APPROBATION.

"I have read, by order of the Very Rev. the Provincial of the Dominicans in Ireland, the manuscript of a work written by Father Master LEAHY, Prior of the Convent at Cork, to be entitled, "THE BOOK OF THE ROSARY;" and as might be expected from the author's well-known learning, judgment, piety, and taste, I find it to be free from all doctrinal error, sound and practical in its moral instructions, and breathing throughout a genuine spirit of Catholic devotion. This exposition of the Rosary is most needful at the present time: the materials are judiciously chosen, the arrangement is lucid and methodical, and the composition is elegant. I therefore recommend it for publication, trusting that its circulation will be equal to its merits.

“BR. BARTH. THOMAS RUSSELL, O. P. Præd. Gen. "St. Mary's, Cork, 27th Dec. 1842."

"In compliance with the wish of the Prior of the Irish Dominican Province, I have carefully read the book called, "THE BOOK OF THE ROSARY," by the Reverend JOHN PIUS LEAHY, O. P. I find nothing in it contrary to Catholic doctrine and morals. It is, on the contrary, suited, in my judgment, to the advancement of piety, and more especially amongst those who stand most in need of instruction in such matters.

"JOHN ALBERT RYAN, D.D.

"Cork, 16th December, 1842."

CHAP. I.

"FOR BEHOLD, FROM HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED."-Luke i. 48.

It is with feelings of more than filial emotion that Catholics, in every age, have vied with each other in verifying this prediction. Knowing, as they do, the invaluable benefits which have accrued to them through the instrumentality of Mary; persuaded, as they are, that their dying Saviour bequeathed her as a mother to all his followers, in the person of St. John; believing that He, who wrought his first miracle, even before his time, at her request,† will not now refuse to hearken to her prayers, on our behalf; seeing, in fine, that everything great and good is embodied in her life, it is no wonder that they have at all times spoken with rapture of her spotless excellence, and placed the strongest confidence in the efficacy of her intercession. They feel as children contending for the reverence due to a much-loved parent; as grateful beings testifying their acknowledgments to a constant benefactress; as Christians, speaking of the Mother of their God. This veneration is not the growth of yesterday: it

*

dates its origin from the very infancy of Christianity. It existed in the dungeons and deserts, whither, during three centuries, religion had to fly for shelter, as vividly as it does now in the more than regal magnificence of the Vatican. Indeed, the language of the primitive martyrs regarding the Blessed Virgin, glows with a fervour which the most eloquent panegyrics of a later day have scarcely caught. St. Irenæus, the great bishop of Lyons, who was instructed by Polycarp in all the sublime learning which that illustrious martyr received from the lips of the Evangelist St. John, hesitates not, in his admiration of the Mother of God, to assert, that as Eve, by her disobedience, destroyed herself and the whole human race, so Mary, by her obedience and faith, saved herself and the whole human race. In the next century, St. Gregory, of Neocæsarea, a prelate whose doctrine was ever held in the highest veneration by the most gifted Fathers of the Christian Church, addressing the Blessed Virgin, breaks forth into the loftiest praises. "To thee," he says, "most holy Virgin! all nature, whether in heaven, on earth, or in hell, pays a due veneration and worship. Thou art, truly, the cherub throne; thou sittest on the highest pinnacle of the heavenly palace. Through thee, full of grace! the holy and consubstantial Trinity is manifested to the world. Grant that we, also, may become partakers with thee of thy perfect grace."+ But listen yet longer, and you will hear St. Ephrem of Edessa, a Father of the fourth century, employing language calcu