Our Lady of the Rosary

Readings -- Acts 1:12-14; Lk. 1:46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55; Lk. 1:26-38

Some Notes on Our Lady of the Rosary:

1. In the Middle Ages, to crown one’s head with a garland of roses was a sign of joy. The word “rosarius” means a garland or bouquet of roses. It is connected to an early legend that Our Lady took rosebuds from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Marys. Mary wove them into a garland which she placed upon her head. “Corona” or “chaplet” suggests the same idea as “rosarium.” 

2. The custom of reciting prayers upon a string with knots or beads seems to have originated among the early monks in the East, who recited their short prayers with a string of knots or beads. The practice spread to the West, especially at the beginning of the Crusades.

3. According to Dominican tradition, in 1206 St. Dominic de Guzman was at the monastery of Our Lady of Prouille in France. He had been attempting to convert the Albigensians, or Cathars, who believed that the whole physical world was the work of the devil. He had little success. But one day he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin, who gave him the Holy Rosary as a tool against heretics. Many Popes have accepted this traditional origin of the Rosary. 

4. St. Dominic propagated the Rosary of 150 Hail Marys, or Mary’s Psalter, in reference to the 150 Psalms. He added the Lord’s Prayer to each decade of Hail Marys, as well as a meditation on each of the mysteries of the life of the Lord Jesus.

5. Mary has been honored in the West under the title “Our Lady of Victory” from at least the 13th century. The first shrine dedicated to her under that title was in gratitude for the Catholic victory over the Albigensians at the Battle of Muret in 1213. Philip Augustus of France founded the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Victoire in thanksgiving for his victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.  

6. In the East, the title “Our Lady of Victory” is even older. The feast commemorates the deliverance of Constantinople from the siege of the Saracens with the aid of the Blessed Virgin in 621. 

7. In 1571, Pope Pius V organized the Holy League, a coalition of Christian forces from Spain and smaller kingdoms, republics and military orders, in order to meet the threat of the Ottoman empire. On 7 October 1571, the Christian forces met the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. 

The Christian fleet was badly outnumbered. Pope Pius called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory and led a Rosary procession in Rome. 

8. After about five hours of battle, the outnumbered combined navies of the Papal States, Venice, and Spain miraculously decimated the Ottoman fleet. This victory stopped the Ottoman advance to the west and its possible invasion of Italy. Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the victory at Lepanto which he attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

9. In 1572, the Pope formalized the number and content of the Mysteries of the Rosary and actively promoted its recitation. The Rosary was developed to consist of 15 mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be celebrated on the first Sunday of October. The feast was later extended to the whole of Spain and then to the universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716. 

10. Pope Leo XIII added the invocation, “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary,” to the Litany of Loreto. In 1913, Pope Pius X changed the date of the Feast to 7 October. Pope Pius XII called the Rosary a compendium of the Gospel. In 2002, the Year of the Rosary, St. Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries, the Mysteries of Light.

11. At Lourdes, when Bernadette prayed the Rosary, the Blessed Mother held a Rosary in her hands. At Fatima, she enjoined the three children to pray the Rosary daily for peace in the world. She said, “When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy.’”

12. Prayer: Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by his Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection, who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.