October, Month of the Holy Rosary

Yesterday we began October, the month of the Holy Rosary! It is a special month for us because of our great devotion to Our Lady and her Rosary. In each room, we make a shrine by decorating the statue of Our Lady, and we sing a special invocation to the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary every day after Holy Mass.  Of course, we pray the Rosary as a community each day as we always do, and each Sister keeps her Hour of Guard praying the Rosary at the foot of Our Lady’s statue and before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, entrusting all the needs of the world to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

We encourage you also to pray the Rosary each day, especially during this month of October.  Many Popes have especially commended this devotion during this month.  In response to the grave needs of his time, Pope Leo XIII recommended praying the following prayer to St. Joseph after the Rosary during this month:

To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction, and having implored the help of thy thrice holy Spouse, we now, with hearts filled with confidence, earnestly beg thee also to take us under thy protection. By that charity wherewith thou wert united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which thou didst cherish the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wilt look down with gracious eye upon that inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by His blood, and wilt succor us in our need by thy power and strength.

Defend, O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen off-spring of Jesus Christ. Keep from us, O most loving Father, all blight of error and corruption. Aid us from on high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powers of darkness. And even as of old thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from the peril of His life, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Shield us ever under thy patronage, that, following thine example and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a happy death, and attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen.

In response to the grave needs of our own time, our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, has urged the faithful to recite the Rosary daily with the addition of Pope Leo XIII’s prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, and the ancient prayer to Our Lady, the Sub Tuum:

Sancte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in próelio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium.
Imperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur,
tuque, Prínceps milítiae caeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Amen.

Saint Michael Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Sub tuum praesídium confúgimus,
sancta Dei Génetrix;
nostras deprecatiónes ne despícias in necessitátibus,
sed a perículis cunctis líbera nos semper,
Virgo gloriósa et benedícta.

We fly to Thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

Here are some Rosary Resources on our own website.  These Dominican Rosary Confraternity websites (East, West) offer more resources as well as the opportunity to be spiritually united to others in prayer.

During these days leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7, we are also joining our daily Rosaries and Masses with the powerful Spirit of Truth Novena for our Church.