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October, The Month of the Holy Rosary

Devotion for October,
The Month of the Most Holy Rosary

In 1885, Pope Leo XIII ordered the Rosary to be recited everyday during the month of October in every Parish Church and Cathedral, throughout the world.
Those of the faithful who could not be present at this recital he exhorted to say it with their families or in private.

How should we say the Rosary?

Properly,… and slowly, with a distinct pronunciation of the prayers and mysteries.
Devoutly, not only with the lips but also with the heart. More particularly, we ought to meditate upon the Mysteries that come before us, thus, at the Joyful Mysteries, we should think of the infinite love of God to men and on His humiliation for us, thanking Him and promising our love to Him in return.
At the Sorrowful Mysteries we should have compassion on the .
Saviour suffering for us, should, from the heart, detest the sins which were the cause of His sufferings and, make the most earnest resolutions for the future.
At the Glorious Mysteries, we should remember the glory which awaits us too, if we follow Jesus and Mary. (Fr Leonard Goffiné O.Praem (1648-1719)

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Devotion for October, The Month of the Holy Rosary

October, The Month of the Holy Rosary

AVOIDING DESTRACTION WHILE PRAYING THE ROSARY

Use various approaches, depending on disposition and degree of concentration.
Overall principle – don’t let yourself float and slide, carried away by your imagination.
Keep it in check at all times, as much as possible.

When tired and without much focus, “concentrate” on the peaceful repetition of the Hail Marys, entering its rhythm and imaging to be in the company of Mary. Leave it at that.
If in somewhat better disposition, try to focus on images, one or more of Christ, Mary or scenes of their lives as mentioned in the Mysteries.
Look at and contemplate what you see, while saying the different decades.
Don’t even attempt to enter into a more intellectual mood exploring only the imagery.

A different and more demanding mode will lead you to a reflection on the deeper meaning of each one of the Mysteries:
What is their meaning regarding salvation history then and now?
What is the Mystery’s immediate significance for my personal spiritual life?
Entertain some of these considerations while reciting the decade.

Also, don’t forget to make of the Rosary, a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, once in a while at least because it is in the Rosary that we summarise and remember our redemption and the great things God did for Mary and through her.

In a special manner, try to develop a personal habit to say the Rosary in company with Mary.
The Mysteries are stations of a beautiful journey leading to eternal happiness.
Mary leads the way and is our traveling companion.

Be self-critical enough to shift gears when needed.
It may well happen, that all the various modes are methods which need to be applied during one and the same Rosary Prayer.

May your Rosary Prayer be perseverant. Amen

PS – don’t forget to add the “Sub Tuum praesídium” and the St Michael Prayer after the final prayers.

We fly to Thy protection,
O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our petitions in our necessities
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

Saint Michael Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our protection
against the wickedness
and snares of the devil,
may God rebuke him,
we humbly pray
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl throughout the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen

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Devotion for October, The Month of the Holy Rosary

Devotion for October,
The Month of the Holy Rosaryoctober month of the holy rosary 1 oct 2019

Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages period.   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 7 October.   It was instituted to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful.

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 7 October 1571. The pope attributed more to the “arms” of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valour of the soldiers who fought there.

Legend 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.   It was the same Pope St Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices.   It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the “Hail Mary” and the “Glory be to the Father” at the conclusion of each mystery.

In the Middle Ages it came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons, who did not know how to read.   Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 “Our Fathers” counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or “corona.”   With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary” developed now substituting 150 “Hail Marys” in place of the “Our Fathers.”

The 150 “Hail Marys” were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary.   The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.   He also attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin” to St Dominic and thus spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern.   The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results.

The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century.   Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary.   Beginning on 1 September 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898.

Many other popes have contributed to help increase devotion to the Rosary by their writings.   In the recent past, St Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation MARIALIS CULTUS to the Angelus and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that “the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness.” (MC, 41)

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer.   This can be summarised by the traditional phrase used by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) that the Rosary is “a compendium of the entire Gospel” (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419).   The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centred on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.

St John Paul II called the Rosary his favourite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979) and, as we know, added the five Luminous Mysteries in his Encyclical, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, in 2002.

In this month of October, let us consider this beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use in order to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation.

Adapted from an article by Father Matthew R Mauriello (1996)the seven blessings of the rosary - st louis de montfort - 2017

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Thought for the Day – 12 October – Month of the Holy Rosary

Thought for the Day – 12 October – Month of the Holy Rosary

As we travel with St Luke at present in the Daily Gospel, it becomes so clear that St Luke, the artist, lives very clearly in his words.   It is a blessed gift to find the icons of Rosary so clearly ‘painted’ in his Gospel.

