Our Lady of the Rosary
October 7
centuries. Oral tradition has handed down the belief that St. Dominic was given the rosary
by the Blessed Mother in a vision during his prayer. Because of this tradition the Rosary has always been very special to Dominicans.
In the 1500’s Pope Pius V, a Dominican, called upon Christians to pray the rosary as a means of intercession with the Blessed Mother to help contain further expansion of the Turks into Christian territory. The Turks were defeated and a feast day honoring Mary as Our Lady of Victory was instituted on October 7, 1571.
In 1572 Pope Gregory XIII changed the title to the one we celebrate today, Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast of Mary and the recitation of the rosary has always had an appeal with the faithful. It proclaims a prayer form so simple that a child can participate; yet so deep in the meditation of the mysteries of Christ life among us.
The call of the universal church in our time is to recognize the potential good in all peoples and to ask Mary’s intercession not for the success of one group over another but for the grace that we all may become the people our God calls us to be. We pray for our hearts to embrace each other and all creation in peace.
We witnessed this year a further development of the rosary as Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Life to the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries.
