The Holy Rosary is one of the important devotions in the Catholic Church, second to the Holy Mass. The Holy Rosary was given and taught by the Blessed Virgin Mary when she appeared to St. Dominic de Guzman who was fighting the Albigensian Heresy that time. The Holy Rosary was only prayed by the Dominicans before Pope St. Pius V instituted the official devotion to the Holy Rosary on 1569.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is well-known for her apparitions in different places of the world. Some of her apparitions were accompanied by the praying of the Holy Rosary. One of her popular apparitions is in Lourdes France, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette of Soubirous.
“If you say the Holy Rosary faithfully until death,I assure you that in spite of the gravity of your sins,you shall receive a never-ending crown of glory. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if and mark well what I say – if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly everyday until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon of your sins” -- St. Louis de Monfort
It was about five centuries ago when a sign of contradiction was transplanted in the islands. It was akin to the Byzantine sword brandished by Constantine the Great, whose cruel character as an emperor was transformed into a child Principe Constantino, to escort the representation of Santa Elena. At the same time if one holds the blade (kapit sa patalim), it was the cross of a faith that will triumph in the end.
Seventy five years after the Miracle of the Rosary at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, history will repeat itself in the East at the battle of La Naval de Manila in October 1646. Thanks to the Virgin of the Rosary, Manila and the rest of the Philippines were spared from these foreign invaders.
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