Lady of the Rosary
Feastday: October 7
Our Lady of the Rosary,
also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, is a title of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in relation to the Rosary. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is on
October 7, the anniversary of the decisive victory of the combined Christian
fleet in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto, defeating an Ottoman fleet off western
Greece. It was formerly sometimes known as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory.
Visions of Our Lady of the
According to Dominican
tradition, in 1214, St. Dominic was in Prouille, France attempting to convert
the Albigensians back to the Catholic faith. The young priest had little success
until one day he received a vision of the Blessed Virgin, who gave him the
Rosary as a tool against heretics. While Mary's giving the rosary to St. Dominic
is generally acknowledged as a legend, the development of this prayer form owes
much to the followers of St. Dominic, including the 15th century priest and
teacher, Alanus de Rupe.
On December 3, 1836, Fr. Charles Eléonor
des Genettes had an interior locution directing him to dedicate the parish of
Our Lady of Victory to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On October 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima
told the shepherd children, "I am the Lady of the Rosary".
In 1987, during the civil war with the
anti-clerical Sandinista government in Nicaragua, sacristan Bernardo Martinez
reported seeing an apparition of Our Lady who urged him to pray the rosary and
work for peace. One of the appearances was in the parish church of Our Lady of
Victories near Cuapa.
Our Lady of Victory
Pope Pius V had organized a coalition of
forces from Spain and smaller Christian kingdoms, republics and military orders,
to rescue Christian outposts in Cyprus, particularly the Venetian outpost at
Famagusta which, however, surrendered after a long siege on August 1 before the
Christian forces set sail. On October 7, 1571 the Holy League, a coalition of
southern European Catholic maritime states, sailed from Messina, Sicily, and met
a powerful Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. Knowing that the Christian
forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, Pope Pius V
called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory, and led a rosary
procession in Rome.
After about five hours of fighting on the
northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece, the combined navies of
the Vatican, Venice and Spain managed to stop the Ottoman navy, slowing the
Ottoman advance to the west and denying them access to the Atlantic Ocean and
the Americas. If the Ottomans had won then there was a real possibility that an
invasion of Italy could have followed so that the Ottoman sultan, already
claiming to be emperor of the Romans, would have been in possession of both New
and Old Rome. Combined with the unfolding events in Morocco where the Sa’adids
successfully spurned the Ottoman advances, it confined Turkish naval power to
the eastern Mediterranean. Although the Ottoman Empire was able to build more
ships, it never fully recovered from the loss of trained sailors and marines,
and was never again the Mediterranean naval power it had become the century
before when Constantinople fell.
Our Lady of Victory
Pius V then instituted "Our Lady of
Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory, which he attributed to
the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Dedications to Our Lady of Victory
preceded this papal declaration. In particular, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of
Leicester built the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Victory in thanks for
the Catholic victory over the Albigensians at the Battle of Muret on September
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the
title of the "Feast of Our Lady of Victory" to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". Pope
Clement XI extended the feast to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into
the General Roman Calendar in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in
October. Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913, as part of his
effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays. In 1960 Pope John
XXIII changed the title to "Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary".
Our Lady of the Rosary is the patron saint
of several places around the world. The diocese of Malaga, Spain (which, however
celebrates her patronage on September 8), and the Spanish cities of Mellila and
Trujillo celebrate Our Lady of Victories as their patroness. Furthermore, María
del Rosario is a common female Spanish name (colloquially abbreviated to Rosario
or Charo). Rosario can also be used as a male first name, particularly in
Churches named for Our Lady of the Rosary
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary is
located in Duluth, Minnesota. The cathedral church of the Diocese of San
Bernardino, California is also named in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary. The
Church of Our Lady of the Rosary on State Street in New York City began in 1883
as the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary for the Protection of Irish Immigrant
Girls; it houses the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Churches named for Our Lady of Victory
Although the title Our Lady of Victory has
been superseded to some extent by that of Our Lady of the Rosary, the former is
still in popular use at a number of parishes and schools.
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, Paris is an
historic Marian shrine and place of pilgrimage. Augustinian friars built it in
1629 with financial assistance from Louis XIII, who named the church Notre-Dame
des Victoires in gratitude for the victory of French forces over the Huguenots
at the Siege of La Rochelle (1627-8).
Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and
Basilica is located in Lackawanna, New York. Our Lady of Victory is the
Cathedral Church for the Diocese of Victoria, Texas. The Church of Our Lady of
Victory, also known as the War Memorial Church, in the Financial District of
Manhattan, New York City was dedicated to Our Lady of Victory by Francis
Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York and Apostolic Vicar for the U.S. Armed
Forces on June 23, 1947 " ... in Thanksgiving for Victory won by our valiant
dead, our soldiers' blood, our country’s tears, shed to defend men’s rights and
win back men’s hearts to God." The chapel at St. Catherine University, St. Paul,
Minnesota is named for Our Lady of Victory, and is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
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