Catholic Growth

According to tradition, St Dominic was the person who the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared and gave the Rosary to. After that event St Dominic worked tirelessly to spread devotion of the Rosary to combat the Albigensian Heresy. In St Louis De Montfort’s book, The Secret Of The Rosary, he tells a story about St Dominic. In this story he casts out fifteen thousand demons through the intercession of Our Holy Mother, through the use of a Rosary.

Quick Word On The Albigensians

The Albigensians held to a heresy in which the physical world was seen as evil. They believed that there was a separation between the good spiritual part of us, our souls, and the bad physical part of us, our bodies. This is not Catholic teaching of course, which states that our bodies and souls are both parts of us, and both very important together. It was very Gnostic.

Unfortunately it led to terrible things like people believing that the physical world didn’t matter, and that the sins that were due to the body acting were not actual sins. People killed others, stole from others, fornicated, and did numerous other evils. The body was the culprit, and since it was evil and separate from the soul, there really wasn’t any sense in trying to control yourself. It was a rejection of responsibility and will over our own bodies.

The Demoniac

This type of thinking and the actions performed by the heretics who held to this belief really opens someone to possession by evil spirits. Such was the case for this poor soul, who was possessed by fifteen thousand demons. He was brought to St Dominic while he was preaching on the Rosary near Carcassonne.

Before a crowd of twelve hundred people, St Dominic went to work to free this person from his bondage.

The Binding Using The Rosary

St Dominic, seeing the torment this wretched soul was undergoing, placed his Rosary around the demoniac’s neck. St Dominic commanded them to tell him who amongst all the saints in Heaven they feared the most. The demons immediately reacted, full of anger and hatred, and screamed such unearthly screams that people in the crowd had fainted.

The demons tried to garner pity from the crowd and St Dominic by weeping and begging for mercy. Some in the crowd were moved and wept themselves, however St Dominic was not moved at all.

The Holy Queen Appears

St Dominic compelled the demons in the man to tell the crowd which saint in Heaven they feared the most, loud and clear for the crowd. The demons resisted and refused to speak. St Dominic knelt and asked for Our Lady’s intercession. When he had prayed this, fire came out of the possessed man’s ears, nose, and mouth. They begged to be let out of the man, and no longer suffer these torments.

St Dominic knelt again, asking for The Blessed Virgin’s intercession once more. Immediately she appeared, surrounded by angels. With a golden rod she struck the possessed man, commanding that they answer her servant Dominic. The demons screamed.

Whom Do They Fear?

The demons within the man at last spoke (transcript of their words found in The Secret of the Rosary by St Louis De Montfort),

“Oh you who are our enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from heaven just to torture us so grievously? O Advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of hell, you who are the very sure path to Heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh woe into us, princes of darkness:

Then listen well, you Christians: the Mother of Jesus Christ is all powerful and she can save her servants from falling into hell. She is the Sun which destroys the darkness of our wipes and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares and makes our temptations useless and ineffectual.

We have to say, however reluctantly, that not a single soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires and aspirations of all the saints.

We fear her more than all the other saints in heaven together and we have no success with her faithful servants. Many Christians who call upon her when they are at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession.

Oh, if only that Mary had not pitted her strength against ours and had not upset our plans, we should have conquered the Church and should have destroyed it long before this; and we would have seen to it that all the Orders in the Church fell into error and disorder.

Now that we are forced to speak we must also tell you this: nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins and by means of this they obtain God’s forgiveness and mercy.”

The Demons Are Expelled

The crowd prayed the Rosary slowly, led by St Dominic, and they said it with great devotion. With every Hail Mary, many demons were expelled from the demoniac in the form of red hot coals.

At last the man was freed from the demons. As the last coal left his mouth, Our Lady gave her blessing to the crowd of people gathered and left. Many people converted from the heresy of Albigensianism that day, after they witnessed the power of Our Lady.

Pray The Rosary Everyday

The power of the Rosary is incredible. We see in this story that the demons were so afraid of the Blessed Virgin, that they even asked to be released before she appeared. Someone who says the Rosary everyday is under Our Lady’s protection. The devil and his demons cannot corrupt us, we are Heaven bound when we’re devoted to the Rosary!