When Innocent III was elected pope in 1198, Christendom was under threat. The new pope faced many problems, but the one that caused him the most concern was the rapidly spreading Albigensian heresy, introduced from the East and now well established in Southern France.
Preaching in the daytime and praying and doing penance for the sins of the wayward at night, St. Dominic labored for 10 years to bring the heretics back to the One True Faith. At first, he made little headway. It was obvious that the enormity of their sins were blinding many to the Truth. So it happened that at some point in 1214 he withdrew into a forest near Toulouse for nothing but to pray and do penance for three days and nights. He prayed especially hard to Our Lady to enlighten him as to what to do in order to bring the heretics to her Divine Son.
It was then that the Queen of Heaven, evidently seeing the time to be right, appeared with three angels to St. Dominic. Gently, our sweet Mother said to him: “Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?”
“Oh, my Lady,” answered St. Dominic, “you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.”
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Then did Our Lady instruct him: “I want you to know that, in this warfare, the battering ram has always been the angelic Psalter, which is the foundation of the New Testament. Therefore if you wish to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”
Our Lady next explained how the Rosary was to be prayed. As each decade was said, one of the 20 principal mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary was to be the subject of meditation. Our Lady was explicit about this when she later said to Bl. Alan: “When people say 200 Angelic Salutations this prayer is very pleasing tribute to me if they say these salutations while meditating on the life, death and passion of Jesus Christ — for this meditation is the soul of this prayer.”
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We can but imagine how the heart of St. Dominic must have overflowed with gratitude to Our Lady as he made haste to the cathedral in Toulouse to preach the Rosary. The effect was immediate. Nearly everyone in Toulouse who had gone astray was converted by his first sermon, which was followed by many miracles. St. Dominic lived preaching the Rosary, with tremendous results. He also founded the Confraternity of the Rosary.
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Besides countless conversions, many battles against the Albigensians were won in the Crusade led by Simon de Montfort. These victories often seemed miraculous. “One day he defeated 10,000 men with a force of 500 men. On another occasion he overcame 3,000 men with only 30 men. Finally, with 800 horsemen and 1,000 infantrymen, he completely put to rout the army of the King of Aragon, which was 100,000 strong, and this with the loss on his side of only one horseman and eight soldiers!”
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By the time of St. Dominic’s death in 1221, the Albigensian threat was defeated. Thus did Our Lady show how peoples can be converted through her Rosary and also prove how worthy she is of the praise of the Church: “Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world!”