ROSARY(Rosarium, Germ. Rosenkranz) is defined in the Roman Rreviary as a series of one hundred and fifty repetitions of the “Ave Maria,” with a “Pater Noster” interpolated after each decade, the whole exercise being accompanied with pious meditation on the mysteries of redemption. This particular method of devotion, though said to have been not altogether unknown previously, first became extensively popular through St Dominic, who was admonished by the Virgin Mary to preach the rosary as a special defence against heresy and vice. The Feast of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin (Duplex Majus—first Sunday in October) was instituted by Clement XI. to commemorate the successes of the Christian arms against the Turks in 1716; it has reference also to the battle of Lepanto (Oct. 7, 1571). The word “rosary” or “chaplet” (capellina) is also employed to denote the string of beads of larger and smaller size by the use of which in repeating the rosary the faithful secure the due alternation of Ave Marias with Pater Nosters. In strict language the word chaplet is applied only to the “lesser” rosary, consisting of but fifty Aves and five Pater Nosters. Similar expedients to assist the memory in complex repetitions occur among Mohammedans and Buddhists: in the former case the so-called sobha has ninety-nine beads, and is used for the pious repetition of the ninety-nine names which express the attributes of God.