response, and so are not in the “troll category”.
Real hate talk – like that sometimes seen on blogs like DT’s – would probably not get printed. Nor would any racist comments, or anything where liability might be a problem.
Hope that sets your mind at rest dear chum! 🙂
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A great way to deal with trolls was invented with the birth of this hilarious blog: http://ecclesandbosco.blogspot.co.uk/
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Toad,
You are a barely acceptable troll.
Keep it up.
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Humour defers the sentence.
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They might complicate a crime scene.
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Jolly nice it is to see you here johnhenry.
Please enrich the soil.
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All it takes is a colon right-bracket 🙂
PS, that is not a medical procedure.
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Pasto,
I have no donkeys beside myself.
I seldom comment in order that my foolishness doesn’t become common currency, that’s all.
Never go to the pyre unrepentant, lest you be ravished by regret. This is good advice.
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Toad,
Trolling is whatever obnoxious. boorish, uncreative and unproductive commenting I say it is.
Is that clear enough?
Very well.
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Yes, Big Brother Burrissimo. As daylight.
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It could be my fevered imaginings – again – but do I detect a humorous reference to T’s *leit motif* about “words mean what I say they mean?”.
If so I really welcome it, as we approach “‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly”.
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