October: Dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary

October is the month consecrated to the Most Holy Rosary. To those of the faithful who during this month publicly or privately recite piously at least five (5) decades of the Holy Rosary, the following indulgences are granted by Holy Mother Church:

+ An indulgence of seven (7) years each day.

+ A plenary indulgence if on the feast of the Holy Rosary and throughout the Octave they do as noted above and if they also confess their sins, receive Communion and visit a church or public oratory.

+ A plenary indulgence if after the Octave of the feast of the Holy Rosary they recite at least five (5) decades of the Rosary for at least ten (10) days and if they also go to Confession, receive Communion, and visit some church or public oratory.



When the Blessed Virgin appeared at Fatima for six consecutive months, she chose the last apparition in October to reveal herself as "The Lady of the Rosary." The revelation of her glorious title during the October apparition is very significant, in that our Blessed Lady brings special attention to the Church's longstanding tradition of consecrating this month to the Holy Rosary.

It has, in fact, been known as the Month of the Holy Rosary since 1571. The feast day, originally designated for the First Sunday of October, is presently celebrated on October 7th. For, it was on this day that the Catholic League overcome the Ottoman Empire who were seeking to conquer Italy for Islam and thereby move into the heart of Catholic Europe.

Prior to the ships sailing off towards battle, the Dominican Pope St. Pius V prayed the Rosary, earnestly beseeching the Holy Virgin's intercession, all the while every man on board went to Confession and prayed the Rosary as well.

Victorious in battle, the saintly Papa Ghislieri declared a feast day for Our Lady of Victory. A procession marched through St. Peter’s Square and in time, the whole month became associated with the Holy Rosary. Then in 1884, Pope Leo XIII officially decreed October as the month consecrated to the Holy Rosary.

The principle means Almighty God gives us to save our souls are the Church's Sacraments. However, secondarily He gives us sacramentals - which are so beneficial because they can lead us to the Sacraments more often and more fervently. Now, the greatest of all sacramentals is the Holy Rosary.



Since the Holy Rosary is composed, principally and in substance, of the Prayer of Christ and the Angelic Salutation, that is, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, it was without doubt the first prayer and the first devotion of the faithful and has been in use all through the centuries from the time of the Apostles and disciples down to the present.

But it was only in the year 1214, however, that Holy Mother Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by Saint Dominic who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners. I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book: "De Dignitate Psalterii" by Blessed Alan de la Roche.

Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. At this point Our Lady appeared to the saint, accompanied by three angels. She asked him:

“Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?" Saint Dominic answered, “Oh, my Lady, you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.” Then Our Lady replied: “I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.”



That Story from Father Grignon was taken from his classic, "The Secret of the Rosary," which is certainly distinguished as one of the greatest works ever written on the devotion. No doubt, it's a book in which many Catholics have had the fortunate grace of having once read. During this month of October, many traditional priests have often encouraged the excellent practice of revisiting this wonderful book; and thereby invite the Holy Ghost to enflame in hearts a renewed insight and love for this treasured devotion. Especially recommended is a refresher on the chapter entitled: "The Forty-First Rose." In this section, the Saint instructs us on how to recite the Rosary well, with the right dispositions; while stressing the great importance of praying the Rosary from our hearts; a method which makes our prayers all the more efficacious and pleasing to our Blessed Lady.








With this statement, Our Lady's Messenger clearly informs the faithful that the recitation of the daily Rosary is the means given by the Blessed Virgin to combat today's widespread confusion. In no uncertain terms, the Rosary is THE weapon of choice to help souls persevere in the Holy Catholic Faith.

The Jesuit, Fr. Malachi Martin, a prolific Catholic author and Vatican insider, who read the Third Secret of Fatima, also made a series of important interviews about the Third Secret and its relation to the Church’s Crisis of Faith. In many of these conversations, Fr. Martin stressed his belief that, due to the illicit imposition of the new-rite of Sacraments in the Church, there has been a gradual, universal suppression of Sanctifying Grace, resulting in a great apostasy from the Faith. In closer analysis, Father’s emphatic assertion underlines the dire consequences which Sr. Lucia gravely warned about in her last interview, just before all the sacramental changes took place. Perhaps with Sister’s announcement of a “new efficacy" that Our Lady is giving to the Rosary, she was informing souls how Our Lady will use the Rosary as a source for the Sanctifying Graces lost from the imposed new-rite of Sacraments? With God, all things are possible. This could explain how most of those fortunate Catholics who make their way out of the murky waters of Conciliarism to the safe harbor of Tradition, almost always attribute this special grace to their great love for, and devotion to the Rosary. It is absolutely certain that Our Lady enlightens souls who are truly faithful to her Rosary, and guides them to the Church’s immemorial source of Sanctifying Grace - the traditional Sacraments.

