Praying the Rosary in October

On the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, Pope Francis, through a communiqué from the Holy See Press Office, invited all Catholics to pray the Rosary daily throughout the month of October, as well as the earliest antiphon of the Blessed Virgin, Sub tuum præsidium, and the prayer to Saint Michael, Sancte Michaël Archangele.

Praying the Rosary daily throughout the month of October is a traditional devotion certainly not foreign to the lives of Catholics. In the Philippines, in fact, old ordines direct the faithful to recite the Rosary from 1 October until 2 November, inclusive, not only in private, but most especially in common. This said, we would like to add that the prayer to Saint Joseph, Ad te, beate Ioseph, is likewise to be added, according to the Leonine encyclical Quamquam pluries issued on 15 August 1889.

As is the custom in many places, the Litany of Loreto is added at the end of the Rosary. In the Philippines, and in many Hispanophone places, after the invocation Mater intemerata, the invocation Mater immaculata is added—notwithstanding the latter invocation Regina sine labe originali concepta—by virtue of the Clementine brief Eximia pietas issued on 14 March 1767, a tradition which the First Plenary Council of the Philippine upheld.

Ut in omnibus laudetur Dominus.

Praying the Rosary in October

The traditional Ordo of the Philippines indicates today as the start of the daily recitation of the Rosary, which shall end on 2 November.

As can be gleaned from queries submitted to the Boletín, this daily recitation was not only privately accomplished by the faithful but also usually publicly exercised alta voce even during misas rezadas and cantadas. Apparently, this had become the custom of the archipelago, and was encouraged by bishops, to the point that, when a rescript appeared admonishing English Catholics to wean themselves off the practice, the contributors of the Boletín argued that the admonition did not juridically apply to the Philippines, and urged priests to seek the counsel of their ordinaries regarding the matter.

La Virgen del Rosario | Bartolomé Esteban Murillo | 1650–1655

A few reminders to those who will recite the Rosary daily from today until 2 November:

1. At the Litany of Loreto, after the invocation Mater intemerata (Mother inviolate), add the invocation Mater immaculata (Mother Immaculate). This privilege was granted by Clement XIII on 14 March 1767, through the brief Eximia pietas.
2. At the end of the Rosary, append the prayer Ad te, beate Ioseph (To thee, O blessed Joseph). This prayer was added by Pope Leo XIII on 15 August 1889, through the encyclical Quamquam pluries.

If we have the resources, offering a rosario cantado would also be very splendid.

Ut in omnibus laudetur Dominus.

Pray the terço

On 13 May 1917, during the first of the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, as the vision was vanishing, the Blessed Virgin gave the three shepherd children the following message before disappearing:

Rezem o terço todos os dias, para alcançarem a paz para o mundo e o fim da guerra!

Though the vision told the children in the third apparition on 13 July 1917 that she desired them to say the terço every day “em honra de Nossa Senhora do Rosário”, the vision also said she will introduce herself in October.

Nossa Senhora de Fátima

And so, on 13 October 1917, the vision introduced herself:

Sou a Senhora do Rosário.

And, then, she added:

Que continuem sempre a rezar o terço todos os dias.

We highlighted two words above: rosário and terço. In English, these two words are translated as rosary, seldom with qualifications as to the specific meanings they encode. For these words, while indeed refer to the rosary, are distinguished by degree, something which even Spanish, a Romance language close to Portuguese, does not capture. For Lusophones, the rosário is the entire Rosary, all fifteen mysteries of it; whereas the terço, as the name implies, is just one third of the rosário.

So, let us pray the terço! It is but one simple chaplet of five mysteries, but Our Lady indeed promised to obtain the end of terrible wars if we recite it each day! Perhaps, we can sing the Rosary as our grandparents did in olden times! The Holy Rosary will secure peace for the world more surely than all beauty pageants combined could ever do.