Michael Pakaluk writes about John Henry Newman and the Rosary

Michael Pakaluk wrote about Saint John Henry Newman's relationship with the Rosary in an article for The Catholic Thing.

Pakaluk noted that while many Protestant converts progress through stages of seeing the Rosary as acceptable, then good, and finally powerful, Newman recognized the goodness of the devotion from his early days as a Catholic. Pakaluk highlighted a letter Newman wrote to the Marquise de Salvo less than three years after his conversion. In that letter, Newman advised that devotion to the Virgin Mary is a gift from God rather than an imperative requirement for everyone, suggesting that people should not force themselves into specific exercises that do not feel natural.

However, Pakaluk pointed out that Newman made an exception for the Rosary, describing the contemplation of the Mysteries of the Incarnation through the Rosary as delightful. Newman also acknowledged that recent converts might not always feel this devotion intensely and may instead need to rely on reason and explicit acts of faith.