Our Lady of the Rosary

In various apparitions, such as Lourdes and Fatima, the Virgin Mary has insistently recommended the daily recitation of the Rosary. To overcome divisions and discord, and the evils in our hearts and in the world, the Popes have also advised its regular recitation. For example, Leo XIV has invited the faithful to a rosary for peace This Saturday, October 11, in St. Peter's Basilica, and encouraged people to pray it every day during this month.

In the first centuries of Christianity, monks and hermits were already using repetitive forms of prayer, such as the 150 psalms of the Psalter. It is said that lay people who could not read began to replace the psalms with 150 Our Fathers or Hail Marys.

According to tradition, the form of the Rosary as we know it was revealed by the Virgin Mary to Santo Domingo de GuzmánThe founder of the Order of Preachers in 1212. Historians consider that the Dominicans had an important key role in spreading and structuring the devotion to the Rosary.

Devotion of centuries

The devotion to pray the rosary to the Virgin Mary is universal, and in some places it is especially strong. For example, Fray Pascual Saturio, Dominican, explained to Omnes that "the Virgin of the Rosary has been the Patroness of Cadiz for 150 years. The pontifical appointment of the Virgin is 152 or 153 years ago, and we celebrate it. But there is evidence that more than three hundred years ago the people, and the city council, considered her Patroness of Cadiz. Although the appointment is later.

After the victory of Lepanto, St. Pius V instituted in 1572 the feast of St. Mary of Victory, which his successor, Gregory XIII, transformed into "Our Lady of the Rosary". Other victories followed, such as that of 1683 in Vienna, where - again through divine intervention and the mediation of the Virgin Mary - the Muslim advance was halted, reports the Vatican website.

Venice, Pompeii, Rosario...

In 1687, the people of Venice prayed to the Virgin Mary to put an end to the plague. Once the epidemic was overcome, the Basilica of Our Lady of Health was built, whose feast day is celebrated on November 21. Today, one of the most famous shrines in the world dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary is that of Pompeii, whose feast day is May 8, the date on which Pope Leo XIV was elected.

"Devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary dates back to 1730, when the city, Rosario (Argentina), was an insignificant hamlet", wrote Pedro Chiesa in Omnes. "The love for the Lady of the Rosary grew in a vigorous way, especially since the arrival of the image commissioned to a sculptor from Cadiz (...). 

"Our Lady of the Rosary is recognized as patroness and founder of the city," adds Chiesa. "And this year, as the local bishop rightly points out, will be opportune to "make memory and keep alive the roots that make our identity deep. Reaffirming Rosario as a city of Mary, and our archdiocese as an archdiocese of Mary".