On October 7, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a commemoration that traces its origins to a 16th-century naval triumph credited to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Originally known as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, it honors the Christian forces’ victory at the Battle of Lepanto, which safeguarded Europe from Turkish invasion. Pope St. Pius V attributed the success to Mary’s intercession, as Catholics across Europe had been urged to pray the Rosary on the day of the battle.
This feast falls one week after the Byzantine observance of the Protection of the Mother of God, celebrated on October 1 by Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christians. That commemoration recalls a 10th-century Marian apparition believed to have protected Constantinople from invasion.
Pope Leo XIII held a deep devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary, dedicating 11 encyclicals to the feast and its spiritual importance during his long papacy. In his first encyclical on the subject, 'Supremi Apostolatus Officio' (1883), he reflected on the ancient Marian prayer ;Sub Tuum Praesidium', writing, “It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary.” He further emphasized that devotion to the Queen of Heaven had always shone most brightly in times when the Church was threatened by heresy, moral decline, or powerful enemies among them, the Ottoman Turks.
By 1453, the Ottoman Empire had conquered the Byzantine Empire, imposing Islamic rule over much of the Christian East. Over the next century, they expanded westward, strengthening their hold over the Mediterranean. After failing to conquer Malta in 1565, the Turks seized Cyprus in 1570, with their ambitions turning toward Rome itself.
In response, three Catholic powers Genoa, Spain, and the Papal States united to form the Holy League in 1571. Their combined fleet met the Ottoman navy off the western coast of Greece on October 7, 1571. Before the battle, the crews of more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary, as did countless Christians throughout Europe at the urging of Pope Pius V.
According to tradition, the Pope was granted a vision of the Holy League’s victory at the very moment it occurred. When news later confirmed that nearly 300 Turkish ships had been destroyed or captured, he instituted the feast that is now celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
As historian John F. Guilmartin, Jr. observed, “Turkish victory at Lepanto would have been a catastrophe of the first magnitude for Christendom, and Europe would have followed a historical trajectory strikingly different from that which obtained.”