The Dominican tradition tells that the Virgin Mary gave the Rosary to Saint Dominic de Guzmán as a weapon of peace and conversion against heresy. Centuries later, the Breton Dominican Blessed Alan de la Roche (Alain de la Roche, c. 1428–1475) revived this devotion with great force, restored the Confraternities of the Rosary and gathered in his writings the promises of the Virgin to her devotees.

From the 19th and 20th centuries, the fifteen promises spread in countless prayer books and holy cards —many bearing the imprimatur of bishops, such as that of Cardinal Patrick Hayes, Archbishop of New York—. The imprimatur certifies that the text contains nothing against faith or morals and may be proposed to the piety of the faithful; it does not raise the promises to dogma nor define their supernatural origin. That is why we welcome them for what they are: a pious tradition, much loved by the Christian people, fully compatible with the faith.

“He shall receive whatever grace he asks of me,” “all shall be obtained promptly”… These words are understood according to the will of God and for our salvation, like the Gospel promises about trusting prayer. The Virgin never separates us from Christ: every Marian devotion is Christocentric.

Several promises carry within them a condition: the Rosary “will destroy vice,” “will cause virtues to flourish,” “the sinner shall be converted, the just shall persevere in grace.” It does not act as an automatic mechanism, but as a path of grace that asks for living faith, a desire for conversion and an effort to live the mysteries we contemplate: the sacraments, charity, a new life.

And “a sign of predestination” does not mean a salvation guaranteed without more, but that whoever truly perseveres in the Rosary lets himself be led by grace —to confession, to the Eucharist, to charity— and walks securely, though not automatically, toward Heaven. That is why it is, in the best sense, the best life insurance: it places us, day by day, in the hands of the Mother.