The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, kept every year on October 7, thanks the Blessed Virgin Mary for her help through the prayer of the Rosary. It began as a feast of thanksgiving for a famous victory in 1571, and it is the reason the whole month of October is dedicated to the Rosary. Below is the history of the feast, how October became the month of the Rosary, two indulgenced prayers to Our Lady of the Rosary, the devotion of Pompeii, and ways to celebrate.
The origin of the feast: Lepanto, 1571
In 1571 the fleet of the Ottoman Empire threatened the coasts of Italy and Christian Europe. Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican, formed an alliance of Christian states, the Holy League, and asked the faithful everywhere to pray the Rosary for its success. On October 7, 1571, the League’s fleet defeated the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto, off the coast of Greece. The Pope attributed the victory to the intercession of Mary and instituted a feast of Our Lady of Victory, which soon became the feast of the Holy Rosary.
How the feast spread
- 1573: Pope Gregory XIII allowed the feast of the Holy Rosary to be celebrated on the first Sunday of October in churches with a Rosary altar.
- 1716: after another victory over the Ottomans at Peterwardein, Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the whole Church.
- 1913: Pope St. Pius X fixed the feast on October 7.
- Today: Our Lady of the Rosary is an obligatory memorial on October 7 in the General Roman Calendar.
October, the month of the Rosary
Pope Leo XIII, who wrote a long series of encyclicals on the Rosary and was called “the Pope of the Rosary,” asked in 1883 that the whole month of October be devoted to the Rosary, with the Rosary prayed publicly in parish churches. The custom continues: in October many parishes pray the Rosary before Mass, and families add a decade or the full Rosary each evening. Leo XIII also asked that a prayer to St. Joseph be added after the Rosary in October; see the prayer to St. Joseph.
Prayer to the Queen of the Holy Rosary
Leo XIII indulgenced this prayer in 1886, as the Church faced hostility in many countries:
Queen of the most holy Rosary, in these times of brazen impiety, show forth thy power, with the signs which accompanied thy victories of old, and from the throne where thou art seated, dispensing pardon and grace, in pity watch over the Church of thy Son, his Vicar, and every order of the clergy and laity, suffering in grievous warfare. Hasten, O most powerful destroyer of heresy, hasten the hour of mercy, seeing that the hour of judgment is daily challenged by innumerable offences. Obtain for me, the lowest of men, kneeling suppliant in thy presence, the grace which may enable me to live a just life on earth, and reign with the just in Heaven, whilst with the faithful throughout the world, O Queen of the most holy Rosary, I salute thee and cry out: Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us.
A prayer for praying the Rosary well
Pope St. Pius X indulgenced this beautiful prayer in 1907, asking that the Rosary would shape our whole day. (It speaks of “fifteen mysteries”; St. John Paul II added the five Luminous Mysteries in 2002.)
Virgin Mary, grant that the recitation of thy Rosary may be for me each day, in the midst of my manifold duties, a bond of unity in my actions, a tribute of filial piety, a sweet refreshment, an encouragement to walk joyfully along the path of duty. Grant, above all, O Virgin Mary, that the study of thy fifteen mysteries may form in my soul, little by little, a luminous atmosphere, pure, strengthening and fragrant, which may penetrate my understanding, my will, my heart, my memory, my imagination, my whole being. So shall I acquire the habit of praying while I work, without the aid of formal prayers, by interior acts of admiration and of supplication, or by aspirations of love. I ask this of thee, O Queen of the Holy Rosary, through St. Dominic, thy son of predilection, the renowned preacher of thy mysteries, and the faithful imitator of thy virtues. Amen.
Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii
In the 1870s, Bartolo Longo, a lawyer who had fallen into spiritualism and returned to the faith, began to teach the Rosary to the poor farmers of the valley of Pompeii in southern Italy. He built a shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary there, which became one of the great Marian sanctuaries of Italy. Bartolo Longo composed the Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary, solemnly prayed at noon on May 8 and on the first Sunday of October in Pompeii and around the world. He also promoted the 54-day Rosary novena: see the 54-day Rosary novena.
The Fifteen Saturdays
An older devotion, indulgenced by Leo XIII, honors the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary on fifteen consecutive Saturdays, praying five decades of the Rosary (or meditating on the mysteries) each Saturday, often with confession and Communion. Many people make the Fifteen Saturdays leading up to the feast of October 7.
How to celebrate the feast
- Pray the whole Rosary as a family or with your parish. Pray along with our interactive Rosary.
- Attend Mass on October 7, if you can.
- Learn the mysteries and how to meditate on them: see the mysteries of the Rosary.
- Give a rosary to someone who does not have one, and teach a child to pray it.
- Pray for peace, as the Church did at Lepanto.
Frequently asked questions
When is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary?
October 7. In some places, and in the older calendar, it was celebrated on the first Sunday of October as “Rosary Sunday.”
Why is October the month of the Rosary?
Because the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on October 7, and Pope Leo XIII dedicated the whole month to the Rosary in 1883.
Who is Our Lady of the Rosary?
The Blessed Virgin Mary, honored under the title of Queen of the Holy Rosary. The Dominican tradition links the spread of the Rosary to St. Dominic. See the St. Dominic prayer.
More Rosary prayers
- Interactive Rosary
- Rosary prayers
- Today’s Rosary mysteries
- 54-day Rosary novena
- Litany of Loreto
- Marian feast days
Texts and sources
- Prayers: The Raccolta (Burns and Oates, 1910), nos. 263 (Leo XIII, 1886) and 266 (Pius X, 1907), public domain (archive.org). Small scan corrections are listed in our text log.
- Leo XIII, encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio (1883); St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002).
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), “Rosary, Feast of the Holy.”