Contemplating the Mysteries With Saint Luke

The contemplation of the “icons” of Saint Luke’s Gospel, especially through the prayer of the Rosary, is transforming.   The Rosary is, a uniquely Lukan prayer. Consider Saint Luke’s icon of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26 38) and, with Mary, become “Yes” to the Word. Look at the Visitation (Lk 1:39 56) and learn the language of Mary’s praise.   Look at the Child lying in the manger (Lk 2:16) and become little and poor.

Look at the merciful Christ (Lk 4:40 – 5:26) and become merciful – at the healing Christ (Lk 7:1-10) and become an instrument of healing;   at the solitary Christ in prayer (Lk 11:1) and learn to converse with the Father.

Look at the icon of Christ in Gethsemane (Lk 22:39-46), agonising and comforted by an angel and enter into His submission to the Father’s will.   Look at the crucified Jesus (Lk 23:33-47) and learn from Him to forgive and to show mercy, even in the hour of darkness.   Look at the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-32) and know that He walks with you always, opening the Scriptures, breaking the Bread, causing your hearts to burn with a mysterious fire.   Finally, look at the icon of the Church in the last sentence of Saint Luke’s Gospel — “They were continually in the temple blessing God” (Lk 24:53) — and learn to bless God always and everywhere, learn to give the last word to praise.

Holy God, we praise Thy Name!holy god we praise thy name - 12 oct 2018

Mother of the Holy Rosary, Pray for Us!mother of the holy rosary pray for us - 12 oct 2018

Excerpted from Fr Mark’s blog

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN TITLES, MORNING Prayers, PAPAL MESSAGES, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The HOLY ROSARY/ROSARY CRUSADE

October – The Month of the Holy Rosary REMINDER

October – The Month of the Holy Rosary
REMINDER

of the Prayers to be conclude the Rosary each day of October (most especially) but I will add these always.

From Pope Francis’ Message – 29 September

“The Holy Father has decided to invite all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.”

The invocation “Sub tuum praesídium” is recited as follows:

“Sub tuum praesídium confúgimus,
sancta Dei Génetrix;
nostras deprecatiónes ne despícias in necessitátibus,
sed a perículis cunctis líbera nos semper,
Virgo gloriósa et benedícta”.

We fly to Thy protection,
O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our petitions
in our necessities
but deliver us always
from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin

and

The Holy Father has also asked that the recitation of the Holy Rosary during the month of October conclude with the prayer written by Pope Leo XIII:

“Sancte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in próelio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium.
Imperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur,
tuque, Prínceps milítiae caeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Amen”.

Saint Michael Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil,
may God rebuke him, we humbly pray
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, cast into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl throughout the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amensub tuum and st michael prayer - 6 oct 2018

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October – The Month of the Holy Rosary Message from Pope Francis

October – The Month of the Holy Rosary
Message from Pope Francis

Below is the complete and entire Message issued by the Holy See Press Office on 29 September 2018.

Holy See Press Office Communiqué, 29.09.2018

The Holy Father has decided to invite all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.

In recent days, before his departure for the Baltic States, the Holy Father met with Fr Fréderic Fornos, S.J., international director of Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and asked him to spread this appeal to all the faithful throughout the world, inviting them to conclude the recitation of the Rosary with the ancient invocation “Sub tuum praesídium” and with the prayer to Saint Michael Archangel that he protect us and help us in the struggle against evil (cf. Revelation 12, 7-12).

The prayer – the Pontiff affirmed a few days ago, on 11 September, in a homily at Santa Marta, citing the first chapter of the Book of Job – is the weapon against the Great Accuser who “goes around the world seeking to accuse”.   Only prayer can defeat him  . The Russian mystics and the great saints of all the traditions advised, in moments of spiritual turbulence, to shelter beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God pronouncing the invocation “Sub tuum praesídium”.

The invocation “Sub tuum praesídium” is recited as follows:

“Sub tuum praesídium confúgimus,
sancta Dei Génetrix;
nostras deprecatiónes ne despícias in necessitátibus,
sed a perículis cunctis líbera nos semper,
Virgo gloriósa et benedícta”.

