The Ninth Rose

Here is a chapter entitled "The Ninth Rose" from The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort (1673 -1716). St. Louis is chilling in his condemnation of anyone who diminishes devotion to the Holy Rosary. He says that a person who discourages others from joining the Rosary Confraternity is an "enemy of souls":

"It is very wicked indeed and unjust to hinder the progress of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. God has severely punished many of those who have been so benighted as to scorn the Confraternity and have sought to destroy it.

"Even though God has set his seal of approval on the Rosary by many miracles, and though it has been approved by the Church in many papal bulls, there are only too many people who are against the holy Rosary today. Such are free-thinkers and those who scorn religion, who either condemn the Rosary or try to turn others away from it.

"It is easy to see that they have absorbed the poison of hell and that they are inspired by the devil; for no one can condemn devotion to the holy Rosary without condemning all that is most holy in the Catholic faith, such as the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary and the mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and his holy Mother.

"These freethinkers, who cannot bear to have people saying the Rosary, often fall into an heretical state of mind without realizing it and come to hate the Rosary and its mysteries.

"To have a loathing for confraternities is to fall away from God and true piety, for our Lord himself has told us that he is always in the midst of those who are gathered together in his name. No good Catholic would neglect the many great indulgences which the Church has granted to confraternities. Finally, to dissuade others from joining the Rosary Confraternity is to be an enemy of souls, because the Rosary is a means of avoiding sin and leading a good life.

"St. Bonaventure says in his 'Psalter' that whoever neglects our Lady will die in his sins. What, then, must be the punishment in store for those who turn people away from devotion to her?"

Source:
de Montfort, St. Louis-Marie Grignion, The Secret of the Rosary. (The entire book is available for download as a zip file. Scroll to the bottom of the linked page.)

Image:
Rose from the rose garden in Mainz, Germany, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.