Blessed Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary! The feast commemorates the great Christian victory at Lepanto on 7 October 1571. Outnumbered by the Ottoman fleet, the ships of the Holy League defeated the Ottoman navy, halting its advance into the western Mediterranean and freeing some 12,000 Christian slaves. Pope St Pius V had called the faithful to pray the Rosary for victory, and attributed the triumph to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast was instituted in thanksgiving for the victory and extended to the universal Church in 1716. --- Deus, cujus Unigénitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectiónem suam nobis salútis ætérnæ præmia comparávit: concéde, quǽsumus; ut hæc mystéria sacratíssimo beátæ Maríæ Vírginis Rosário recoléntes, et imitémur quod cóntinent, et quod promíttunt assequámur. O God, whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has merited for us the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating upon these mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Regina sacratissimi Rosarii, ora pro nobis!