After the victory, the Pius V instituted a feast day to Our Lady of Victory, commemorating the power of the rosary in obtaining Mary’s intercession.
Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of The Holy Rosary. The apparition of Mary that was granted to Saint Dominic became known as Our Lady of the Rosary.
On October 7, 1571, confronted and outnumbered by the fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the naval fleet of the Holy League prayed the Rosary earnestly, at the request of Pope Pius V. The Christian Holy League won a surprising, even miraculous victory, which saved Christianity in the west. The Holy Father attributed this intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to this victory.
After the victory, the Pius V instituted a feast day to Our Lady of Victory, commemorating the power of the rosary in obtaining Mary’s intercession. Three years later, the name of this feast was changed to Our Lady of the Rosary, and its presence in October led the entire month of October to be celebrated still by many Catholics as the month of the rosary.
Why is the rosary such a fitting Marian devotion? In its essence, the rosary is a marriage of scriptural meditation and formulaic, repetitive prayers, whose aim is to facilitate the prayer practitioner’s contemplation of the events of Salvation history narrated in Scripture. The prayers and their accompanying “mysteries” allow those who pray them to meditate on the events of salvation history that occurred in Mary and Jesus’ lives. This prayerful contemplation of God’s actions imitates Mary’s disposition of openness to God’s will (Lk 1:38) and continual pondering of God’s actions in her life (Lk 2:19). Thus, the rosary is the Marian devotion par excellence, as it aims to instill in the devotee the very disposition of the Marian figure he or she contemplates in prayer.
Despite the rosary’s mythical beginnings, and the spectacular origins of today’s feast, the rosary’s real power is not in the miracles worked through it, but in its gradual and gentle transformation of the hearts of those who pray it to model the obedient, courageous heart of Mary. And, finally, in its conversion of our vision to see God’s saving work not as history locked in ancient texts, but as a palpable, tangible reality in our own lives, today.
Today let’s remember Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and pray the rosary for the glory of our Lord. Pope Francis has called on the entire world to pray the rosary during the COVID-19 pandemic, asking for an end to the global health crisis. This powerful prayer also helps us develop a stronger relationship with God through meditating on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “Our Lady of the Rosary, who helps us see the saving work of God in our own lives—pray for us!”
Heaven is our goal.