October – The Month of the Most Holy Rosary

Did you know…? October 7, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, owes its origin to a remarkable victory of European Christians (the Holy League) over Muslim Turks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in 1571. The destruction of the Turkish fleet ended dominance of the Ottoman Empire over the Mediterranean and the threat of further expansion of the Muslim world into Christian Europe. The league of European countries who won the battle attributed their success to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, as thousands of Catholics in Rome prayed the beads in support of their ships in battle, far to the east.

While other popes instituted and refined the name and date of the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Pope Leo XIII, one the great pontiffs of the Nineteenth Century, extended emphasis on praying the Rosary throughout the month of October. Brother Knights of Columbus are strongly urged to pray the Rosary, and are given a special rosary upon entering the Order. Isn’t it fair to say that we are very much today engaged in battle, Christians, especially Catholics, against rampant evils in the world: abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, embryo destruction for “scientific” research, terrorism…? Our Lady, tradition tells us, tasked the Dominicans with spreading the Rosary, and subsequently inspired men and women and children (remember Fatima) down through the ages to faithfully pray, asking her intercession with her Son. We need action to fight these evils, but that action must be undergirded with prayer. Our late John Paul II treasured the beads and even added five more mysteries (the Luminous) for us to meditate on.

Welcome the Rosary beads onto your fingers, meditate on the mysteries, and offer your concerns and those of the whole world into the hands of the Lord, via the prayer that honors his extraordinary Mother.

In Christ Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary,

Deacon Rex Pilger

KC Council 12392 Knights Talk October 2010