Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

Today, October 7th, is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Originally called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, because when the victory comes, it always comes through the rosary.

But this day in particular commemorates the Battle of Lepanto on this day in 1571.

Now throughout the 1500s, the Muslim Ottoman Empire grew in strength, especially by means of its domination of the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1571, their fleet of 300 ships was masked just south of Greece in the Gulf of Lepanto,

poised to invade Europe and wipe out Christianity.

Pope St. Pius V saw this danger looming on the horizon, and in response, he begged the leaders of the West to stop fighting among themselves and unite against the force that was a threat to all.

But they were too consumed with building their own kingdoms to come to the defense of the kingdom of God.

So the Pope turned to the people, asking them to take up the

weapon of the rosary and pray it daily. Finally, the Pope found support in Don Juan of Austria,

who cobbled together a much smaller fleet of about 200 ships. He then picked a Genoese

Admiral Giovanni Andrea to lead the Christian Armada against the Islamic onslaught.

And this Giovanni possessed one of only five copies of Our Lady of Guadalupe

that had been touched to the original Tilma, a gift from this king of Spain, which he hung in his ship.

On October 6, 1571, the night before the battle, Don Juan required all the

sailors and soldiers to pray the rosary, while Pope St. Pius V himself led the rosary at the Church

of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, for the Pope knew that if Europe was to be saved, it would be through the rosary.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallow would be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us to stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,

...