Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Feast Day!!
Today we celebrate one of our great feasts. It is the 450th anniversary commemorating the victory at Lepanto. Along with the feasts of St. Dominic and St. Catherine, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, is of special importance. It reminds us of our Dominican devotion to Our Lady, and the power of the Rosary.
The Rosary is one of our daily obligations, and for good reason. One member praying the rosary, while in the state of grace, is very effective. An entire province praying the rosary, while in a state of grace, has enormous power. For this reason, it is essential that we remain in a state of grace, remain united in our chapters, and remain consistent with our daily rosary.
This is especially important in our current society. We can see all around us the spirits of fear, anxiety and division. This is the work of the enemy. The rosary is the remedy. When we pray the rosary, Our Lady prays with us. She draws us close to Her Immaculate Heart and keeps us united under Her mantle.
Give Our Lady a special place in your chapters. Place a statue of Her on the meeting table. Pray the rosary together at each chapter meeting. Avoid discussing politics or controversial subjects. Forgive as you are forgiven. Make your chapters into little refuges of peace and fellowship. In this way, we can show others the distinction between belonging to the world and belonging to Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit will dwell among us and attract people searching for grace.
May Our Lady obtain special graces for you today.
You are all in my daily prayers. Please keep me in yours.
Denise
PS: The attached image was sent by one of our members. Notice the sun shining on the rosary in Our Lady’s hand.
Please forward this to all your chapter members.
Feast day
Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory in order to commemorate the victory at Lepanto, which he attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.[5] Dedications to Our Lady of Victory had 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 12, 1213.[5] In thanksgiving for victory at the Battle of Bouvines in July 1214, Philip Augustus of France founded the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Victoire, between Senlis and Mont l’Evêque.[8] In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to Feast of the Holy Rosary, to be celebrated on the first Sunday of October.[9] The Dominican friar Juan Lopez in his 1584 book on the rosary states that the feast of the rosary was offered “in memory and in perpetual gratitude of the miraculous victory that the Lord gave to his Christian people that day against the Turkish armada”.[10] In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI, after the victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716 (the feast of Our Lady of the Snows), commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church.[2]Leo XIII raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary”. On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgencetoties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the “Portiuncula” of the Rosary.[citation needed]Pius X in 1913 changed the date to 7 October, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays. In 1960 under Pope John XXIII it is listed under the title Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary; and under the 1969 liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI Our Lady of the Rosary is mentioned as a mandatory memorial.[11]
