Posted by Sharon Hennessy-Bonas, corrdinator of Our Blessed Mother's Rosary Makers

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 7^th.  It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church and it’s petitioners in answer to the praying of the rosary by the faithful.

Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages period. The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces 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.

History tells us that the Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary, The Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom.

During the Middle Ages, the Rosary came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Diving Office, for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of 150 psalms, they would pray 150 “Our Fathers” counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or “corona”. Marian devotion in the twelfth century substituted the 150 “Hail Marys” in place of the “Our Fathers”.

Pope Leo XIII in 1903 began dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary, encouraging the constant use of the Rosary in devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Beginning on May 13, 1917 and concluding on October 13, 1917, Our Blessed Mother made six appearances to the children Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in a cave near their fields at Fatima. She requested three tasks to bring peace to our world: 1. Do penance. Be sorry. Ask for forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong; put God first in our lives, and do not offend Our Lord any more. 2. Pray the Rosary each day for peace. 3. Make sacrifices for sinners so they will know and love God, while praying for those who have no one to pray for.

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. Summarized by Pope Pius XII in 1958, it is a compendium of the entire Gospel. The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.

During this month of October, consider praying the Rosary in meditation on the great mysteries so we can become closer to Jesus through Mary as our intercessor.