Our Lady stands between us and those enemies who would destroy us - earthly or spiritual. Pray the Rosary in any kind of need to seek her powerful intercession.
There is a painting in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio; it shows the Blessed Virgin Mary teaching the infant Jesus how to walk in the same way I’m sure many of you have taught your children how to walk – his feet are on top of her feet and she is walking along holding his hands. But there is a danger in this painting, which I hope none of you encountered teaching your own children to walk; a snake.
This snake is firmly pressed beneath the Blessed Virgin’s left foot, Christ is pressing down with his own foot, giving her the force needed to crush the serpent. The image is a powerful one: Christ wills to defeat Satan through his own power at work in us. The Blessed Virgin crushes the serpent, but only because Christ has given her that power.
Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, but it wasn’t always called that – when it was instituted by Pope St Pius V it was called Our Lady of Victories. The Islamic Caliphate which called itself the Ottoman Empire was on the verge of overrunning Europe, they had assembled a massive fleet and prepared to invade Rome. The Ottoman commander was given an enormous green banner, embroidered in gold with the name of Allah almost 30,000 times, as an incentive to victory. Against them was an outnumbered fleet of the Holy League, mostly Venetian and Spanish ships. The Pope called on all Christendom to pray the Rosary, he led Rosary processions through the streets of Rome, and the Spanish Commander carried with him a copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The outnumbered Christians defeated the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Lepanto, lowering the banner of the Caliphs and raising high the Christian standard over the Ottoman flagship.
The feast of Our Lady of Victories is a reminder of the triumph of the Rosary, of Our Blessed Mother, against all enemies – earthly and spiritual. That she stands between us and all who seek to destroy us, powerfully interceding at the throne of God.
The responsory of this feast is taken not from the psalms, but from the Gospels, the Magnificat of our Blessed Mother, she calls out in her song of thanks to the Lord;
He puts forth his arm in strength, and scatters the proud-hearted. He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly.
All generations call her blessed, because through her the Lord came into the world for our salvation and made her into the singular vessel of honour, the mediatrix of all Graces, and our most powerful intercessor. Through her, the proud-hearted are scattered, the mighty are cast from their thrones, and the lowly are exalted.
In any need, turn to our Lady of Victories, our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, brandishing those simple beads as your most powerful weapon. Through those beads, armies have been stopped, and the devil is cut down. Turn to her in hope, and pray earnestly for her aid; there is no Victory she cannot grant, no just petition she leaves unanswered. She did not abandon Christendom at the Battle of Lepanto, nor does she abandon us in our own hour of need.
Our Lady of Victories and the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.
Madonna and Child with St Anne (Caravaggio) - Borghese Gallery:
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