~`+`~10/07~`FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY ~`+`~
Source:: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
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On October 7TH, the Roman Catholic Church Celebrates
yearly feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Known for several centuries by the alternate title of "Our Lady of Victory,
" the feast day takes place in honor of a 16th century naval victory
which secured Europe against Turkish invasion. Pope St. Pius V attributed
the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who was invoked on the day of the battle through a campaign to pray
the Rosary throughout Europe.
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The feast always occurs one week after the similar Byzantine
celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God,
which most Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics celebrate
on October 1 in memory of a 10th-century military victory which protected
Constantinople against invasion after a reported Marian apparition.
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Pope Leo XIII was particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary,
producing 11 encyclicals on the subject of this feast and its
importance in the course of his long pontificate.
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In the first of them, 1883's "Supremi Apostolatus Officio,
" he echoed the words of the oldest known Marian prayer
(known in the Latin tradition as the "Sub Tuum Praesidium"),
when he wrote, "It has always been the habit of Catholics
in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary."
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"This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven,"
Pope Leo continued, "has never shone forth with such brilliancy
as when the militant Church of God has seemed to be endangered by
the violence of heresy … or by an intolerable moral corruption,
or by the attacks of powerful enemies." Foremost among such "attacks"
was the battle of Lepanto, a perilous and decisive moment
in European and world history.
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Troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire had invaded and occupied
the Byzantine empire by 1453, bringing a large portion of the increasingly
divided Christian world under a version of Islamic law.
For the next hundred years, the Turks expanded their empire westward on land,
and asserted their naval power in the Mediterranean.
In 1565 they attacked Malta, envisioning an eventual invasion of Rome.
repelled at Malta, the Turks captured Cyprus in the fall of 1570.
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The next year, three Catholic powers on the continent – Genoa, Spain,
and the Papal States - formed an alliance called the Holy League,
to defend their Christian civilization against Turkish invasion.
Its fleets sailed to confront the Turks near the west coast
of Greece on October 7, 1571.
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Crew members on more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary in preparation
for the battle - as did Christians throughout Europe, encouraged
by the Pope gather in their churches to invoke the Virgin Mary
against the daunting Turkish forces.
Some accounts say that Pope Pius V was granted a miraculous vision
of the Holy League's stunning victory. Without a doubt,
the Pope understood the significance of the day's events,
when he was eventually informed that all but 13 of the nearly 300
Turkish ships had been captured or sunk. He was moved to institute
the feast now celebrated universally as Our Lady of the Rosary.
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"Turkish victory at Lepanto would have been a catastrophe
of the first magnitude for Christendom," wrote military historian
John F. Guilmartin, Jr., "and Europe would have followed a historical
trajectory strikingly different from that which obtained."
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'*'THE CORONATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY'*'
***
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The feast of the Queenship of Mary was established in 1954 by Pope Pius XII.
The original date for this feast was chosen as May 31st, but was later moved
to the octave day of the feast of the Assumption, August 22nd.
This memorial celebrates the same event that is highlighted
by the fifth glorious mystery or the Rosary.
***
Throughout the New Testament, Mary's role in heaven is mentioned.
Mary is alluded to as Queen in the book of Revelations,
and throughout the Bible.
It is because of Jesus close relationship with his mother
that she shares in his kingship.
***
The Church and the faithful for have also referred to Mary as queen since
fourth century. Various songs, litanies, and prayers refer to Mary as queen.
(e.g. Regina Caeli during Eastertide.) The Church has affirmed the title
of Mary in modern times through documents including Lumen Gentium (...
"and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be
the more fully conformed to her Son" Lumen Gentium 59)
and the papal encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam.
***
The title Queen is used to indicate the final state of the Virgin,
seated beside her Son, the King of glory.
***
~*~`The Coronation of the Virgin Mary`~*~
***
Neither scripture nor Catholic dogma says anything about Mary
being crowned upon her arrival in Heaven, yet this has been a popular
theme in the art for more than eight centuries.
It developed from the fervent language in early medieval accounts
of Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven,
in particular Gregory of Tours' Glory of the Martyrs (6th century)
and a sermon incorrectly attributed to Saint Jerome.
In the latter, Mary enters Heaven as a "glorious queen"
and "celestial legions" lead her to her throne.
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THE MEMORARE
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but, in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.
***
HAIL, HOLY QUEEN (This anthem is attributed to Adhemar de Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy (+1098). The three final invocations were added by St.Bernard (1091-1153)
Hail, Holy Queen, mother of mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To you do we cry poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus! O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!.
-. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
-. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
***
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, you prepared the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother to become the worthy habitation of your Son; grant that by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice, we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death. Through the same Christ our Lord. -. Amen.
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`I am but a star in the heavens above
guiding over you in God's eternal love
I once was a soul like you on earth now
a heavenly star in miracle of rebirth..
'in celebration of eternal life ~ 08/03/1972
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