October is the Month of the Rosary

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the rosary in October. In conjunction with this, Bishop Oscar A. Solis is asking parishes, schools, families and individuals to pray the rosary each day from Oct. 6 to Oct. 13 as part of the national Diocesan Rosary Congress.

“A Rosary Congress is the continual praying of the Rosary in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for seven days and nights, wrapping our country, our states, our cities, our dioceses, our families within the Heart of Mary,” according to the website http://www.rosarycongressusa.org/.

The first Rosary Congress was in 1979 at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland. The prayers were offered for permission to be granted for Pope John Paul II to visit the country. On the last day of the seven-day rosary, the Polish government removed the major restrictions to the future saint’s visit.

The first Rosary Congress in the United States was in 1988 at the National Shrine (now Basilica) of the Immaculate Conception. Since then, similar events have been held throughout the country.

Worldwide, the Roman Catholic Church each year celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7.

Through the centuries, this feast has changed names and the date on which it is celebrated, but it has always been held in honor of Our Lady, whose intercession is credited with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the Holy League in the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

Before the battle, Pope Pius V asked the Christian people of Europe to pray the rosary with the intention of victory for the Christian naval forces. On the first Sunday of October, the battle was won. Afterward, Pope Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of Victory to be celebrated annually on that day.

Two years later, Pope Gregory XIII changed the feast name to the Feast of the Holy Rosary. In 1913, Pius X changed the date to Oct. 7, and in 1960 Pope John XXIII changed the name to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Also in October is the commemoration of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, which was on Oct. 13, 1917. Our Lady of Fatima requested that the rosary be prayed daily, and she gave a prayer that is now often recited after each decade of the rosary: “O Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy.”

The rosary is comprised of 20 mysteries that focus on incidents in the life of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. These mysteries are arranged in four groups of five: The Joyful Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries. (See below.)

Numerous saints have written about the rosary. Among the writings are “The Secret of the Rosary” by St. Louis de Montfort and “the Glories of Mary” by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Pope John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter, “Rosarium Vigrinis Mariae,” in 2002. Online resources about the rosary include the websites of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (http://usccb.org/) and that of the Rosary Center & Confraternity (https://www.rosarycenter.org/), which was established by the Dominican Friars of the Western Province.