We fly to Thy protection,
O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our petitions in our necessities
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.we fly to they protection - pope francis communique - oct rosary - no 2 - 1 october 2018

With this request for intercession the Holy Father asks the faithful of all the world to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle – to preserve her from the attacks by the devil, the great accuser and at the same time to make her more aware of the faults, the errors and the abuses committed in the present and in the past and committed to combating without any hesitation, so that evil may not prevail.

The Holy Father has also asked that the recitation of the Holy Rosary during the month of October conclude with the prayer written by Pope Leo XIII:

“Sancte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in próelio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium.
Imperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur,
tuque, Prínceps milítiae caeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Amen”.

Saint Michael Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our protection
against the wickedness
and snares of the devil,
may God rebuke him,
we humbly pray
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl throughout the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amenoctober - pray the st michael prayer - the holy father 29 sept 2018 - made on 1 oct 2018

Note:   In recent weeks the bishops of several dioceses, across the world, have encouraged the praying of the Saint Michael Prayer after Mass – as we used to do. And I would add, Alleluia!

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October: Month of the Holy Rosary

October:  Month of the Holy Rosary

october - month of the holy rosary - 1 oct 2018

There are 5 Marian Months, which Holy Mother Church, has given the faithful. They are: May – the Month of Mary, August – the Month of the Immaculate Heart, September – the Month of the Sorrowful Mother, October – the Month of the Holy Rosary and December – the Month of the Immaculate Conception.   For devotion to Mary leads us to her Son, in our Mother Mary we find the image of the Church, the mercy of motherhood.

On 7 October the Church celebrates the feast day of Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary.   This feast was established by Pope Saint Pius V on the anniversary of the victory at Lepanto on 7 October 1571. The naval victory was attributed to the Virgin Mary whose intercession was entreated through the recitation of the Holy Rosary.
The Church then proceeded to dedicate the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary so that individuals, families and communities would pray the Holy Rosary, on a daily basis for peace in the world.
“Not only do we earnestly exhort all Christians to give themselves to the recital of the pious devotion of the Rosary publicly, or privately in their own house and family and that unceasingly but we also desire that the whole of the month of October … should be consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary” (Excerpt from the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, On Devotion of the Rosary, 1 September 1883).the rosary infothe rosary guide

The Holy Rosary and the Saints:

“The experience of the Saints bears witness to it – this popular Marian prayer, the Holy Rosary, is a precious spiritual means to grow in intimacy with Jesus and to learn at the school of the Blessed Virgin always to fulfil the divine will.   To be apostles of the Rosary… it is necessary to experience personally the beauty and depth of this prayer which is simple and accessible to everyone.   It is first of all necessary to let the Blessed Virgin take one by the hand to contemplate the Face of Christ, a joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious Face.   Those who, like Mary and with her, cherish and ponder the mysteries of Jesus assiduously, increasingly assimilate His sentiments and are conformed to Him.” Excerpt from the Meditation of Pope Benedict XVI, On the Recitation of the Holy Rosary,19 October 2008.october-the-month-of-the-holy-rosary-1 oct 2017

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OCTOBER – The Month of the HOLY ROSARY

OCTOBER – The Month of the HOLY ROSARYOCTOBER - THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY

The Feast of the Rosary is celebrated on 7 October and the month of October is traditionally the month of the rosary.  Without having to say, this is the month to commit to praying the rosary more regularly and if you can, every day.

Why did our Mother Mary ask us to pray the rosary at many of her approved apparitions such as at Fatima?   Why should we pray at all?

The rosary is a powerful prayer and weapon and can affect and benefit us significantly each time we pray it.  The most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary according to Pope John Paul II is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery;  the life of Jesus and Mary’s role in Salvation. Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus.

The rosary is not only a vocal prayer but also a meditative prayer.

The Devotion:

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. Pope Leo XIII personally started the practice of devoting October to the Rosary devotion. In a letter of 1 September 1883, mindful of the Rosary’s power to strengthen faith and foster a life of virtue, he outlined the triumphs of the Rosary in past times and admonished the faithful to dedicate the month of October to the Blessed Virgin through the daily recitation of her Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in order to obtain through her intercession the grace that God would console and defend His Church in her sufferings.

Never mind if you’re a bit rusty, or if it’s been ages since you last prayed your rosary.   It’s never too late to begin again and everyone deserves to experience the power of the rosary.

Pope Benedict XVI in an address at the Basilica of St Mary Major where he prayed the rosary with the faithful said:

Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary.

In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son and also what he did and said.  When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived.   The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced.   With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus.   Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory.

May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God.

The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation.  It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each “Hail Mary”.

rosary - oct