October the Month of the Rosary

The Catholic church dedicates the month of October to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Rosary is a beautiful devotion given to us by our lovely mother in 1214 to St. Dominic who had received it as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners. The Rosary was the spiritual weapon St. Dominic used in combating their heresy and leading souls back to the one, true Catholic faith. St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221 A.D.),  was the founder of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. From the fifteenth century forward the Dominicans were the foremost promoters of the Rosary.

Over the next 250 years the devotion spread across Europe, reaching the laity via voluntary confraternities and rosary picture-books. There were numerous competing versions, advocating as few as five Mysteries and as many as 200. The matter was not settled until 1569. In that year St. Pope Pius V, himself a Dominican, issued an apostolic letter establishing the fifteen-Mystery form of the Holy Rosary as the official, Church-authorized version. This was the format in use for the next four centuries. On October 16, 2002, St. Pope John Paul II, declared that the following year would be the “Year of the Rosary”. For the first time in centuries a change was made in the rosary. St. Pope John Paul II, added and defined 5 new mysteries that concerned events in the public life of Jesus. These new mysteries were called the “Luminous Mysteries” or “Mysteries of Light”. Today’s complete rosary is now made up of twenty decades of the Hail Mary, separated by an Our Father and a Glory Be and sometimes the Fatima prayer. Evidence again that the rosary is a living prayer that grows with the church. We usually break the rosary into four sets. The four sets are The Joyful Mysteries, The Sorrowful Mysteries, The Glorious Mysteries, and The Luminous Mysteries. One set is prayed on a rosary that has five decades. Each set is prayed on designated days of the week.

Every October the Catholic church makes special efforts to honor the Holy Rosary with group recitations, rosary processions and celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7. This feast commemorates the day in 1571 when Christian forces defeated the Turkish (Moslem) fleet in a sea battle at Lepanto, off the western coast of Greece. St. Pope Pius V had asked all Christians to pray the Rosary for victory.

Fifteen promises transmitted to Saint Dominic and to Blessed Alan by the Blessed Virgin Mary:

1.Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2.I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.

3.The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.

4.The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

5.The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.

6.Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

7.Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.

8.Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9.I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.

10.The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.

11.You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.

12.All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.

13.I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

14.All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.

15.Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

For more information on praying the Rosary…Click here  Praying the Holy Rosary for a link to EWTN and directions on praying the rosary. The directions include the actual prayers.

Mary protects us and she guides us to her son. She makes it an easier path to Jesus because evil is trying very hard to keep us away from Him. For some it’s hard to love Mary, it’s a struggle to love her, to be devoted to her, but if you only knew her you would run to her. If you only believed the truth that Jesus gave Mary to us at the foot of the cross, to be our spiritual mother, you would run to her. Mary wants you to get close to her. The saints had a devotion to Mary. They had a deep love for her. If you only knew her, if you only knew the love she has for you, you would run to her. If you only knew the goodness she wants to pour into your life, the graces, the presence of Jesus, you would run to her and find a refuge, a safe place where you can tell her those things that are burdening your heart. A place where you can be lifted up into her arms, that refuge of her Immaculate Heart. Enter into that place, it’s where Jesus is there waiting for you. He especially loves those who love His Mother, it’s hard for Jesus to say NO to those who are devoted to Mary and to those who pray her most Holy Rosary.

Please pray the Holy Rosary! We need to pray it everyday especially for our priests, bishops, cardinals and the Holy Father (Pope Francis). We need to pray it for peace in our families, our communities, our countries and our world more than ever.

The picture of the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was found on Pinterest.

The information used in this post was taken from:

https://www.motherteresa.org/october-month-of-the-rosary.html

Fr. Mark-Mary and Brother Malachy of the Franciscan Fathers of the Renewal .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYnTYbDdKw8&t=24s