Today, the Holy Mother Church celebrates the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. This memorial was established by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving to God for the victory at the battle of Lepanto in October 7th, 1571. This battle was a naval engagement where a fleet of the “Holy League,” a coalition of Catholic states mostly Spain and Italy, arranged by Pope St. Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras to gain more territory and freedom to Christians who were under the siege of Islamic rule.
The Holy League credited the victory to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose intercession with God they had implored for victory through the use of the Holy Rosary. Pope St. Pius V instituted a new Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated today as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Dominican friar Juan Lopez in his 1584 book on the rosary stated that the feast of the rosary was offered “in memory and in perpetual gratitude of the miraculous victory that the Lord gave to his Christian people that day against the Turkish armada.”
The Holy Rosary is very pleasing to Our Lady and she recommends it. There are two elements of the Rosary: meditation on its mysteries and vocal prayer. The most important and beauteous thing about the Rosary is that its ultimate focus is on Jesus Christ. It is a Marian devotion that is Christocentric. When we meditate on the mysteries, we are basically contemplating the various stages in the life of Jesus Christ through the lenses of His mother, Mary.
It is also a vocal prayer that is inspiringly repetitive. It is not a monotonous ritual but a deeply contemplative prayer. In saying it, we re-offer Our Lady, in form of roses, the words of Angel Gabriel to her and ask her to intercede for us now and at every moment of our lives even at the time of our death.
Traditionally, the Glorious mysteries are prayed on Sundays and Wednesdays, the Joyful on Mondays and Saturdays, the Sorrowful on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the Luminous on Thursdays.
So, during this month of October, a month also dedicated to Our Lady, I invite you, I want to say, I challenge you to pick up the Rosary and try to say just five decades every day.
Find a time that you can have at least 15 minutes to yourself or with a friend or your family, and ask Our Lady of anything using this great instrument of prayer and “battle” and wait for the favor that will definitely come.
God Bless you!
Fr. Stan.
