Festum Beatæ Mariæ Virginis a Rosario

 Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary

Pope St Pius V 1566. Walters Art Gallery.
Baltimore, USA

Today is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary. 

Before the decisive battle against the Ottoman Turks at Lepanto in 1571, Pope Pius V asked for all the sailors and soldiers to pray the Rosary, confess their sins and receive Holy Communion. Meanwhile, he called on all the faithful of the Church to recite the Rosary and ordered a 40 hour devotion in Rome.

In memory of the miraculous triumph over the Turks, he declared the 7th of October the Feast of Our Lady of Victories, later renamed the Feast  of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary, because of her intercession in answering the mass recitation of the Rosary and obtaining the victory.

In 2018, I published a series of posts annotating G.K. Chesterton's poem ''Lepanto''. This magnificent poem speaks of the incredible victory by a Christian fleet over a huge armada of Ottoman Turks, saving Christian Europe from the all-conquering infidels.

For those who wish to read the annotated poem, here is the link to our sister blog : Lepanto.

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Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.