It was only in the year 1214

 that the Church received the Rosary in its present form

and according to the method we use today.

It was given to the Church by St. Dominic,

 who had received it from the Blessed Virgin

as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people's sins

was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians,

withdrew into a forest near Toulouse,

where he prayed continuously for three days and three nights.

 During this time he did nothing but weep

and do harsh penances

in order to appease the anger of God.

 He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated,

and finally he fell into a coma.

At this point our Lady appeared to him,

accompanied by three angels, and she said,

"Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?"

"Oh, my Lady," answered Saint 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."

Then our Lady replied,

"I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament.

Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter."

So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal

 for the conversion of the people in that district,

he made straight for the cathedral.

At once unseen angels rang the bells

to gather the people together,

 and Saint Dominic began to preach.

At the very beginning of his sermon,

 an appalling storm broke out,

the earth shook, the sun was darkened,

 and there was so much thunder and lightning

that all were very much afraid.

Even greater was their fear when,

looking at a picture of our Lady

 exposed in a prominent place,

they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times

to call down God's vengeance upon them

if they failed to be converted,

to amend their lives,

and seek the protection of the holy Mother of God.

God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena,

to spread the new devotion of the holy Rosary

and to make it more widely known.

At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic,

 the storm came to an end, and he went on preaching.

So fervently and compellingly did he explain

the importance and value of the Rosary

that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it

and renounced their false beliefs.

In a very short time a great improvement

was seen in the town;

people began leading Christian lives

and gave up their former bad habits.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit,

instructed by the Blessed Virgin

 as well as by his own experience,

Saint Dominic preached the Rosary for the rest of his life.

He preached it by his example as well as by his sermons,

in cities and in country places,

 to people of high station and low,

before scholars and the uneducated,

to Catholics and to heretics.

The Rosary, which he said every day,

was his preparation for every sermon

and his little union with our Lady

immediately after preaching.