This is Holy Family School of Faith.

So welcome to our 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 that we've promised to pray for.

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

Originally the Feast of Our Lady of of victory because when the victory comes,

it will come through Mary and the rosary.

On October 7, 1571,

a very important battle took place

that we commemorate with this feast date.

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 more than 300 warships was massed just south of Greece

in the Gulf of Lopanto,

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 Christian 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 instead turned to the Christian people, asking them to take up the weapon

of the rosary and to pray it daily.

Pope St. Pius V finally found support in Don Juan of Austria, who cobbled together a much

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