A Brief History of the Rosary: Part 2 of a 2 Part Series

Oct 29

October 31th, 2021

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever~

October is the month of the rosary and as you know by now, I’m a big fan of every Catholic praying it daily (so is God). For these reasons, I’m in the midst of writing pastor columns on different aspects of the rosary. What follows is the second part of a brief history of the rosary taken from a small booklet called The Rosary – The Great Weapon of the 21st Century. If you missed the first installment from last Sunday, you can find it on Holy Redeemer’s website here, or click on the resources tab, then click on the pastor columns tab. Information to obtain a copy of the booklet can be found at the end of this pastor’s column. Enjoy reading.

A Brief History of the Rosary – Part II

To re-establish this devotion in its pristine fervor, Our Lady chose Blessed Alan de la Roche, a Dominican from the monastery at Dinan, France. In 1464, after apparitions of Our Lord, Our Lady and Saint Dominic himself, Blessed Alan solemnly resolved to preach the rosary incessantly, which he did until his death in 1475, around the time of the founding of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary at the Dominican convent at Cologne. It was to him and Saint Dominic that Our Lady gave her promises to those who pray the rosary. [These promises were in my pastor’s column from Sunday, 10/17/21, found on our website here https://holyredeemervan.org/pastor-columns/rosary-month. If looking it up on Holy Redeemer’s website, click on the resource tab, then the pastor columns tab, then scroll to find it.]

The erection of confraternities in many other places led to the printing of numerous books on the rosary. The devotion quickly spread throughout Europe. It is to the confraternities that the acceptance of the list of fifteen mysteries to be meditated on during the recitation of the Hail Mary’s is mainly due. Pope Saint Pius V, a Dominican himself, enunciated the list in his Consueverunt of 1569. [In 2002, Pope Saint John Paul II expanded the mysteries to 20 by adding the Luminous Mysteries in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.]

By then, Europe was tragically menaced by the might of the Turkish Empire. Saint Pius V convoked a crusade to save Christendom. However, many Christian peoples, either rendered lukewarm by the Renaissance or alienated from the bosom of the Church by Protestantism, turned a deaf ear to the Pope. But the Holy Father did not rest until he had organized a fleet of about 200 galleys from the Papal States, Malta, Spain, Naples and Sicily, and the states of Venice and Genoa.

This Christian fleet, placed under the Most Holy Virgin’s protection by the Pope, sailed under the command of Don Juan of Austria, half-brother of King Philip II of Spain. The Muslim fleet was sighted about 50 miles west of the harbor of Lepanto, which is just inside the narrow entrance of the Gulf of Corinth.

Battle was joined on October 7, 1571. Upon its outcome depended the future of Christendom. During four long hours, galleys crashed into each other, musket balls and arrows flew everywhere, men swarmed aboard the enemy ships wherever they could get a grip.

Although things had gone badly for the Christians at first, in the end they were victorious. Ali Pasha, the commander-in-chief of the Muslim fleet, was killed and his standard taken. The Muslims, losing courage, began to flee.

The combat became a slaughter of infidels. It is reckoned that 24,000 Muslims were killed and 5,000 taken prisoner. The Christians captured 177 ships and freed perhaps as many as 15,000 Christian rowers, slaves in the Turkish galleys.

On the day of the battle, Saint Pius V was working with the cardinals. Suddenly, interrupting his work and opening the window, he looked at the sky and cried out: “A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory He has just given the Christian army [navy].”

More than two weeks later, a courier, delayed by storms at sea, arrived in Rome with the news of the naval victory of Lepanto. The Pope wept for joy: the power of Islam had been dealt a shattering blow from which it will hopefully never recover. To thank the Most Holy Virgin for this triumph obtained while the members of all the confraternities of Rome were holding rosary processions, Saint Pius V added to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary the supplication “Help of Christians” and instituted for the first Sunday of October the feast of Our Lady of Victory, which was changed by Gregory XIII to the feast of the Most Holy Rosary.

After a new victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1716, at the Battle of Peterwardein in Hungary, Pope Clement XI extended the celebration of the feast of the rosary to the universal Church. The great Saint Pius X fixed the feast on October 7.

In 1917, less than three years after the death of Saint Pius X, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta (age ten, nine and seven respectively), at Cova da Iria, Fatima, Portugal, in a series of six apparitions that began May 13 and ended October 13. The authenticity of these apparitions was confirmed by the miracle of the sun witnessed by about 70,000 spectators during the final apparition.

At Fatima, Our Lady gave the three children the mission of telling the world that she was profoundly displeased with the impiety and corruption of men. She warned that if mankind did not amend its ways, a terrible chastisement would come, several nations would be annihilated, Russia would spread its errors throughout the world and the Holy Father would have much to suffer.

In her message, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, along with pointing out the danger, tells us how to avoid it. She maternally provides guidelines to avert this terrible chastisement: she asks for prayer and penance, and especially the recitation of the Holy Rosary.

It was after giving the warning of the chastisement and the ways to avoid it that Our Lady taught us the prayer to be recited at the end of each mystery of the rosary. She told Lucia: “When you pray the rosary, after each decade say, ‘O 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.”

At the tempestuous beginning of the twenty-first century, amidst the most devastating crises in history, a beacon of hope shines in the words spoken by Our Lady at Fatima, for she has assured us: “Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”

The Rosary – The Great Weapon of the 21st Century.

(To order a copy)

America Needs Fatima
1-888-317-5571
PO Box 341
Hanover, PA 17331

ANF@ANF.org or www.ANF.org