ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 7th of October
O glorious Virgin, Mother of God, blessed among all nations, worthy of praise and the greatest of praise, intercede for me with thy beloved Son. O honoured Lady, Mother of the King of Angels and Archangels, assist and deliver me from every difficulty and danger.
O Blossom of the Patriarchs, the Virgins and the Angels, Hope of Glory, Beauty of Virgins, Admiration of the Angels and Archangels, remember me, and forsake me not, I beseech thee, at the terrible hour of my death. O Star of the Sea, Gate of Heaven, Temple of God, Palace of Jesus Christ, Harbour of Safety, Power of all Nations, Pearl of all Sweetness, Hope of the Faithful; O Queen who shelters the guilty, who surpasses in radiance the Virgins and the Angels, thy presence gives joy to all the hosts of Heaven.
Therefore, O Mother of Mercy, I place in the protection of thy holy hands my going out, my coming in, my sleeping, my waking, the sight of my eyes, the touch of my hands, the speech from my lips, the hearing of my ears, so that in everything I may be pleasing to thine own beloved Son. Amen.
OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY
HOW PRAYING THE ROSARY DEFENDED CHRISTIAN EUROPE AGAINST INVASION IN 1571
…During the whole of his pontificate, [Pope Pius V] ceased not to organise the Christian forces to overcome the Turkish power, which at that time had reached its greatest splendour. To such end, he called for prayers and penitential processions, which he personally took part in, notwithstanding his labours and pains caused by his sickness. ‘For many day – says the Cardinal of St Severina – the Holy Father abstained from every external occupation in order to attend to prayer alone.’ And God began to reward the zeal of His Vicar with miraculous facts. These prodigies happened so frequently, that Soliman, aware of the physical and moral cures wrought by the penances of the Holy Father, was heard to exclaim: ‘I fear more the prayers of this Pope than all the soldiers of the Emperor.’
Being thus assured in advance of heavenly assistance, St Pius took up wholeheartedly the organisation of the Crusade. In the final days of the year 1570 all seemed to be compromised, all lost; but then in the month of July 1571 the Holy Alliance was drawn up and on the horizon could be glimpsed the dawn of the great day of Lepanto.
This masterpiece of diplomacy was the work of one man who was not a politician but a Saint and who had never wished to be involved in politics. To bring peace between Venice and Spain was something which seemed impossible, seeing that Spain dominated almost all the rest of Italy and which tolerated, with gritted teeth, the Republic of the Adriatic which dominated the sea. But the Pope, by means of long and difficult labour, was able to do it, and thus on September 15th 1571, the Christian fleet, under the command of Don John of Austria and of the legate Mark Anthony Colonna, sailed from Messina to fight the Turkish fleet.
On the morning of October 7, the fleet was in the vicinity of the Gulf of Lepanto… [T]hey doubted not the victory and so great was the faith they had in the prayers of St Pius V, that when the wind, which had firstly been against them, changed direction, directing the smoke of the gunners towards the Turks, they took it as a prelude to the divine assistance and as a heralding sign of the fulfilment of the prediction of the Holy Father… Just before midday they prepared themselves for battle which lasted for several hours, until at last the Christian fleet was completely victorious.
It was almost five o’clock in the evening when the battle ended. On October 7, 1571, at the same hour, St Pius, who after the departure of the fleet had redoubled his penances and prayers, was examining with some of the Prelates the accounts of Bussotti, his treasurer. All of a sudden, almost as if by an irresistible impulse, he arose, went to the window and fixed his gaze towards the East as one in ecstasy. Then, returning to the Prelates, his eyes shining with a divine light, he said: ‘Let us do our business works no more – he said – but rather go to thank God. The Christian fleet has obtained the victory.’ He took leave of the Prelates and went immediately to the Chapel, where a Cardinal, having heard the happy news, found him immersed in tears of joy.
The Holy Father Pius V attributed the triumph of Lepanto to the intercession of the Virgin and wanted the invocation ‘Auxilium christianorum, ora pro nobis’ to be added to the Litany of Loreto, establishing a feast in honour of Our Lady of Victories on October 7th.
(The above are excerpts of the article entitled “The Pope of the Rosary and the Victory of Lepanto” published in “De Vita Contemplativa” [Monthly magazine for monasteries], paper edition, Year VII, Number 5, May 2013)
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