The Dominican Battle Rosary: The Spiritual Weapon of Choice for Husbands and Fathers

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.”

— Pope Pius IX

“There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family… than the daily recitation of the Rosary.” — Pope Pius XII

If you rolled your eyes at seeing the Rosary recommended again, I sympathize.  I grew up watching my dad pray the Rosary every morning before work.  He’s continued the practice since retiring, and I’m certain that my life and faith are due in no small part to the many Rosaries he has undoubtedly recited on my behalf.  When I experienced my reversion to the Faith, picking up a Rosary was a logical step I had no issues with- I could personally attest to my dad’s quiet though deep Marian devotion, and seeing so many of my favorite saints enumerating its merits convinced me of its efficacy.  Yet my relationship with the Rosary was initially much like my relationship with cardio- I know it works, I know I need it, and more of it, but there’s just a lot of other things I’d rather be doing.  I don’t care what you make a Rosary out of- paracord with metal beads, olive wood straight from the Holy Land, beads shaped like skulls- it is a prayer that can feel long, or at least seem like a bigger commitment than it actually is.

I’m not going to bore you with my own successes with the Rosary.  Suffice to say that regular Rosaries helped me successfully fight and overcome some very serious, very grave vices.  Later on, as my prayer life deepened, meditating on the major events in the life of our Lord only made my personal relationship with Jesus, and His mother, that much more intimate and real.  My personal faith has always been Marian in nature, and plenty has already been written by much holier, much more intelligent men and women than myself about the fruits and merits of Marian devotion and the Rosary.  I’ll leave it to you to find these resources.  So for the sake of brevity, let’s just agree that a lot of us feel like the Rosary can be the cardio of Catholic prayer, and I don’t think any of us want to meet the Divine Physician only to have Him ask, “Why weren’t you doing more cardio?”  

Tradition says the Rosary was given to St. Dominic, founder of the Dominicans.  “Modern” versions of the prayer now include an additional set of Mysteries (the Luminous Mysteries, added by Pope St. John Paul II, a man so devoted to Our Lady that his personal motto was Totus Tuus), additional prayer between decades (like the Fatima Prayer), and any number of litanies or other closing prayers. 

 The Dominicans employ a more bare-bones iteration of the Rosary, one that foregoes nearly all of these extra (though no doubt pious) prayers.  I used to struggle with feeling like I needed to recite “all” of the Rosary, and that if I couldn’t do that then, why bother?  A thoughtfully recited Dominican Rosary takes about 13 minutes, and if that’s good enough for St. Dominic, it's good enough for us.  

I call the Dominican Rosary the “Battle Rosary” because, were I in the middle of battle, I don’t know that I would bother reciting the Creed, the Fatima Prayer, the Memorare or Prayer to St. Michael, etc.  I think Our Lady would understand my intentions and be gracious with my efforts.  You and I may not find ourselves mired in the trenches, deserts or jungles of war, but we are at war nonetheless every day with “the World, the Flesh and the Devil.”  As the heads of our domestic churches, and as priests and kings by baptism and anointing, spiritual warfare is not optional, but a birthright.  We are responsible for not just leading our families but for covering them in spiritual armor, and there truly is no better armor than the Mantle of the Blessed Virgin Mary (there’s a good reason the assassin’s bullet did not accomplish its job the day JPII was shot, the day of a major Marian Feast, no less).  And when such powerful aid and protection can be had in under fifteen minutes, you really have no excuses left to keep that Rosary in the drawer.  

Plenty of us end up starting or adding cardio into our fitness regimens because we know the benefits can safeguard us against adverse health outcomes that could rob us of precious time on earth.  And while we ought to always keep our mortality, our death, and the Last Things in front of us, none of us want to leave our families behind prematurely.  So we jog, we pick up a racket or basketball, we buy a treadmill.  Not because we enjoy it (trust me, I live in the squat rack with chalk on my hands), but because we must do uncomfortable things, especially for the benefit of our families.  

The joys and fruits of being husbands and fathers can only be fully given when we are also bearing the burden of the responsibility of those roles, and if you take your family’s safety seriously enough to have a gun on the nightstand, you’d better be reaching for the Battle Rosary in all other circumstances.  My Walther will probably look new- lethal, but new- for years to come, but my Rosary beads are worn and well-used.  So go to any number of online shops- The Catholic Woodworker, Rugged Rosaries, Runewood Rosaries- and get a new Rosary, and start using the Dominican Battle Rosary today.

https://mailchi.mp/rosarypilgrimage.org/7h57uwssn3# use this link to get a free How-To guide on praying the Dominican Rosary!