My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the fiftieth invocation: Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.
There are thirteen various forms of Our Lady’s Queenship considered in the Litany of Loreto. Here we consider specifically what it means to say that Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is the “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.” There is a liturgical feast each year on 7 October, commemorating the Battle of Lepanto (1571). Pope Saint Pius V (+1572) called the faithful to pray for the fleet of the Holy League against invading Ottoman Turks. The improbable victory was attributed to Our Lady’s intercession.
Saints associated with Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary include Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena (+1221, 1380 respectively) who are represented in sacred art with Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary at the Pontifical Shrine in Pompei; Saint Louis de Montfort (+1716) especially in his volume Secret of the Rosary; and even Saint John Paul II (+2005) who included the Mysteries of Lightin his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (16 October, 2002).
The Rosary is an “epitome of the whole Gospel” (CCC, 971). So, to know the various mysteries of the Rosary is to know the Gospel. The four groups mysteries highlight the infancy, public ministry, sufferings and glorification of the Lord Jesus. “To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ” (RVM, 3). The Joyful Mysteries include: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of the Lord, the Finding in the Temple. The Luminous Mysteries include: the Baptism of the Lord, the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom and Call to Conversion, the Transfiguration, the Institution of the Eucharist. The Sorrowful Mysteries include: the Agony, the Scourging, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion. The Glorious Mysteries include: the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Pentecost, the Assumption of Our Lady, the Coronation of Our Lady. Besides the various mysteries there are also virtues related to the Rosary: humility, love of neighbor, simplicity, obedience, piety, contrition, purity, moral courage, patience, perseverance, faith, hope, love for God, grace of a holy death, devotion to Our Lady. While it has been eighteen years since the unveiling of the Luminous Mysteriesone way to deepen our faith with them could be: gratitude for and devotion to Baptism, a three-fold prayer for those preparing for, thriving in and struggling in Marriage, devotion to Christ and His Kingdom, friendship with Christ and devotion to Scripture, devotion to the Eucharist.
Father John Arthur Orr