The Mystery of the Rosary: Marian Devotion and the Reinvention of Catholicism

by Nathan D. Mitchell

Overview

Ever since its appearance in Europe five centuries ago, the rosary has been a widespread, highly visible devotion among Roman Catholics. Its popularity has persisted despite centuries of often seismic social upheaval, cultural change, and institutional reform. In form, the rosary consists of a ritually repeated sequence of prayers accompanied by meditations on episodes in the lives of Christ and Mary. As a devotional object of round beads strung on cord or wire, the rosary has changed very little since its introduction centuries ago. Today, the rosary can be found on virtually every continent, and in the hands of hard-line traditionalists as well as progressive Catholics. It is beloved by popes, professors, protesters, commuters on their way to work, children learning their “first prayers,” and homeless persons seeking shelter and safety.

Why has this particular devotional object been so ubiquitous and resilient, especially in the face of Catholicism’s reinvention in the Early Modern, or “Counter-Reformation,” Era? Nathan D. Mitchell argues in lyric prose that to understand the rosary’s adaptability, it is essential to consider the changes Catholicism itself began to experience in the aftermath of the Reformation.

Unlike many other scholars of this period, Mitchell argues that after the Reformation Catholicism actually became more innovative and diversified rather than retrenched and monolithic. This innovation was especially evident in the sometimes “subversive”; visual representations of sacred subjects, such as in the paintings of Caravaggio, and in new ways of perceiving the relation between Catholic devotion and the liturgy’s ritual symbols. The rosary was thus involved not only in how Catholics gave flesh to their faith, but in new ways of constructing their personal and collective identity. Ultimately, Mitchell employs the history of the rosary, and the concomitant devotion to the Virgin Mary with which it is associated, as a lens through which to better understand early modern Catholic history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814795958
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Nathan D. Mitchell is professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame and author of numerous books on the history and theology of Christian worship, including Meeting Mystery: Liturgy, Worship, Sacraments.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction  1 Reframing Reform  2 Reframing Representation  3 Reframing Ritual  4 Reframing Religious Identity  5 Reframing the Rosary 6 Reading the Beads  Conclusion  Notes  Index  About the Author 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Mitchell (Univ. of Notre Dame) offers a valuable new addition to his corpus of work on bottom-up Catholic spirituality and its attendant sense of spiritual mystery. Here he provides and insightful reframing of Catholic identity after the Council of Trent, demonstrating how very soon after the Council's rigorously magisterial Counter-Reformation agenda ended, a new and overlooked sense of Catholic spirituality emerged during the late 16th and 17th centuries."-CHOICE,

“In this truly remarkable work, from both scholarly and practical perspectives, Mitchell clearly articulates the central role of a unique devotion in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. . . . In providing a solid historical foundation, Mitchell also shows how art, liturgy, and ritual have influenced and been influenced by this prayer over the past five centuries.”-Library Journal

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“In this dazzling venture in ‘reframing,’ what could have been a nostalgic revisiting of a traditional devotion has, instead, been rendered a masterful reflection on Catholic identity and imagination. With all the prowess of an accomplished scholar, the ear of a poet, and the soul of an artist, Nathan Mitchell leads us from Caravaggio to Rahner, Erasmus to Vatican II with singular aplomb and dexterity. This case study in early modern Catholicism will reshape your understanding of post-Tridentine Catholicism, as well as the powerful Marian devotion which helped transform it.”-Edward Foley,Catholic Theological Union

“Mitchell has demonstrated that religion is sustained and communicated not primarily by creeds and dogmatic statements, but by art and architecture as well as by other symbols, rituals, stories, myths and metaphors. This book sheds much needed light on the contemporary Catholic Church. . . . The brilliant discussion of Caravaggio’s work alone is worth the price of the book!”-Kevin Seasoltz,author of A Sense of the Sacred: Theological Foundations of Sacred Architecture

“Mitchell draws upon contemporary historical scholarship, as well as the pioneering work of an older generation of historians like H. Outram-Evennett and John Bossy, to demonstrate the positive and innovative side of the Counter-Reformation, an aspect that he says came to the surface especially in the quarter century between 1585 and 1610.”-America: The National Catholic Weekly

Editorial Reviews

In this truly remarkable work, from both scholarly and practical perspectives, Mitchell (theology, Univ. of Notre Dame; Real Presence: The Work of Eucarist) clearly articulates the central role of a unique devotion in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. The rosary was first introduced between the 14th and 15th centuries and has remained virtually unchanged, through enormous changes in ecclesial and world cultures. It has steadfastly retained its dominant place as a favorite form of Christian imaginative prayer, surviving such turbulent times as the Reformation, the Council of Trent, and even Vatican II. Mitchell explores how this adaptable and innovative prayer form is accessible to great theologians and the illiterate, both seeking to more fully identify themselves in the divine life of Jesus and Mary. In providing a solid historical foundation, Mitchell also shows how art, liturgy, and ritual have influenced and been influenced by this prayer over the past five centuries. VERDICT Well written, with extensive notes and a helpful index, this should be read by students of Christian theology and the history of Catholic devotion.—John-Leonard Berg, Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville Lib.

Library Journal

Mitchell (Univ. of Notre Dame) offers a valuable new addition to his corpus of work on bottom-up Catholic spirituality and its attendant sense of spiritual mystery. Here he provides and insightful reframing of Catholic identity after the Council of Trent, demonstrating how very soon after the Council’s rigorously magisterial Counter-Reformation agenda ended, a new and overlooked sense of Catholic spirituality emerged during the late 16th and 17th centuries.”-CHOICE

"essential English-language studies of the history of the rosary"-The Way

“In this dazzling venture in ‘reframing,’ what could have been a nostalgic revisiting of a traditional devotion has, instead, been rendered a masterful reflection on Catholic identity and imagination. With all the prowess of an accomplished scholar, the ear of a poet, and the soul of an artist, Nathan Mitchell leads us from Caravaggio to Rahner, Erasmus to Vatican II with singular aplomb and dexterity. This case study in early modern Catholicism will reshape your understanding of post-Tridentine Catholicism, as well as the powerful Marian devotion which helped transform it.”-Edward Foley,Catholic Theological Union

“Mitchell has demonstrated that religion is sustained and communicated not primarily by creeds and dogmatic statements, but by art and architecture as well as by other symbols, rituals, stories, myths and metaphors. This book sheds much needed light on the contemporary Catholic Church. . . . The brilliant discussion of Caravaggio’s work alone is worth the price of the book!”-Kevin Seasoltz,author of A Sense of the Sacred: Theological Foundations of Sacred Architecture

From the Publisher