This is a true story about Saint Dominic. Yes, the same St. Dominic who, in 1214, received from Our Lady herself, the devotion we know today as the Holy Rosary. Why did he receive the Holy Rosary? Because he was at his wit's end and ready to give up hope on the stubborn Albigensians who plagued Europe and Dominic's life. Dominic didn't mind the part about his life, because he'd given it to convert them and save others from falling into their traps and errors. What was making him weary was the fact that his life's work was bringing about little fruit and countless souls hung in the balance.

You might logically be wondering what an Albigensian is. Albigensians are those heretics who believe in what is known as the Albigensian heresy. What is a heretic? To clearly know, you must first understand what a heresy is. When Jesus was on earth, before He ascended into Heaven, He taught His Apostles all the Truths they would need to know and believe in to be a Catholic and therefore to be saved. A heresy is a belief that denies or contradicts one or more of these Sacred Truths that Christ taught and made known to His one true Catholic Church. A heretic is someone who, after having been baptized into the Catholic Church, places themselves outside of it, by embracing and believing one or more of these heresies. To embrace heresy is to deny the Truths of the Catholic Faith. Unfortunately, heresies have grown and spread their error and rebellion since the early days of the Catholic Church. The twelfth century harvested its own new crop of error to erode the Faith of the faithful. This brings us back to the Albigensian heresy.

The Albigensian heresy consists of a number of errors. None the least of which is the error in which they believe that, although Jesus Christ was sent from God, they deny the Truth that He, Himself, is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. They believe that everything material is evil and that only the spirit is good. Now, that cannot be true, because God created the material world and everything that He creates is good. What the Albigensians fail to see or believe is that it is Man's sin which causes the corruption of the physical earth as well as the moral disorders in the human race. They do not believe any good comes from the Catholic sacraments and that it is not Baptism but their own ceremony known as the "consolation" which purges the soul from sin. Neither, according to their errors, will there be a resurrection of the body since it is "evil", even though the resurrection of the body is a Truth we profess in the Apostles' Creed. They believe that this world is the only "hell" and punishment for the human soul, not the battle for our salvation that it really is. Albigensians think that the soul will be liberated one day from its evil captor, the human body. Even plants and animals by their very nature are, in their heretical view, evil. Now these are not even all of their erroneous beliefs. Apart from the damage done by rejecting the Truths of the Catholic Faith, belief in such nonsensical ideas brings about horrible immoral behavior in its believers. According to the Albigensians, suicide is the most perfect thing to do to your horribly evil body. Why should murder be a problem if the flesh is evil? They consider it unlawful to have children and Matrimony is popularly abused and abandoned. As this horrible sect grew in population, its members were harshly pressed and instructed to stay absolutely faithful to the errors they'd embraced. Hundreds of souls fell prey to their teachings and the Catholic Church found herself with few men who would shepherd these lost souls back into Christ's flock.

At this time of great need in the Church, when men were getting tired of fighting for the Truth and the laity were being deceived into error, God raised up Saint Dominic. St. Dominic fought the Albigensian heresy with all his might, while striving to convert the heretics and protect and instruct the ignorant. His brilliant speeches got him nowhere and his efforts where fruitless. The error spread and it seemed like Truth would be defeated. St. Dominic turned to the Mother of God for help. He fasted, prayed and did penance for the Albigensians for three whole days. At the end of this period, he was so exhausted by the severity of his penances that he collapsed onto the floor. It was then that Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the fifteen mysteries of her Most Holy Rosary. She said it was the "weapon the Blessed Trinity wanted to use to reform the world." She told St. Dominic to preach her Rosary if he wanted to "reach these hardened souls and win them over to God." His heart full of joy, St. Dominic thanked his Queen and immediately set out to preach the Rosary. The difference was night and day. The grace given through the recitation of the Holy Rosary was so incredible, the only explanation was the intercession of the Mother of God. St. Dominic was greatly encouraged by the numerous conversions and continued to proclaim and promote the power of Our Lady's Rosary. Our story begins during one of his many sermons about the Rosary.

Once, in a place near Carcassone, over 12,000 people gathered to hear St. Dominic preach about the Holy Rosary. Before these thousands of witnesses, a few men interrupted the priest's sermon and pressed their way through the large crowd. "Father Dominic!," they cried and the immediate circle of people surrounding the Saint split, creating a generous opening for the men who sought him. Hardly had Dominic seen them when he knew the purpose of their visit. In the company of these newcomers was an Albigensian, well-known for not only refusing to say the Holy Rosary, but publicly attacking its sacred 15 mysteries. The heretic instantly recoiled at the Saint's gaze and struggled violently to flee from his presence. The Albigensian was possessed by devils and his friends had brought the poor wretch to Saint Dominic for an exorcism. The devils inside him knew this and dreaded the exorcism which would banish them from the heretic's body and back into hell. St. Dominic, instead of beginning the exorcism right away decided to ask the devils some questions in front of over 12,000 witnesses. In-spite of themselves, the devils were painfully forced to answer the Saint's questions. When he asked how many devils possessed this wretched man, they responded "15,000". The people shuddered and St. Dominic inquired as to why 15,000. To that, the devils said that every legion (thousand) of them had a right to him for each mystery of the Holy Rosary which he so foolishly and pridefully had attacked. The evil spirits continued to speak, saying how much they hated St. Dominic more than anyone else on earth, for the souls which he rescued from their wicked snares through the devotion of the Holy Rosary. They said that whenever he preached the Holy Rosary, he put fear and horror into the very depths of hell. The people were astonished to see the significance of the Rosary, which Saint Dominic had for so long, tried to convince them of. As the devils finished speaking, everyone watched and waited. Dominic wasn't done just yet. He carefully placed his Rosary around the possessed man's neck and asked the devils his final question.

"Who, of all the Saints in Heaven, is the one feared most by all of you, and who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men?" Then came a reaction that even St. Dominic couldn't have expected. The heretic threw himself back violently and began acting wildly. The devils within him let out such unearthly screams that seemed to echo from the very depths of hell. The thousands of people were seized with horror and a cold fear began to fill all their veins. As the demons' shrieks continued to fill the air, many of the people fell to the ground, faint from fear…



