Keeping Us Connected Newsletter

October 3, 2025

“Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon,

bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?”

– Song of Songs 6:10

Dear Saint Mary Friends,

Why is October the “Month of the Rosary” and October 7 the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary? As a reminder, we reprint an edited Newsletter from a few years ago.

One Special Announcement: For almost 20 years, the Bishops of Bridgeport have awarded the Saint Augustine Medal to people who have given themselves in an extraordinary measure to their parishes, schools, or institutions. This past Saturday St. Mary parishioners Paula Molloy and Marilyn Kain received their medals from Bishop Caggiano. Congratulations, Paula and Marilyn, we are truly blessed by all you do. Please know of our grateful prayers for you and your families.

Also, remember that Sunday, October 19 is our public parish Rosary at Ballard Park immediately after the Noon Mass. Chez Lenard will again provide hot dogs for those prayerful parishioners in attendance.

And don’t forget the Pet Blessing this Sunday at 3:00 PM on the lawn behind the church.

Why is October 7 the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary? Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Christian Europe was under Muslim rule for 8 centuries. A strain of history, more ideological than factual, likes to portray those 800 years as centuries of great tolerance. In small pockets maybe, but written accounts of the period tell a story of the beheading of clergy and religious, crushing servitude, and the impoverishment of many.

While the occupation of European soil ended in 1492 under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Muslim Ottoman expansionism was undeterred – in particular with its vast navy.

The naval forces of Islam, already supreme in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, looked to move into the Mediterranean by taking Malta, Sicily, then Rome. The great goal always being to turn St. Peter’s into a mosque as was done to Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia in 1453.

In spring 1565, 700 Knights of Malta fought off a much larger force attempting to take the island, but in 1570 Cyprus fell. It’s hard for us to fathom, but the victorious Ottomans massacred 20,000 people. The Mediterranean was under attack.

With tireless energy, Pope Saint Pius V formed the Holy League (Genoa, the Papal States, Spain, some smaller states, and Venice) minus England and France. In fact, Elizabeth I enlisted the aid of the Turks in her war against Spain, and France, open traders with the Ottomans, did not want to jeopardize that commerce.

Don John of Austria was “Captain Commander” of the fleet. While a great strategist, as a Catholic he knew soldiers and sailors of the Holy League should be different, and so he prepared them that the battle would be as much spiritual as physical. He insisted they be chaste before the battle and there be no blasphemy in the ranks.

The entire fleet fasted for 3 days. He unchained the criminals who rowed his galleys, promising them freedom if they stayed true in the fight.

Lastly, every man was given a Rosary.

Pius V asked everyone in Holy League territory to pray the rosary. The King of Spain gave Admiral Andrea Doria a replica of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe (touched to the original) to be displayed aboard his ship.

At dawn on October 7, 1571, Holy League ships rowed down the west coast of Greece seriously outnumbered by Muslim ships and men, and with the wind was against them. The Ottoman fleet attacked under full sail.

Then, as one writer put it, “the Blessed Virgin intervened”.

The wind shifted 180 degrees. Now heading directly into the wind, the Muslim fleet was forced to strike its sails. At this point Don John knelt and prayed.

The fleets engaged at noon and the battle lasted 5 hours. At one point Don John rammed his flagship into that of the Muslim commander, Ali Pasha. Hand to hand combat ensued. At day’s end, only 13 of the almost 300 enemy ships escaped capture or sinking.

In thanksgiving, the Holy Father designated the First Sunday of October as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. In 1573 Pope Gregory XIII renamed it Our Lady of the Rosary.

Blessings,