Our Lady of the Rosary Rosary 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1 1 1 HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY Make the Sign of the Cross Pray the Apostles Creed Pray the Our Father Pray the Hail Mary 3 times for an increase in virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity Pray the Glory Be Announce the Mystery Pray the Our Father Pray the Hail Mary 10 times while meditating on the Mystery Pray the Glory Be Pray the Fatima Prayer Repeat steps 6 through 10 for Mysteries 2 through 5 Pray the Hail Holy Queen: Pray the Prayer after the Rosary: Oh God, whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the reward of eternal life; grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. Conclude with the Sign of the Cross 3 THE MYSTERIES JOYFUL The Annunciation The Visitation The Nativity The Presentation The Finding in the Temple LUMINOUS The Baptism of Jesus The Wedding at Cana Proclaiming the Kingdom The Transfiguration Institution of the Eucharist SORROWFUL The Agony in the Garden The Scourging at the Pillar The Crowning with Thorns The Carrying of the Cross The Crucifixion GLORIOUS The Resurrection The Ascension Descent of the Holy Spirit The Assumption The Coronation The Fatima Prayer Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.
The Origins of the Rosary In the year 1214 Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, was in anguish because he was failing in his attempt to convert the Albigensian Cathar heretics. St. Dominic attributed this to the deepness and gravity of sinfulness of the heretics and the poor example of Catholics. He went alone in to the forest and wept and prayed continuously for three days to appease the anger of Almighty God. He flogged his body and scourged his flesh. From the fasting, pain, and exhaustion, he passed in to a coma. Dominic experienced an apparition of Blessed Mother Mary while in the coma, which forever links Saint Dominic and the Rosary. The Immaculate Mary with three angels appeared and asked St. Dominic, Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world? Dominic s response was Blessed Mary knew better than he because she is a part of our salvation. Mary responded, I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter* which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter. Shortly after this apparition he preached the Holy Rosary to the unconverted Albigenisan heretics. To modify the Paternoster (150 Our Father s) and in compliance with the instruction in the apparition, the design of the Saint Dominic Rosary came in to being. He set apart fifteen mysteries of the rosary, grouped them in to three sets of five decades each. The groupings were designated as Joyous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries. This design helped the Albigensian heretics to better understand and to imitate the virtuous life of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Immaculate and Blessed Mary. * The Angelic Salutation is the Hail Mary prayer and the Psalter is the 150 Psalms. Thus, she wanted 150 Hail Mary s which is what the Holy Rosary is 15 decades of Hail Mary s with 15 corresponding mysteries to contemplate. http://taylormarshall.com/2011/06/how-mary-gave-rosary-to-st-dominic.html
Our Lady of Victory During the pontificate of Pope Pius V, 1566-72, the Ottoman Turks became a serious threat to Christian nations. They controlled maritime power in the Mediterranean, and regularly raided the coast cities of Italy. Venice, the most vulnerable, tried to maintain a strategic neutrality to protect her trade with the East. When Sultan Selim II demanded the surrender of Cyprus, the Venetians appealed to the Pope. Pius V proposed the Holy League of Christian powers, the crusade against the Turks. He succeeded in organizing a fleet at Messina under command of Don Juan of Austria. In 1571 this fleet comprised 206 galley ships and 80,000 soldiers from Venice, Naples, Genoa, Spain and Malta. The Turks had superior forces 230 galleys and 120,000 soldiers. Don Juan aboard the flagship, Reale, sailed down the Greek coast on the morning of October 7 th 1571, and spied the Turkish fleet in the Gulf of Lepanto (Corinth). Admiral Ali Pasha aboard his flagship, Sultana, took the lead. Christian and Turkish fleets engaged in battle. By day s end the Sultana was captured, Ali Pasha was slain, the Turks were routed, and 12,000 Christians were released from slavery. On the very same day, October 7 th, the Rosary Confraternity of Rome met in the Dominican Church to pray for the victory of the Christian forces. When the news of victory did reach Rome, it was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady. In commemoration of Lepanto, Pope Pius V established a feast in honor of Our Lady of Victory. In 1712, Pope Clement XI combined the feast day of Our Lady of Victory (the Battle of Lepanto) with the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary (the vision given to St. Dominic) to create the current feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated on October 7 th. https://olvfpny.org/about-us/story-of-our-lady-of-victory/
Pray the Rosary Christendom is even more divided, and certainly more up rooted and less confident, than it was in Don Juan's time. But there are still fighting men, the valiant core of that civilization, who even now patrol the dusty villages of Afghanistan and the dirty streets of Mesopotamia. The enemy smiles as "suicide bombers" smile, but our fighting men - many holding rosaries - smile with thoughts of sweethearts, wives and children, of football, warm fires, and of Christmas. They are the inheritors of the men who saved Europe at Lepanto, and they are the men who will, with God's grace, save the West again. So in honor of Don Juan, of Lepanto, of who we are as Catholics, let us pray for them, for their safety and for their victory. St. George, St. Michael, Our Lady, pray for them - and for us. Provided by the Knights of Columbus St. Mary - Mokena Council #6993