October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, primarily because the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful.
The Holy Rosary
The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events in the history of our salvation. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into the five Joyful Mysteries (said on Monday and Saturday), the five Luminous Mysteries (said on Thursday), the five Sorrowful Mysteries (said on Tuesday and Friday), and the five Glorious Mysteries (said on Wednesday and Sunday). As an exception, the Joyful Mysteries may be said on Sundays during Advent and Christmas, while the Sorrowful Mysteries may be said on the Sundays of Lent. |
Pope Francis calls for October 7 to be day of prayer and fasting for peace - October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary Miracles Attributed to the Rosary |
The mysteries of the Rosary are based on the incidents in the life of Our Lord and His Mother that are celebrated in the Liturgy. There is a parallel between the main feasts honoring our Lord and his Mother in the liturgical year, and the twenty mysteries of the Rosary. Consequently, one who recites the twenty mysteries of the Rosary inm one day reflects on the whole liturgical cycle that the Church commemorates during the course of each year. That is why some of the Popes have referred to the Rosary as a compendium of the Gospel:
Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) said the Rosary is " a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption
John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).0ΔΊ
John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).0ΔΊ
The Rosary Center offer several different modes of praying the Rosary, including a scriptural-based mode: For exsmple The First Joyful Mystery – Mary is Chosen Mother of GOD
History of the Holy Rosary
The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there. In 1571 when the Catholic League entered into battle against the Ottoman Empire to protect Italy from invasion. The Turks were on a warpath to overthrow all of Europe, killing millions of people and forcing Islamic conversion on survivors. They had conquered the Middle East and Mediterranean islands of Cyrus and Crete; Italy was next.
As the impending battle loomed, Pope Pius V called on various religious communities throughout Europe to join him in praying the Rosary, including public recitations, to defeat the Islamic threat. Heading into battle, every man in the Catholic League’s forces carried a Rosary. Their fleet was no match for the competition; they were vastly outnumbered.
Miraculously, the Catholic League returned victorious after a daylong battle known as the Battle of Lepanto that took place off the coast of Greece. In thanksgiving for Mary’s intercession and protection, Pope Pius V declared the day — October 7 — as a feast day for Our Lady of the Rosary. To celebrate, a Rosary procession was held in Saint Peter’s Square.
The history of the Rosary is replete with facts, truths, legends, myths and genuine piety. For more than 600 years, the Rosary has been a hallmark of Catholic devotional life and has been and is a most engaging form of prayer for countless millions.
The roots of the Rosary go back to two distinct sources: the first is 3000 years old and is found in the psalms attributed to King David in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament; the second is the practice of keeping track of prayers by counting with beads, pebbles, or marks on wood or stone. This practice, found in the great religions of the world such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, is very ancient as well.
The 150 psalms come from the early Hebrew writings around the time of Kings David and Solomon. The psalms were prayed by the Jews at the time of Jesus, and He prayed them and quoted from them even on the cross as he was dying: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned Me?” (Psalm 22).
The roots of the Rosary go back to two distinct sources: the first is 3000 years old and is found in the psalms attributed to King David in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament; the second is the practice of keeping track of prayers by counting with beads, pebbles, or marks on wood or stone. This practice, found in the great religions of the world such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, is very ancient as well.
The 150 psalms come from the early Hebrew writings around the time of Kings David and Solomon. The psalms were prayed by the Jews at the time of Jesus, and He prayed them and quoted from them even on the cross as he was dying: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned Me?” (Psalm 22).
Early Christian monks who had fled to the desert to escape the distractions of the world and to seek God and pursue holiness prayed the psalms in sets of 50. They imagined that they were praying the psalms in the company of King David and the prophets and holy men and women of old and also in the company of Jesus. They soon were praying the psalms together in community and used scrolls of papyrus or lambskin to read from. Many of the monks could not read or understand Latin, the language of the Bible in the early Middle Ages.
Most of the people outside the monasteries did not have scrolls or books and likewise never learned to read and write. However, illiterate monks working in the fields and many devout laypeople wished to share in the prayer life of the literate Monks and of the Church. Since they did not know Latin and could not memorize all 150 psalms, they gradually began substituting the Paternosters (Our Fathers) for the psalms. They needed a way to keep track of how many they prayed, so they grouped the prayers into sets of 50, as the psalms were in the Psalter. They still needed a way to keep count, so they collected small pebbles or other items, which eventually become beads, similar to those used in other religions to count prayers and acts of devotion
Legend tells us that the Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The most vibrant heresy in Europe was Catharism, also known as Albigensianism—for Albi, a city in southern France where it flourished. Catharism held that the universe was a battleground between good, which was spirit, and evil, which was matter. Human beings were believed to be spirits trapped in physical bodies.
The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the "Hail Mary" and the "Glory be to the Father" at the conclusion of each mystery.
During the Middle Ages, the Rosary was popular in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" evolved substituting 150 "Hail Marys" in place of the "Our Fathers." Divine Office, also referred to as The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the whole People of God. In it, Christ himself “continues his priestly work through his Church.” His members participate according to their own place in the Church and the circumstances of their lives. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office either with the priests, among themselves, or individually.
The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours demands not only harmonizing the voice with the praying heart, but also a deeper “understanding of the liturgy and of the Bible, especially of the Psalms. The laity, are encouraged to recite the divine office either with the priests, among themselves, or individually
The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary.
Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. We are currently celebrating the centennial of these papal encyclicals.
Many other popes have contributed to help increase devotion to the Rosary by their writings. In the recent past, Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation MARIALIS CULTUS to the Angelus and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that "the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness." (MC, 41)
Selected Miracles Attributed to the Rosary
Pope Francis calls for October 7 to be day of prayer and fasting for peace - October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary Defeats Muslim Forces in The Battle of Lepanto ~ 1571
The Rosary Converts Pompeii from Satanic Influence, Late 1800's
Father Patrick Peyton, The Rosary Priest 1909
The Rosary Protects Jesuit Priests from The Atom Bomb at Hiroshima ~ 1945
The Rosary Frees Austria from Communist Rule in 1955
The Rosary Saves Brazil from Communism, 1962‐1964
The Rosary stops a serial killer 1978
The Rosary Defeats a Philippino Dictatorship in 193333osary Saves Man’s Life on September 11 2001
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