The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Beatae Mariae Virginis a Rosario
On this feast the Church honours the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Holy Rosary, and gives thanks for the deliverance of Christendom long associated with that devotion and with the victory of Lepanto.
The Rosary is among the most cherished of the Church’s prayers: a contemplation of the chief mysteries of our redemption — the Joyful, the Sorrowful, and the Glorious — while the lips repeat the angelic salutation and the Lord’s Prayer, and the heart is lifted up with Mary to her Son. In this devotion the whole Gospel is gathered up and pondered, as in a garland of prayer offered to the Mother of God; and the faithful have ever found in it a school of meditation and a wellspring of grace.
The victory of Lepanto
The feast had its origin in a great deliverance. In the year 1571, when the Christian lands of the Mediterranean stood in grave peril, the fleets of Christendom met those of their adversaries at Lepanto on the seventh of October. The Sovereign Pontiff, Saint Pius the Fifth, had called upon the faithful to implore the help of the Mother of God through the praying of the Rosary, and the confraternities of the Rosary made supplication while the battle was fought. The Christian fleet was granted the victory; and the Pope, attributing the deliverance to the intercession of our Lady, ordained that her aid should be commemorated. A feast of the Holy Rosary was established, and was later extended to the whole Church and fixed upon the seventh of October.
Thus the feast joins together two things: the perpetual honour due to the Blessed Virgin under the title of the Rosary, and the grateful memory of a particular protection granted to Christendom in a time of danger. In keeping it, the Church does not glory in arms, but gives thanks to God and to his Mother, and renews her confidence in the power of humble and persevering prayer.
The treasury of the Rosary
The Sovereign Pontiffs have through the centuries commended the Rosary again and again, especially in times of trial, calling the faithful to take up their beads and to entrust themselves and the needs of the Church to Mary. In the mysteries of the Rosary the Christian walks with our Lady through the life, death, and triumph of her Son, learning from her how to believe, to suffer, and to hope; and in the repeated Hail Mary he places himself, now and at the hour of his death, under her maternal care.
The collect of the feast asks that we who in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary call to mind the mysteries of the life, death, and glory of her Son, may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. The feast is kept on the seventh of October. In it the Church sets before her children the Rosary as a sure and gentle path: a contemplation of Christ in the company of his Mother, and a confident appeal to her who is the Help of Christians.
The Collect
O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, hath purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech thee; that, meditating upon these mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.
Deus, cuius Unigénitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectiónem suam nobis salútis ætérnæ præmia comparavit: concede, quæsumus; ut, hæc mystéria sanctíssimo beátæ Maríæ Vírginis Rosario recoléntes, et imitémur quod cóntinent, et quod promíttunt assequamur.
Patronage
The faithful are devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Holy Rosary; the devotion is especially fostered by the Dominican Order and by the confraternities of the Rosary throughout the Church.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on 7 October as the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Common Questions
When is the feast of the Holy Rosary?
It is kept on 7 October in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Second Class feast. The modern calendar likewise keeps the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on 7 October.
Why is the feast of the Holy Rosary on 7 October?
The date recalls the seventh of October, 1571, when Christendom was granted the victory of Lepanto, which Pope Saint Pius the Fifth attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary invoked through the Rosary. A commemoration of our Lady’s help was established in thanksgiving and later fixed upon this day.
What is the Rosary?
The Rosary is a devotion in which the faithful meditate upon the chief mysteries of the life, death, and glory of our Lord — the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries — while praying the Our Father and the Hail Mary upon beads. It is a contemplation of the Gospel made in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary, long commended by the Sovereign Pontiffs.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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