Still, some object that there are souls who do not know how, or are simply unable, to gather their thoughts and meditate upon the mysteries. Ah, well! ...the simple gesture of taking their Rosary to pray shows that they are mindful of God, and when they recall, in each decade, an aspect in Christ’s life, they go over the mystery again in their mind, and this act will preserve in their souls the gentle light of the faith, and will keep the wick burning which would otherwise eventually go out.

However, those who abandon the prayer of the Rosary, and who do not have the blessing of a daily traditional Mass or even frequent access to the traditional Sacraments, have nothing to feed their souls on. How could they not eventually lose their way, due to human frailty and the allurements of the world, the flesh and the devil? This is why it is so crucial for souls to remain faithful to praying their Rosary every day. Because it is especially through the Rosary that our Blessed Lady enlightens, guides and protects souls, so to ensure they keep the Faith in these days of great confusion. For within the Rosary is contained the entire wealth of God’s truths, as lived through the Immaculate Heart of His Mother.

Such spiritual direction could also be found among the many saints who foresaw the great apostasy and confusing crisis of our times. Cardinal Sarto, the future Pope St. Pius X, taught nothing different to his diocesan faithful:

“The characteristic of our times is that indocility of mind which aims at the destruction of dogmas, and that corruption of the heart which leads to the subversion of Christian morals. There is only one way to defend faith and morals, and that is to meditate on the mysteries proposed by the Holy Rosary. For, if the world has forgotten even the vestiges of virtue, by contemplating the admirable examples put forward in the Rosary, we are better able to fight disordered passions within ourselves, we can rouse in our souls, along with a sincere regret for sin, a lively faith and a consoling hope, and we can help all the other virtues to blossom."

And, once again, the prophetic conviction of St. Louis de Montfort:

“Believe me, my dear brother in the Rosary, if you want to arrive at a high degree of prayer without any affectation and without falling into the illusions of the devil so common to people of prayer, say your entire Rosary every day, if you can, or at least a chaplet. You have already reached this point by the grace of God, if you want to be faithful to it and to grow in it with humility. Keep saying the Holy Rosary, for a soul that prays its Rosary every day will never be formally heretical nor deceived by the demon; this is a proposition that I would sign with my blood.”





We are living in times when we face on a daily basis the threat of terrorist acts, senseless crimes of violence and brutality, even the growing possibilities of nuclear disasters. Many persons are overcome by an unnerving fear of what may happen next. It seems that evil has overwhelmed the entire world.

We see the empty Churches and monasteries throughout Western Europe and a diminishing faith in the one true Religion among Catholics young and old. Inter-confessionalism and religious indifferentism are installed in the Church, supported by the highest religious authorities. Yes, especially the Pope.

Where can we find hope in this dispiriting scenario? What can we do to nourish hope of a glorious restoration in the Church that we love, and that at times seems that we lost? There is one means for certain that Our Lady has given us for times of crisis, heresy and apostasy. We can pray the Rosary constantly and taste its sweet fruits.

When we pray the Rosary daily, Our Lady pours abundant grace into our souls, pulls us from despair, instills us with the spirit of the fight, and protects us from the heresies of our day. This is how she acted in the past, and this is how she continues to safeguard us today.

Examples from History

In 1214, when the Albigensian heresy was infecting the pure air of Christendom, Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic de Guzman and told him she would give him a weapon to convert the world. “Preach my Psalter,” she said, “if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God.”

After that, every day he said the Rosary and preached that devotion ceaselessly to all - the rich and poor, scholars and the uneducated, believers and disbelievers. Through those sermons Our Lady gave the grace of many conversions and returns to the Faith; the greatest favor was she helped him to crush the Albigensian heresy.

More than a century passed, and the praying of the Rosary had been set aside. The Catholic world suffered great chastisements: the Black Death, the Great Schism, the beginning of the 100 Years War. As the 14th century winded to an end, instead of returning to God, Western Europe was heralding an Age of Man, the Renaissance. In this scenario, Our Lady appeared to another Dominican, Blessed Alan de Roche, in 1460 and told him to re-establish the devotion of the Rosary. He took the preaching of the Rosary up as his special mission, and under his inspiration hundreds of thousands were enrolled in Rosary Confraternities. Many miracles were worked, many souls converted, and the pious practice installed in numerous homes to fight the evils of the day.

October 7th, 1571 was another decisive moment in History, the Battle of Lepanto. A greatly outnumbered galley fleet of the Catholic League defeated the Muslim galleys. It was a crushing defeat for the Mohammedans, who had not lost a battle for more than 70 years and nourished arrogant aims to conquer the whole Catholic world. Pope St. Pius V credited this crucial victory to the praying of the Rosary. He instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th, the day of the Lepanto victory, to show how this devotion is specially linked to victories over the enemies of the Church and Christendom.

