Dear Christians, the month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7th. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful. 

The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces against the Moslem Turks in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there. Even though they had superior numbers, the Moslem Turks really were overmatched. This victory was significant, it prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. Blessed Padre Pio, the Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was! The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716. 

The Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Our Blessed Mother, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. Thereafter, many popes did much to further the spread of the Rosary. And to this day, the Rosary has become one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. Well-known are several occasions in her apparitions on which the Mother of Christ made her presence felt and her voice heard, in order to exhort the People of God to this form of contemplative prayer.

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the nineteenth century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother. Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. In Supremo Apostolatus Officio, mindful of the Rosary's power to strengthen faith and foster a life of virtue, he outlined the triumphs of the Rosary in past times and admonished the faithful to dedicate the month of October to the Blessed Virgin through the daily recitation of her Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in order to obtain through her intercession, the grace that God would console and defend His Church in her sufferings.

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. This can be summarized by the traditional phrase used by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) that the Rosary is "a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419).  The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption, with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. These episodes in the history of salvation are further divided into the joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and luminous mysteries.   Pope John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979). In his Apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, of October 16, 2002, he said “the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery.”

In the Rosary month of October, we can do many things that can more closely align our life and home to the Rosary.

PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER OR PRAY A FAMILY ROSARY: If you don’t already, why not start saying the Rosary every day. Or try saying a family Rosary or even just a decade together. Let each person share an intention they’d like the whole family to pray for.

FIND WAYS TO SHARE THE ROSARY WITH OTHERS: Perhaps you can give Rosary beads to a friend going through a challenging time, or bring a few to the local hospital or nursing home for any patients who might benefit from them. Perhaps you can join a group at Church such as your parish Rosary Society and try the beautiful act of praying the Rosary with others. Maybe you could even start your own group or ask a family member or friend to join you once a month, on First Fridays or First Saturdays, for example, as a time to pray for each other and share time with Mary. If you are able to commit to praying the complete Rosary weekly, join the Rosary Confraternity and join your prayers to the prayers of all members, creating a beautiful bond of support and mutual prayer linking you to other members worldwide.

PRAY THE ROSARY BEFORE EACH MASS: In some parishes, like ours, the Rosary is being prayed 30 minutes before all the Masses during the week and weekends. While a handful of people have been participating in this, many people are yet to make use of this program. It is highly recommended that we come to Mass early, and find time to sit, pray and meditate before the Mass starts. Praying the Rosary before Mass can be a way of inviting Mary to be with us as we prepare to enter into the celebration of the great sacrifice which her Son made for our salvation – giving up his body and shedding his blood for us on the cross.

The words of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort on his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, help us to understand why devotion to Mary is so important. He writes, “If then we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united, and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her, the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ.” Among all prayers, the Rosary is the one that brings us closer to Jesus the most, and does so through the sweet intercession from His Mother. It is a contemplative prayer, the prayer of a Christian facing the path of faith towards Jesus, following Mary’s footsteps and example. The grains of the Rosary flowing through our fingers set the passing of days and years of a Christian life, marking the path of faith step after step. Everything in the Rosary leads to Jesus, to his image symbolized by the Crucifix, just as the whole life of a devotee must be addressed only towards Him. 

Pope Saint John II wrote in Rosarium Virginis Mariae, “The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted any number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort...The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth.” Let us consider this beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use in order to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation. It is important to recite the Rosary as much as possible in this month, on our own or also in our family and parish.

Have a blessed October Rosary Devotion
Fr. Casmia

Sources
•    Reverend Matthew R. Mauriello October, Month of the Rosary, https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/october-month-of-the-rosary.php
•    10 Ways to honor Our Lady of the Rosary in October … and all year round: https://aleteia.org/2019/10/01/10-ways-to-honor-our-lady-of-the-rosary-in-october-and-all-year-round/
•    October - The Month of the Rosary, https://holyrosarypassaic.org/october-month-of-the-rosary
•    October: the month of the Holy Rosary, https://www.holyart.com/blog/religious-items/october-the-month-of-the-holy-rosary/
•    Catholic Prayer: October Devotion: The Holy Rosary, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=763