Still, I think it right to observe, that there is one form of prayer to our Lady, which though not commanded, yet is so strongly recommended by Popes and Saints, that all Catholics, who wish to be really devout to the Blessed Virgin and to live in harmony with the general sense of the Faithful, should endeavour to make it their own. I refer of course to the Rosary. There are those who say that even after trial they find that the use of beads, far from being an aid to recollected prayer, merely distracts them. If in this they are honest, there is, so far as they are concerned, nothing more to be said. But experience proves that, ordinarily, this devotion, which so wonderfully joins vocal and mental prayer, grows upon one and serves its purpose better the longer that it is used. At first oftentimes it is irksome, but let anyone persevere in saying five decades every day for a month, and I hardly think that he will willingly relinquish its use when the month is past. On this subject I should like to quote words written by the late Archbishop Ullathorne:
"The body of the Rosary is the vocal Our Fathers and Hail Marys; its faith and soul is the meditation. The beads, as they are held in the fingers, give escape to nervous restlessness, and so leave the attention more free. Thus, the weakness of the nervous, or restless, or extroverted mind is provided against. Many people can only think freely on a point when in action—walking, for example ; their nerves and senses must have employment to free the mind for concentration. . . . The Rosary was the Book of the unlettered before the ages of printing, which familiarised their hearts with the chief mysteries of the Gospel; it is excellent for two classes—for those who like it, and for those who do not like it. Millions of souls have been made contemplative and internally spiritual, in all classes, by its use, who without it could never have become so. ... Some people do not like to take the medicine which would heal them, and call it nonsense. The Rosary is exactly that 'nonsense' which cures an amazing deal of nonsense. Call it spiritual homeopathy if you like. . . ."
