SUPERIORE ANNO

ON THE RECITATION OF THE ROSARY

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on August 30, 1884.

To All Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
Bishops of the Catholic World in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic
See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

Last year, as each of you is aware, We decreed by an Encyclical 
Letter that, to win the help of Heaven for the Church in her trials, 
the great Mother of God should be honored by the means of the 
most holy Rosary during the whole of the month of October. In 
this We followed both Our own impulse and the example of Our 
predecessors, who in times of difficulty were wont to have 
recourse with increased fervor to the Blessed Virgin, and to seek 
her aid with special prayers. That wish of Ours has been 
complied with, with such a willingness and unanimity that it is 
more than ever apparent how real is the religion and how great is 
the fervor of the Christian peoples, and how great is the trust 
everywhere placed in the heavenly patronage of the Virgin Mary. 
For Us, weighed down with the burden of such and so great trials 
and evils, We confess that the sight of such intensity of open 
piety and faith has been a great consolation, and even gives Us 
new courage for the facing, if that be the wish of God, of still 
greater trials. Indeed, from the spirit of prayer which is poured 
out over the house of David and the dwellers in Jerusalem, we 
have a confident hope that God will at length let Himself be 
touched and have pity upon the state of His Church, and give ear 
to the prayers coming to Him through her whom He has chosen to 
be the dispenser of all heavenly graces.

2. For these reasons, therefore, with the same causes in existence 
which impelled Us last year, as We have said, to rouse the piety 
of all, We have deemed it Our duty to exhort again this year the 
people of Christendom to persevere in that method and formula 
of prayer known as the Rosary of Mary, and thereby to merit the 
powerful patronage of the great Mother of God. In as much as the 
enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their aims, its 
defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly 
help and the benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the 
more usually the fruits of our perseverance. It is good to recall to 
memory the example of that illustrious widow, Judith--a type of 
the Blessed Virgin--who curbed the ill-judged impatience of the 
Jews when they attempted to fix, according to their own 
judgment, the day appointed by God for the deliverance of His 
city. The example should also be borne in mind of the Apostles, 
who awaited the supreme gift promised unto them of the 
Paraclete, and persevered unanimously in prayer with Mary the 
Mother of Jesus. For it is indeed, an arduous and exceeding 
weighty matter that is now in hand: it is to humiliate an old and 
most subtle enemy in the spread-out array of his power; to win 
back the freedom of the Church and of her Head; to preserve and 
secure the fortifications within which should rest in peace the 
safety and weal of human society. Care must be taken, therefore, 
that, in these times of mourning for the Church, the most holy 
devotion of the Rosary of Mary be assiduously and piously 
observed, the more so that this method of prayer being so 
arranged as to recall in turn all the mysteries of our salvation, is 
eminently fitted to foster the spirit of piety.

3. With respect to Italy, it is now most necessary to implore the 
intercession of the most powerful Virgin through the medium of 
the Rosary, since a misfortune, and not an imaginary one, is 
threatening--nay, rather is among us. The Asiatic cholera, having, 
under God's will, crossed the boundary within which nature 
seemed to have confined it, has spread through the crowded 
shores of a French port, and thence to the neighboring districts of 
Italian soil.--To Mary, therefore, we must fly--to her whom rightly 
and justly the Church entitles the dispenser of saving, aiding, 
and protecting gifts--that she, graciously hearkening to our 
prayers, may grant us the help they besought, and drive far from 
us the unclean plague.

4. We have therefore resolved that in this coming month of 
October, in which the sacred devotions to Our Virgin Lady of the 
Rosary are solemnized throughout the Catholic world, all the 
devotions shall again be observed which were commanded by Us 
this time last year.--We therefore decree and make order that 
from the 1st of October to the 2nd of November following in all 
the parish churches (curialibus templis), in all public churches 
dedicated to the Mother of God, or in such as are appointed by 
the Ordinary, five decades at least of the Rosary be recited, 
together with the Litany. If in the morning, the Holy Sacrifice will 
take place during these prayers; if in the evening, the Blessed 
Sacrament will be exposed for the adoration of the faithful; after 
which those present will receive the customary Benediction. We 
desire that, wherever it be lawful, the local confraternity of the 
Rosary should make a solemn procession through the streets as a 
public manifestation of religious devotion.

5. That the heavenly treasures of the Church may be thrown open 
to all, We hereby renew every Indulgence granted by Us last year. 
To all those, therefore, who shall have assisted on the prescribed 
days at the public recital of the Rosary, and have prayed for Our 
intentions--to all those also who from legitimate causes shall 
have been compelled to do so in private--We grant for each 
occasion an Indulgence of seven years and seven times forty 
days. To those who, in the prescribed space of time shall have 
performed these devotions at least ten times--either publicly in 
the churches or from just causes in the privacy of their homes--
and shall have expiated their sins by confession and have 
received Communion at the altar, We grant from the treasury of 
the Church a Plenary Indulgence. We also grant this full 
forgiveness of sins and plenary remission of punishment to all 
those who, either on the feast day itself of Our Blessed Lady of 
the Rosary, or on any day within the subsequent eight days, shall 
have washed the stains from their souls and have holily partaken 
of the Divine banquet, and shall have also prayed in any church 
to God and His most holy Mother for Our intentions. As We desire 
also to consult the interests of those who live in country districts, 
and are hindered, especially in the month of October, by their 
agricultural labors, We permit all We have above decreed, and 
also the holy Indulgences gainable in the month of October, to be 
postponed to the following months of November or December, 
according to the prudent decision of the Ordinaries.

6. We doubt not, Venerable Brethren, that rich and abundant 
fruits will be the result of these efforts, especially if God, by the 
bestowal of His heavenly graces, bring an added increase to the 
fields planted by Us and watered by your zeal. We are certain that 
the faithful of Christendom will hearken to the utterance of Our 
Apostolic authority with the same fervor of faith and piety of 
which they gave most ample evidence last year. May our 
Heavenly Patroness, invoked by us through the Rosary, graciously 
be with us and obtain that, all disagreements of opinion being 
removed and Christianity restored throughout the world, we may 
obtain from God the wished for peace in the Church.--In pledge of 
that boon, to you, your clergy, and the flock entrusted to your 
care, We lovingly bestow the Apostolic Benediction.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, the 30th of August, 1884, in the 
Seventh Year of Our Pontificate.