St. Padre Pio's mother taught him to pray his daily rosary. As a priest, some sources say that he would pray approximately 12 full rosaries a day, 180 decades. Two days before St. Padre Pio died, he said: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always. And recite it as much as you can.” 

Mary's Psalter, 150 Hail Mary's, was recited as early as the 8th century when people would count their prayers with beads (the etymology comes from "bede" meaning "prayer" and "bid" meaning "to ask" or "to pray"). Peasants and the laity began to pray this way since they could not pray with all 150 Psalms in the breviary due to their illiteracy or because of their secular duties. Illiterate peasants still knew the Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and a few other basic prayers, at the least. 

"Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that the Psalter of David, composed as it is of one hundred and fifty Psalms, is divided into three equal parts of fifty Psalms each. These three equal parts represent figuratively the three stages in which the faithful find themselves: the state of penance, the state of justice, the state of glory. Likewise, explains Father Anthony Fuerst, 'the Rosary of Mary is divided into three parts of fifty Hail Mary's each in order to express fully the phrases of the life of the faithful: penance, justice and glory.'" ¹

St. Louis de Montfort wrote the following about the apparition of the Blessed Mother to St. Dominic in 1214, "Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of the peoples' sin was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew to a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly 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 Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma."

Then, the Blessed Mother appeared to him, along with three angels. She said, "Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?"

St. Dominic asked Our Lady to inform him. She answered:

"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. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach My Psalter." ² 

Although Our Lady of Fatima asked the faithful to say one third of Her Angelic Psalter (5 decades) daily, many of the saints before and after Fatima practiced fidelity to praying the full Psalter of Our Lady. Although not strictly necessary, it is a beautiful practice to reflect on the life of Christ in this manner every day. There are many moments within the day for a busy lay person to incorporate the mysteries of the rosary. It takes approximately 45 minutes to say in full. It can be scattered throughout the day, as a breath of fresh air to propel you onward in your daily duties. One can pray while waiting for Holy Mass to begin, rocking a baby to sleep, washing dishes, folding laundry, driving to and from work, going on an evening walk, and (most importantly) saying 5 decades of the rosary in community with your family or with friends. 

St. Padre Pio would beckon you to pray more of the rosary. He said, “Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it as often as you can! Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!”

St. Francis de Sales, doctor of the Church and renowned spiritual director, said,  “The greatest method of praying is to pray the Rosary.”

Whether you currently say 5 decades of the rosary a day, or if you manage to fit in a decade with your small children, may we all attempt to utilize the month of October, the month of the Holy Rosary, to pray more of our Lady's Psalter each day. Or, may we at least practice saying it more reverently and meditatively, with awe and gratitude. Our Blessed Mother, in all of her wisdom, has instructed us that this is the prayer she wishes us to pray in our age: for peace in our hearts, in our homes, and in our world. May we be like the peasants of old, and faithfully meditate on these mysteries, and ultimately become more like Jesus and His Holy Mother. 

Here are a few more quotes on the importance of Our Lady's Psalter, as inspiration for your resolution.

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” - Blessed Pope Pius IX

“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.” - St. Padre Pio

“The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.” - St. Josemaria Escriva

“Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary’s which purifies the monotony of your sins!” - St. Josemaria Escriva

“For those who use their intelligence and their study as a weapon, the Rosary is most effective. Because that apparently monotonous way of beseeching Our Lady as children do their Mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride.” - St. Josemaria Escriva

“You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God.” - St. Josemaria Escriva

“The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.” - Pope Pius XI

“The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.” - Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“The Rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.” - Pope Leo XIII

“No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary” - Bishop Hugh Doyle

“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” - Sister Lucia dos Santos of Fatima

“Here is an example to help you understand the efficacy of the Rosary. You remember the story of David who vanquished Goliath. What steps did the young Israelite take to overthrow the giant? He struck him in the middle of the forehead with a pebble from his sling. If we regard the Philistine as representing evil and all its powers: heresy, impurity, pride, we can consider the little stones from the sling capable of overthrowing the enemy as symbolizing the Aves of the Rosary. The ways of God are entirely different from our ways. To us it seems necessary to employ powerful means in order to produce great effects. This is not God’s method; quite the contrary. He likes to choose the weakest instruments that He may confound the strong: 'God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong — Infirma mundi elegit ut confundat fortia' (1 Cor 1:27). Have you not often met poor old women who are most faithful to the pious recitation of the Rosary? You also must do all that you can to recite it with fervour. Get right down, at the feet of Jesus: it is a good thing to make oneself small in the presence of so great a God.” – Blessed Columba Marmion, Christ, the Ideal of the Priest

Footnotes:

¹ Catholic Family News Article by John Vennari & This Rosary, Father Anthony N. Fuerst, S.T.D. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing, 1948), pp. 44-45.

² The Secret of the Rosary, Saint Louis de Montfort (Bay Shore: Montfort Publications, 1954), p. 18. "St. Louis de Montfort explains that the story of Our Lady's visitation to Saint Dominic is found in the book De Dignitate Psalterii by Blessed Alan de la Roche." (Catholic Family News Article by John Vennari), emphasis added