The faithful worldwide are invited to pray the Holy Rosary daily during the month of October. By doing so, we are asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael the Archangel, to guard the Church against the devil, who constantly tries to keep us apart from God and from one another.
As per the narrative of Alan de la Roch, a Dominican who lived in the fifteenth century, St. Dominic saw Our Lady in 1206, following a period of intense penance and prayer due to his inability to counter the Albigensian heresy. After praising him for his courageous battle against the heretics, Mary gave him the Rosary as a powerful weapon. She gave him an explanation of its uses, and instructed him to spread its message to others.
MONDAY 7th OCTOBER; FEAST DAY OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
October 7, the anniversary of the Holy League's joint fleet's victory against the Ottoman navy during the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, is observed as the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Blessed Virgin Mary was implored on the day of the battle with the rosary, and Pope St. Pius V said that her intercession was the reason for the victory.
13th OCTOBER 1917; THE 'MIRACLE OF THE SUN' IN FATIMA
Shrine of Fatima
Although, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated annually on 13 May, we commemorate on this date the final Marian apparition at Fatima.
The Virgin Mary told the three shepherd children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, 9 and 7, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos, 10, that during the final of her six apparitions, she would give a sign to help people believe in the apparitions and her message, proving that the apparitions were real. The events of October 13, 1917, have been referred to as the 'Miracle of the Sun' or 'the day the sun danced.' On that day that around 70,000 people saw the sun dance, a miracle that upended the then-dominant notion that God was irrelevant. The clouds broke, the rain-soaked sky became clear, and the previously soggy, muddy ground became dry. The sun appeared behind a transparent veil that made it easy to look at, and the landscape was scattered with lights of various colors. The sun then started to rotate, whirling around the sky and seeming to veer toward the earth for a while before leaping back up to its original position.
Those who saw the sun's miracle, regarded it as 'the seal, the guarantee', that in fact the shepherd children were telling the truth.
During the apparitions to the three Portuguese children in the Cova da Iria, between May and October 1917, Our Blessed Lady asked the children to pray the Rosary for the world and for the conversion of sinners. In this month of the Holy Rosary, Pope Francis reminds us of this request, which the Madonna at Fatima repeatedly voiced. He said, “Under her protection, the pains and afflictions of life will be more bearable.”
During his 2023 visit to the Apparition Chapel, at the Shrine of Fatima, Pope Francis laid a golden rose at Our Lady's feet and said, "Mary was 'the first one to make a pilgrimage' after the Annunciation", and she "always comes to our aid 'in haste' and shows us the way forward for our lives."
Apparition Chapel, Shrine of Fatima
ACT OF ENTRUSTMENT TO MARY
"Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for your motherly presence we join in the voice of all generations that call you blessed.
We celebrate in you the great works of God, who never tires of lowering himself in mercy over humanity, afflicted by evil and wounded by sin, to heal and to save it.
Accept with the benevolence of a Mother this act of entrustment that we make in faith today, before this your image, beloved to us.
We are certain that each one of us is precious in your eyes and that nothing in our hearts has estranged you.
May that we allow your sweet gaze to reach us and the perpetual warmth of your smile.
Guard our life with your embrace: bless and strengthen every desire for good; give new life and nourishment to faith; sustain and enlighten hope; awaken and animate charity; guide us all on the path to holiness.
Teach us your own special love for the little and the poor, for the excluded and the suffering, for sinners and the wounded of heart: gather all people under you protection and give us all to your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.
Amen."
Pope Francis
PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
"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 through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen"
Pope Leo XIII
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