In this Year of Prayer, Oct. 7 will be World Rosary Day

“An initiative which stems from the desire of Pope Francis (as expressed in the letter he wrote to Archbishop Rino Fisichella in preparation for the Jubilee of 2025) to “dedicate the year preceding the Jubilee event, 2024, to a great ‘symphony’ of prayer,” and the Holy Father’s call for a direct petition “to the Virgin Mary to accompany the Church on the path of preparation for the event of grace of the Jubilee,” World Rosary Day will be marked as a day of global prayer focused on the Holy Rosary.”

World Rosary Day

BISHOP
KEVIN J.
SWEENEY

Most Catholics are aware that, each year, the Church dedicates October as the “Month of the Holy Rosary.” One of the reasons that October is dedicated to the Rosary has to do with the Feast that we celebrate on Oct. 7. The Franciscan Media “Saint of the Day” website summarizes the significance of Oct. 7 in this way:

The Story of Our Lady of the Rosary: Saint Pius V established the feast of Our Lady of Victory to thank God for the Christian defeat of the Turks at Lepanto — a victory attributed to praying the rosary. Pope Gregory XIII changed the name to Feast of the Holy Rosary — originally celebrated on the first Sunday in October — in 1573. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the Universal Church in 1716. And in 1913, Saint Pius X set the date for the feast that we know today of October 7. 

The story of Our Lady of the Rosary

It may seem a bit unusual that we celebrate a feast having to do with a naval battle engaged long ago. The Feast of the Rosary, like the battle that began our current observance, remains vibrant because it is the celebration of victory for those who appear weak over the world’s seemingly limitless power. The Queen of Peace continues to give us protection as we seek to live the virtues of her Son’s gospel of peace, which is the greatest power of all. In addition to asking the Blessed Mother to “accompany the Church on the path of preparation for the event of grace of the Jubilee (in the year 2025),” our Holy Father is also asking us to pray for peace in our world. We are all aware of the terrible attacks, killings, and kidnappings that took place in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as we are aware of thousands of deaths in the war and violence that have taken place in Gaza and surrounding areas over these past 12 months. We also continue to pray for the people of Ukraine and for an end to the war that has gone on for almost three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As I looked for some information online and googled “month of the Holy Rosary,” one of the first options that is offered is the parish website of a parish in our diocese. If you would like to learn more about October as the month of the Holy Rosary, I encourage you to go to the website of Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic. When you go to the page, you may notice, as I did, that, between the first and second paragraph, there is one sentence in bold print that says: The best way to celebrate the month is, of course, to pray the Rosary.

As we approach the month of October in this year 2024, I hope (and pray) that many of us have been participating in this “Year of Prayer,” in which Pope Francis invited us to participate last January. You may recall:

Pope Francis … inaugurated a Year of Prayer ahead of the 2025 Jubilee, calling on the faithful “to intensify prayer to prepare us to live well this event of grace and to experience the power of God’s hope.” In remarks after the Angelus on Sunday, the Holy Father explained that the Year of Prayer is dedicated “to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer, prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, prayer in the world.” 

Pope Francis inaugurates Year of Prayer

I hope and pray that individuals, families, parishes, schools, and other ecclesial communities throughout our diocese will be able to have an “extra” focus or emphasis on how we can be part of the “great symphony of prayer” at the invitation of Pope Francis by praying the Rosary together throughout October. I also ask our pastors, parents, catechists, and other ministers and leaders throughout the diocese to invite as many as possible to participate in World Rosary Dayon Monday, Oct. 7. We can pray the Rosary at any time on that day, but I invite leaders to consider, if possible, to invite groups, families, and communities to come together to pray the Rosary at either 1 p.m. or 7 p.m.

The article I cited at the beginning of this column, from the Jubilee website, describes the invitation to pray the Rosary at 7 p.m.:

The promoters of the day of prayer, the European Forum of Confraternities, (a fraternal movement launched in 2020 in Lugano, Switzerland, which is now preparing its fifth annual assembly), has invited all confraternities, shrines, religious orders, and other lay associations with a strong Marian spirituality, to participate in the special initiative on Oct. 7, 2024, by reciting the prayer to the Virgin Mary at 7 p.m. in each participant’s local time zone.

The first Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. on 7 October in New Zealand, at the Marian parish in Pukekaraka Maori territory, Ōtaki, Aotearoa, where Father Phil Cody SM will recite the Rosary in the Maori language together with his parishioners.

At 7 p.m. Italian time, Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas will lead the recitation of the Rosary in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, in the chapel of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani (Savior of the Roman People), a place of exceptional spiritual significance in the context of the Jubilee. Thus, the prayer will be recited from East to West, circling the whole Earth.

If 1 p.m. is a convenient time for some of us here in New Jersey, we can pray in solidarity and spiritual communion with Pope Francis, as Rome is “six hours ahead,” and 7 p.m. in Rome is 1 p.m. here in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. I will be inviting those who work in our Diocesan Center to come together in our Chapel (Oratory) to pray the Rosary at 1 p.m. I am also grateful to Father Darwin Lastra, pastor, and the Rosary Altar Society of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pompton Plains for the invitation to celebrate Mass on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., followed by a Rosary Procession.

We are all aware that we have so much to pray for — so many intentions — as we pray for peace, for families and loved ones, for the sick and suffering, for our country, and a greater Respect for the Dignity and Value of every Human Life (October is also Respect Life Month). Let us also pray that, in this Year of Prayer, we will be united in prayer in a special way during the month of the Holy Rosary, especially on Oct. 7, the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary, and World Rosary Day.