Today October 7

Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast in honor both of the magnificent prayer to Our Lady known as the rosary and as a commemoration of the total defeat of the invading Turks at Lepanto is celebrated on October 7th (by the whole Church) and on the first Sunday of October (by the Dominicans), which, this year is the same exact day. Hooray.

The Dominicans often postulate that St. Dominic invented (or was given) the rosary, and though that is unlikely, he (or his followers) certainly DID promote its use. All of which calls to mind a question I've had. My old pastor once put this blurb (or something like it) in the Sunday bulletin. "St. Dominic founded the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians. St. Ignatius founded the Jesuits to fight the Protestants. when was the last time you saw an Albigensian?" Which was supposed to be funny, and, I thought at the time, a knock at the Dominicans (as if their raison d'etre no longer existed.) But now I'm not so sure. I think it may actually have meant to be a knock at the Jesuits! After all, their opponents don't appear to be defeated . . . or even shrunken in numbers.

The act of praying on beads has been done since ancient times and is no Christian invention. Early Christians used a string of 100 or more beads (often 150, as per the number of the Psalms) for counting pater nosters (Our Fathers). This was used from the Desert Fathers up through medieval times, notably by the lovely -- and never overdressed -- Lady Godiva. She described her rosary (in her will) as "the circlet of precious stones which I had threaded on a cord in order that by fingering them one after another I might count my prayers exactly." The art of making the beads count Aves or Hail Marys started with the illustrious Carthusians in the 14th century. Thus began a long and gradual development of the rosary into what it is today (200 Hail Marys in groups of 10, interspersed with 20 Our Fathers and ending with 20 Glory Be's). It has provided countless Christians, both high and low, both learned and simple, with a means of praying, of meditating and ultimately of praising and thanking the eternal God for His gift of Himself, "His Christ." - Butler's Lives. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.