A hundred years passed, and we find the Jansenists making great headway in Catholic France. Another great Marian apostle appeared to counter this heresy and rekindle devotion to Mary. With burning zeal, St. Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) preached the Rosary and holy slavery to Our Lady, especially among the peasants in Bretagne and the Vendée. Faithful to their Rosary, these little people would also remain faithful to the Church and a stalwart against the errors of the French Revolution 75 years later.

Over and again, history has witnessed the Rosary’s special role in protecting the faithful from error and as an instrument for preserving the Faith. At crucial moments in the life the Church, Our Lady gave her solution: Pray the Rosary - every day!

The Twentieth Century

We arrive at the dawn of the 20th century. The perilous errors of Marx, Darwin and Freud were finding acceptance not only in the world, but also in poisoned parcels of the Church. In 1917, with the Western world immersed in World War and Communism about to install itself in Russia, Our Lady appeared at Fatima to three shepherd children with a command to pray the Rosary daily, a warning of a coming chastisement if man did not convert, and the promise of her Immaculate Heart's triumph!

One of the most important ways to effect the conversion of sinners in these times of approaching turmoil, she told the children, was to pray the Rosary. Each of the six times she appeared, she told the children to pray the Rosary daily. It was, once again, a way she gave the faithful to counter the errors of the times.

Years later in 1957, the last remaining Fatima seer, Sister Lucia, again stressed the importance of the Rosary in a private interview with her confidant and nephew, Fr. Augustin Fuentes. She told him that Satan was prepared to engage in a decisive battle against the Holy Virgin, and that God was giving two last remedies to the world – the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

“In these latter times in which we live, the Most Holy Virgin has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary. She has given this efficacy to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”

“There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary ...with the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves. We will sanctify ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”

It was just a few years before the opening of the disastrous Vatican Council II when she spoke these words. Perhaps that is why Our Lady gave as a remedy the Rosary and not the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - which would be changed almost beyond recognition. Perhaps, also, Sister Lucia realized that the Secret she was charged by Our Lady with revealing in 1960 was going to be suppressed and Progressivism [Freemasonry - Ed.] which encompassed the ensemble of heresies, would take over within the very walls of the Church herself.

Once again, in the face of manifold errors and heresies, Our Lady sent her message: Pray the Rosary daily. Don’t give up this holy practice. Indeed, wherever there are individuals, families, pockets of persons praying the Rosary, Our Lady enters and finds a way to bring them to the truth. She does not abandon her children. Sooner or later they will be called to understand the problems in the Church, fight against the error, and not give up in sadness or despair.

False Prophets Discourage the Rosary

In his inspired work: “The Admirable Secret of the Rosary,” St. Louis de Montfort says Our Lady prefers the Rosary to all other devotions. There are no words to express how she rewards those who pray it, spread it, and make it known. At the same time, words cannot tell how displeased she is with those who deride or work against it.

There will always be those of bad spirit or puffed up with intellectual pride who think the Rosary is too repetitious and for the ignorant. Others, in the spirit of Vatican II, set aside the Rosary because it is too Mary-oriented! and that it upsets the Protestants. These free-thinkers, as Father Grignon calls them, who cannot bear to have people praying the Rosary, are very likely to fall into a heretical state of mind without even realizing it.

I once knew a man, the father of seven, who converted from some fundamentalist Protestant sect to the Catholic Faith. He was very moved by the Fatima devotion and prayed the daily Rosary. He was shocked by the innovations in doctrine of Vatican II, and attracted to the Traditional Mass; but he did not have the courage to enter the counter-revolutionary fight. After a while, a new confessor counseled him to set aside the daily Rosary. It was much more edifying to read from Scriptures every day, the priest advised.

Before long, this man’s fervor of faith had cooled and he was making concessions to Progressivism. The last time I heard from him, he had decided it was a waste of time to follow the great crisis in the Church – it was too negative. He suggested to me that I should also put aside the fight and accept the “New Church.” Sound familiar?

Speaking about those who either condemn the Rosary or try to turn others away from it, again, Father Grignon had very harsh words:

“It is easy to see that they have absorbed the poison of Hell and that they are inspired by the devil, for no one can condemn devotion to the Holy Rosary without condemning all that is most holy to the Catholic Faith.”

This saintly priest then makes a very strong assurance about the efficacy of the Rosary:

“If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, ‘you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory.’ (1 Pet 5:4) Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as the sorcerers of black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted, will amend your life and save your soul, if – and mark well what I say – if you say the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.”

We should read, and re-read these words; set them deep in our memory - especially for those moments when we are tempted to abandon the practice of the daily Rosary.







Read the Prophesy of St. Dominic Here