Marian Devotions Through the Year: October
Continuing our way through the year with Our Lady, October is another of the months liturgically devoted to Mary. Fittingly, since October is the month before the Feast of All Saints and the Church Triumphant, this month is particularly focused on the many times she has come to aid the Church Militant as the Help of Christians.
Marian Virtue: Deep Humility
Last month, the focus was on the virtue of Compassion, which aptly fits with the Sorrowful Heart of Our Lady. The next ten months will focus on the traditional Ten Virtues of Our Lady.
Marian Theme: Queen of the Holy Rosary (Our Lady of Victory)
This month’s Marian theme aligns with the liturgical devotion of the month of October which is the Holy Rosary.
Marian Antiphon: Salve Regina
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.
V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
R. Ut digni efficamur promissionibus Christi.Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante, praeparasti, da, ut cuius commemoratione laetamur; eius pia intercessione, ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
---
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.To thee do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve;
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, Who by the working of the Holy Spirit didst prepare both body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother, Mary, that she might deserve to be made a worthy dwelling for Thy Son, grant that we who rejoice in her memory, may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from present evils and from lasting death, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
The liturgical year cycles through four Marian Antiphons, each having a Simple Tone and Solemn Tone in Gregorian chant. October continues in the period after Pentecost and before Advent; thus, the Salve Regina is the proper Antiphon for the whole month. Marian antiphons are typically chanted after night prayer and immediately before going to bed.
The Salve Regina has been attributed to a couple different authors — Hermann Contractus, the Bishop Petrus of Monsoro (+ circa 1000 A.D.), the Bishop Adhemar of Podium who supposedly composed it as a war song asking intercession of the Queen of Heaven on Crusade, but most notably St. Bernard of Clairvaux who was said to have added the triple salutation, “O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!” when moved to do so. Many know the Salve Regina today particularly because of the Carmelites who have claimed it as their own in a special way with their singing of its Solemn Tone amid candlelit procession every Saturday evening on the way to Solemn Vespers.
Sheet music for the Simple Tone may be printed from here (page 232 of the Parish Book of Chant pdf). Sheet music for the Solemn Tone may be found on page 233 of the same pdf.
Marian Feasts
- October 7 — Feast of the Most Holy Rosary (or the Commemoration of Our Lady of Victory)
- October 11 — The Divine Maternity of Mary
- October 12 — Our Lady of the Pillar
Though the amount of Marian feasts is smaller this month, the ones present are powerful indeed.
The Feast of the Most Holy Rosary memorializes the decisive victory of the Battle of Lepanto that is attributed to Our Lady. While the focus is most often on the Holy Rosary’s part, the little known fact that the first replica of St. Juan Diego’s miraculous tilma was nailed to the masthead of the flagship adds even more meaning to Our Lady’s protection during this great marshaling of Christendom.
The Divine Maternity of Mary is a traditional feast that speaks not only to the great gift of the Incarnation present in Our Lady’s life but also to the nine months of sheltering new life that the Blessed Virgin walked and walks alongside every expectant woman.
Our Lady of the Pillar commemorates one of the earliest apparitions and only recorded instances of bilocation of Our Lady. This one was to St. James the Greater near the River Ebro while she was still living in Jerusalem and he was meeting with particular difficulties making converts in Spain. She consoled him surrounded by angels. The shrine in Saragossa with its ancient jasper statue of Our Lady mounted on a pillar is an indulgenced site of pilgrimage to this day.
Marian Devotion: The Holy Rosary
The Holy Rosary was first prayed as a layman’s collection of one hundred and fifty “Ave Marias” in honor of the one hundred and fifty Psalms priests and religious prayed daily from the Psalter. When St. Dominic was having trouble combating Albigensian heresy, Our Lady appeared to him and told him the Rosary would be a most efficacious tool. Over time the Hail Mary’s were divided into decades of ten, the second half of the “Ave Maria” was added, and each decade was given a mystery from the Life of Christ to meditate on until the Holy Rosary looks most like how we pray it today.
You can find the Mysteries, full prayers, and instructions for how to pray it listed here.
Books to further understanding or devotion to the Holy Rosary:
- The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis DeMontfort can be found here.
- The Power of the Rosary by Gabriel Castillo can be found here.
Marian Customs Highlight
If not on the Feast of the Holy Rosary itself, find another time to invite friends or family over for an evening in celebration of this great triumph of Mary. Start with a Rosary, read or recite together “The Battle of Lepanto” by G.K. Chesterton, and end with toasts to Our Lady and some hymns in her honor. All that is actually needed is a couple copies of the poem to pass around, Rosaries for everyone to use, a bottle of wine plus non alcoholic option for those who need it, and printouts or music books with some more well-known hymns like “Immaculate Mary,” “Hail Holy Queen,” or “Oh Mary of Graces.” Whether you host it in your home, outside around a campfire, or even convince your parish to invite everyone to the church hall, a simple event such as this makes a wonderful yearly custom. It combines the best of the wonderful traditions of a lively, communal Catholic culture — prayer, literature, music, tributes, and a love of Our Lady.
