Saint Dominic de Guzman and the Rosary

St. Dominic's work in France was hindered by the sin of the people, who as 'christians' (Albigensians) were the bad example blocking his apostolic work.

The Albigensian heresy:
The Albigensians were a form of the Cathart religion. The Albigenses taught that anything material is evil, and is a creation of the devil. They taught that marriage was evil. (Wheresas Catholics know marriage to be a sacrament - Jesus often uses images of marriage in his teachings.)
Catholics beleive that we have a creator God, (who loves what He creates, and creates it so that He may love it.)
The Albigensians taught that the body was evil, and should be denied to the point that people were taking their own lives.
Because of their beleif that anything material was evil, for them, Christ could not have become fully man and fully divine at the same time.
These beliefs therefore led to serious errors in Catholic and Christian doctrine, in particular the understanding of the incarnation and resurrection of a Christ, who chose to win our salvation through his share in our own human suffering.

Dominic withdrew into a forest in Toulouse, spending three days and nights in prayer and harsh penance. Whilst in deep prayer, Our Lady, accompanied by three angels appeared to him and told him that the principal weapon with which the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world is that of the Angelic Psalter. She 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 the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter... and you will obtain an abundant harvest'“ I want you to know that in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament.”

She told him that if he wanted to reach hardened souls and win them over to God, that he must preach her Psalter.
St. Dominic set off with great determination to fulfill the mission Mary had entrusted to him. As Mary had promised, the people of Toulouse were duly converted. Dominic continued to preach the beauty, power and efficacy of the Rosary for the remainder of his life. God chose to work many miracles through him including the raising to life of Napoleone Orsini; which attests to the spirit of St. Dominic after that of the great Apostles Peter and Paul. His use of the Rosary during Exorcisms of individuals is also known.
He died around the year 1221, after three weeks of sickness, and many trials which he bore with heroic patience.

Saint Dominic de Guzman and the Rosary
http://blessedvirginmarysbower.blogspot.com/2008/10/saint-dominic-de-guzman-and-rosary.html