The present Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX., by a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of May 12, 1851, confirmed these Indulgences, and granted besides—
iii. The Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines to every one who with contrition shall say a third part of the Rosary in company with others, either in public or private.
iv. The Plenary Indulgence, on the last Sunday in every month, to all who are in the habit of saying with others, at least three times a week, the said third part of the Rosary; provided that on that Sunday they shall, after Confession and Communion, visit a church or public oratory, and pray there for a time according to the mind of his Holiness.
To gain these Indulgences it is requisite that the Rosaries should be blessed by religious of the order of Friar Preachers, and that, whilst the prayers are being said, meditation be made on the mysteries of the Birth, Passion, Death, Resurrection, &c. of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of August 12, 1726, approved by the above-named Pope Benedict XIII. Note, however, that he declared, in his Constitution Pretiosus of May 26, 1727, § 4, that simple people who could not meditate might obtain the Indulgence by merely saying the Rosary devoutly.
Observe also that all persons enrolled in the Confraternity of the Rosary, wherever it has been canonically erected, gain many other Indulgences when they say the Rosary, or do any other pious work. See the Brief of the venerable Pontiff Innocent XI., Nuper pro parte, of July 31, 1679; also another Brief of Pius VII., Ad augendam, of February 16, 1808, and the above-named decree of Pope Pius IX. of May 12, 1851.
THE MYSTERIES ON WHICH WE ARE TO MEDITATE WHILE WE SAY THE ROSARY.
The Joyful Mysteries.
1. In the First joyful Mystery we meditate on the Annunciation made by the angel Gabriel to most holy Mary; how she was to conceive and bear a Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
