“Queen of the Holy Rosary, Pray for us”
The month of October each year is dedicated in the Catholic Church to the devotion of the Most Holy Rosary. This is mainly because of the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary which is celebrated on October 7th. The feast of Our Lady of Victory was instituted in 1571 after a military victory in the Battle of Lepanto. At Lepanto, the Moslems though they were a large army were miraculously defeated by praying the Rosary.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The feast was instituted in 1571 by Pope Pius V to celebrate the miraculous victory of the Christian armed forces over the Turks, in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was extremely significant in arresting the invasion of the Turks into Christian Europe. Pope Pius V had formed a Holy League, an allied army of several European countries to fight against the invasion of the Turks. The Christian fleet and army were still far outnumbered by the Turks. The Holy Pope called for praying the Rosary and seeking intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through the intervention of Our Mother who never fails her children, the Turks were miraculously defeated in battle. As thanksgiving, the Holy Pope announced October 7th to be celebrated every year as the feast of ‘Our Lady of Victory’. In 1573, the feast was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" by Pope Gregory XIII and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716.
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Jude Thaddeus, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. After the Ascension of the Lord and the Pentecost, St. Jude is believed to have preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Iduma, Syria, Libya, Mesapotamia and finally in Persia. In the year 62, he returned to Jerusalem after the martyrdom of his brother James. He is the author of the Epistle of St. Jude which he wrote to strengthen the faith of the newly converts in the face of growing heresies of that time. He is believed to have achieved his glorious martyrdom in Persia along-with Saint Simon, the Zealot. He remains till date a powerful intercessory and is the patron saint of desperate and lost causes.
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Today the Church also celebrates the feast of Saint Simon, the Zealot and one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. It is believed that after the Ascension of the Lord, he preached the Gospel in Egypt and later joined Saint Jude in preaching the Gospel in Persia and Armenia. They were both martyred together in AD 65. His sacred remains are kept in the tomb of St. Jude at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He is often depicted in pictures holding a saw, as according to tradition he is believed to have been sawn into pieces. He is the patron saint of sawyers, tanners and curriers.
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of Blessed Chiara Badano, a Catholic Italian teenager who lived during the period 1971-1990. Through her short life of 18 years, she lived the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love in a heroic way even in the midst of her most painful illness. Her face radiated her love for Jesus and those who met her were profoundly influenced by the ‘light’ of Jesus in her. She endured all the sufferings of her bone cancer patiently and offered them lovingly to Jesus. She was declared ‘Blessed’ by Pope Benedict XVI on 25 September 2010 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love in Rome.
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The three days All Hallow's Eve, the eve of All Saints Day which is celebrated on 31 October, followed by All Saints day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2 are collectively called Allhallowtide and are marked to commemorate the holy souls of the dead who have passed on to eternal life. Sadly, today in most cultures around the world this day is celebrated as ‘Halloween’ with popular customs and practices that depict horror and evil. This is contrary to our faith of eternal life.
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Posted on 28 September 2025
posted on 27 September 2025
posted on 01 August 2025
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