The Apparition of the Rosary

The Apparition of the Rosary

Our Lady first appeared to religious founder Dominic Guzman in 1208 in the Church of Prouille, in Languedoc, France, considered the “cradle of the Dominicans.” Legend has it that Saint Dominic received the Rosary there, which became the tool of the Dominicans in battling the Albigensian heresy, rife in that area.

The Spot Where Our Lady Gave the Rosary to St. Dominic

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St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers (commonly called the Dominicans) is the saint to whom Our Lady famously appeared & gave the devotion of the Holy Rosary to assist him in combating the Albigensian heresy then wreaking havoc in the Church. This apparition occurred in southern France, in a small, out-of-the-way spot known as Prouilhe in the Languedoc region.
When St. Dominic (1170–1221) was laboring without success to convert souls back to the one true faith, Our Lady gave him a powerful weapon, the Angelic Salutation [i.e. the Angel Gabriel’s greeting to the Virgin Mary at the Incarnation], & the pattern in which it should be prayed.



To combat the Albigensian heresy (the heresy of the Cathars), a re-emergent form of the ancient Manichean heresy which denied the divinity of Christ & the goodness of the created material world, she also gave the rosary “mysteries” which reflected on the Incarnation, Passion, & death of her Son. The words of the Angelic Salutation combined with meditations on the divine mysteries was to be used as a prayer & catechism tool to teach the people the true Christian faith.

If St. Dominic would preach her rosary & its meditations on the life of Christ, many souls would be converted from their error & saved through her intercession. The Blessed Virgin said to him:

“Wonder not that you've obtained so little fruit by your labors, you've spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations & 15 Our Fathers, & you'll obtain an abundant harvest.”

Below is the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary & Dominican Monastery in Prouilhe. This location was an ancient pilgrimage shrine to Our Lady which St. Dominic restored & used as the cradle of his Order of Preachers.

It was here that he established his headquarters, here where he founded his first community of cloistered nuns, & here where Our Lady, in year 1208, first gave him the devotion of the holy rosary as his spiritual weapon to labor with her in the fight for souls.

The current Basilica Our Lady of the Rosary in Prouilhe, France, originally established by St. Dominic & the spot where Our Lady gave the rosary to St. Dominic. Photo: Gretchen Filz

The church & monastery were completely destroyed—leveled to the ground—during the French Revolution, & the nuns were scattered. The monastery was later rebuilt, but never finished due to lack of funds.

The Basilica Our Lady of the Rosary in Prouilhe, France, the cradle of the Dominican Order & the spot where St. Dominic received the rosary from Mary. Photo: Gretchen Filz

It is still in use today as a Dominican monastery of contemplative nuns, even though the construction was never completed. It is in a terribly sad state of disrepair, however, there is hope that one day the funds will be raised to restore & complete the building project.

The current Basilica Our Lady of the Rosary in Prouilhe, France, where St. Dominic established his first group of cloistered contemplative nuns, converted back to the Catholic faith from the Albigensian heretics. Photo: Gretchen Filz

Below is a beautiful side altar to Our Lady before which the nuns sing the Salve Regina every night at Vespers.

Side altar at the Basilica Our Lady of the Rosary in Prouilhe, France. Photo: Gretchen Filz

Many claim that Our Lady giving the rosary to St. Dominic is a pious legend without historical basis. However, this “legend” is so well supported in our Church history, & the tradition documented by at least a dozen popes, that its authenticity as a gift from Our Lady to the Church, through the hands of St. Dominic, can't be reasonably doubted—see one papal encyclical describing this below.

“Our merciful God, as you know, raised up against these most direful enemies a most holy man, the illustrious parent & founder of the Dominican Order. Great in the integrity of his doctrine, in his example of virtue, & by his apostolic labors, he proceeded undauntedly to attack the enemies of the Catholic Church, not by force of arms; but trusting wholly to that devotion which he was the first to institute under the name of the Holy Rosary, which was disseminated through the length & breadth of the earth by him & his pupils. 

Guided, in fact, by divine inspiration & grace, he foresaw that this devotion, like a most powerful warlike weapon, would be the means of putting the enemy to flight, & of confounding their audacity & mad impiety. 

Such was indeed its result. Thanks to this new method of prayer—when adopted & properly carried out as instituted by the Holy Father St. Dominic—piety, faith, & union began to return, & the projects & devices of the heretics to fall to pieces. Many wanderers also returned to the way of salvation, & the wrath of the impious was restrained by the arms of those Catholics who had determined to repel their violence.” Supremi Apostolatus Officio, Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Devotion of the Rosary.

The Dominicans, the Church’s first religious order devoted to itinerant preaching, were given the special task by Our Lady to preach her Holy Rosary across Europe, & the order in which the universal Church prays the rosary today is taken from the original Dominican form.