“The rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious”

Leo XIII (Pope from 1878 -1903) dedicated no less than 12 encyclicals or letters to the prayer of the Rosary, which led to his being called "the Pope of the Rosary" (a unique title in the annals of the Church). Here are some of his insights on the Rosary:

“Let us take as our mediatrix with God the most glorious Virgin Mary, the invincible Queen of the Rosary, who has such great power over the forces of hell, and has so many times made [us] feel the effects of Her maternal love. – Dall’Alto Dell’Apostolico Seggio, 19.

Its fruits are ever new and sweet. – Octobri Mense, 7.

By [praying the Holy Rosary] the Church triumphed magnificently over every obstacle and provided for the salvation of her children not only in that trial but in others like it afterward, always with the same glorious success. – Magnae Dei Matris, 8.

We are convinced that the Rosary, if devoutly used, is bound to benefit not only the individual but society at large. – Laetitiae Sanctae, 3.

“It is mainly to expand the kingdom of Christ that we look to the rosary for the most effective help.”

“Experience has shown that to inculcate love for the Mother of God deeply in souls there is nothing more efficacious than the practice of the rosary.”

“In Mary, God has given us the most zealous guardian of Christian unity. There are, of course, more ways than one to win her protection by prayer, but as for us, we think that the best and most effective way to her favor lies in the rosary.”

“The rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.”

“In the rosary all the part that Mary took as our co-Redemptress comes to us.”

“The rosary, if rightly considered, will be found to have in itself special virtues, whether for producing and continuing a state of recollection, or for touching the conscience for its healing, or for lifting up the soul.”

“The origin of this form of prayer [the rosary] is divine rather than human.”

“They [Confraternities of the Rosary] are, so to speak, the battalions who fight the battle of Christ, armed with his sacred mysteries, and under the banner and guidance of the heavenly Queen.”

“We may well believe that the Queen of Heaven herself has granted an especial efficacy to this mode of supplication [the rosary], for it was by her command and counsel that the devotion was begun and spread abroad by the holy Patriarch Dominic as a most potent weapon against the enemies of the faith at an epoch not, indeed, unlike our own, of great danger to our holy religion.”

Pope Leo XIII (Quotes)