History of the Rosary
Our Lady asked St. Dominic to preach her Rosary at a time when the Church was in a critical battle against the Albigensian heresy. It was at Prouille in France in 1208 that Dominic suddenly experienced an apparition of the Blessed Mother, who said, "Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors. You have 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 fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation (the Hail Mary). Therefore, preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and fifteen Our Fathers and you will obtain an abundant harvest."

The Blessed Mother was referring to the ancient origin of the Rosary, which got its start with monks who recited the 150 Psalms and gave the laymen who wanted to participate (but couldn't memorize the Psalms) pouches of 150 pebbles so they could recite an Our Father on each of them. The laity next developed a rope with 150 knots, then strings with fifty wood pieces, and soon the technique spread to other parts of Europe, where the faithful began to recite the Angelic Salutation -- "Hail Mary full of grace" -- with each piece of wood, until it took its present form with the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries of the life of Christ.

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