The Feast of the Holy Rosary is a feast of prayer and recourse to the Blessed Mother. It is also a feast of the action of brave men who were men of prayer. That is why it is also the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. On this day we pray for the Spirit of Lepanto.
In the current postcommunion oration for the Mass we find the closest thing in the current formulary to reference to Our Lady of Victory:
May we be helped we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the prayers of Thy most holy Mother, whose Rosary we celebrate; that we may draw strength from the Mysteries which we commemorate, and likewise obtain the fruit of the Sacraments which we have received: Who livest and reignest with the God Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
We are to draw strength from the paschal mystery, the mystery of the sacrificial love of Christ for all men. The mysteries of which the oration speaks are the death and resurrection of the Lord. But the feast integrates into these mysteries the mystery of Our Lady’s victorious mediation, and the “strength” which we draw from our participation in the Mysteries of Christ through Her mediation.
On this occasion I have returned to vlogging my series Standing Fast which you will be able find each week in the side bar on the right. (It should be up momentarily.)Well I guess the widget won’t fly yet, so here is the video:
Here is the link to The Soul of the Apostolate that I mention in the video. And a Google Books version here.
You will also be able to find it on AirMaria as a regular post in a larger format. I have delayed my post today due to the learning curve with some new video software. My apologies for not posting sooner on Our Lady’s feast day.
The above painting was created by Tony Stafki and is available in various kinds of prints. Tony sent my some information about the painting:
The battle formation of the ships just before the main clash.
The Catholic ships form a cross and the Muslim ships form a cresent.
The standard of the Holy Cross which was blessed by Pope Pius V can be seen on Don Juan of Austria’s ship which is leading the charge
Papal ships (St. Peter’s keys)
The miracle of the wind: just before the armies met the wind completely switched in favor of the Catholic ships.
Devils can be seen amongst the Muslim ships (they were summoned from hell by the Muslim leader). The devils have peacock feathers as swords, a manifestation of their pride.
Our Lady of Victory with a sword in one hand ready to crush the devils and the other hand outstretched to the Muslim souls.
St. Michael leading the Angels
There are small white lights by the oars on the Muslim ships representing the souls of the Catholic prisoners.
The image of Our Lady with the sword reminds me of this:
The King looked up, and what he saw
Was a great light like death,
For Our Lady stood on the standards rent,
As lonely and as innocent
As when between white walls she went
And the lilies of Nazareth.
One instant in a still light
He saw Our Lady then,
Her dress was soft as western sky,
And she was a queen most womanly—
But she was a queen of men.
Over the iron forest
He saw Our Lady stand,
Her eyes were sad withouten art,
And seven swords were in her heart—
But one was in her hand.
I have always been a little put off that the image of Our Lady of Victory does not have a sword:
Some time ago I designed a desktop wallpaper for MaryVictrix. Here is a new one for 2009. The Theme is “vigilance” and is based on our Encampment Night Watch.
The whole idea of the Night Watch is to teach the boys the importance of having a keen mind and heart. We need to be aware of the situation at hand all the time, the dangers to one’s soul and those of others and to be vigilant in the service of God and neighbor.
The fire represents the light of faith and ardor of charity, gifts which we must treasure and protect for the love of God and out of a sense of our own welfare. More than that, we need to realize that each of us is responsible for the salvation of others and be at the ready to protect and defend the common good.
There are many shadowy aspects of life and into each of them we need to bring the light. Catholic manliness is a light on the hill top. We should be a source of hope and healing for all in need.
The rendering has the light of hope embedded in the shadows. See if you can find those places.
On my last trip which took me to Australia, Texas and California–all of which my friends in here in New England believe are separate countries–I met a blogger who goes by the moniker of Roman Sacristan. I had seen his blog before, but I would like to here mention it as a resource for things liturgical. In an effort to explain the purpose of his blog, he says:
But getting back to the initial question of the “reform of the reform” vis-a-vis the extra-ordinary form of the Mass that has been placed back on an equal standing with the ordinary form by “Summorum Pontificum,” I can say that the motu proprio has actually put more “pressure” on the ordinary form to get it’s act together. I don’t mean that the Novus Ordo is to be changed to be more like the extra-ordinary form. That’s something for the Church to do with an organized reform of the liturgy. “Vigilante liturgical reform” is not the answer to the problems in the Novus Ordo Mass. What I mean is to get the Novus Ordo back on track and to start getting it said as it is supposed to be said. We’ll worry about actually reforming the ordinary use later. First we need to just get it said by the books.
My own experience tells me that knowledge of the extraordinary form of the Mass brings with it a context for the celebration of the ordinary form. One can better percieve the logic of the reforms of Vatican II if one is familiar with the manner of celebration of the usus antiquus.
I appreciate the Roman Sacristan’s use of the term “vigilante liturgical reform.” I think some of the more traditionally minded assume too much when their hopes for the future are defined by precise expectations about what the future holds in store. Sometimes this can translate into some liturgical adaptations that assume that now the traditional rubrics needs to be imposed on the ordinary form, with the hopes that the ordinary form will disappear altogether.
It seems to me that some of the promotors of Summorum Pontificum even assume that the use of the terms “ordinary form” for the novus ordo and “extraordinary form” for the usus antiquus are a ruse used by the Holy Father to promote a kind of creeping traditionalism. This goes too far.
In any case, I highly recommend the Roman Sacristan’s blog. BTW, he is in the process of vocational discernment, so I know he would appreciate the prayers.
Several things or going on this week. First of all, I am on my way up to our friary in Maine NY, Mount St. Francis to visit our friars there before my trip to Rome during the first part of May. I will be there for our general chapter, which will conclude on Pentecost. Please pray for our community during this important time.
I will be back for the Third Thursday Night Holy Hour for the Fathers of our Families (program). This will be the third holy hour of the novena which will conclude in October just before the presidential election.
I have long encouraged the Knights of Lepanto to engage in Catholic action and our Third Thursday Meetings have been oriented in that direction. It is, however, far more important to pray and I have not wanted to neglect this. Hence the novena.
This particular month, I have invited Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut to speak following the holy. I will be putting up a post shortly on the work of Peter at FIC. I am inviting all local men to come and learn more about how you can help to protect marriage and family life in Connecticut.
Thirdly, on Saturday, April 19 I will be directing a day of recollection at the friary for the Knights of Lepanto, specifically for all the first year members who are in need of their basic formation. This is open to all those who are formal MIM members and who attend the Knights’ meetings, including those who have already finished the first year formation and would like to review or just attend for their spiritual benefit.
We are planning on an early day, so that the whole Saturday is not shot for the guys who have stuff to do around the house. WE BEGIN AT 8:30 AM.
Here are the topics I will be covering on Saturday:
1. What is the group, The Knights of Lepanto? (Article 1 and 2, KL Directory)
That’s me on the pillar! Off to Vermont to stay at Our Lady of Ephesus House of Prayer. At the end of my retreat there back in November, Mary Tarinelli invited me to preach at the yearly Divine Mercy Day that Her and her husband Don sponsor. I plan to get in a little day of recollection in on Monday. Be back soon.
Meanwhile here is the AirMaria interview with Mary about the House of Prayer.
Robert brought my attention to an international organization known as the Corpus Christianum, which is a private association of the faithful, “dedicated to praying for a renewal of Christendom.” The group seems to be very Marian, they pray The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is principally the work that inspired the Knight’s Psalter. Check it out. Great work.
Also of interest, related to the website of Corpus Christianum, is the FAQ page that includes a recommendation for further reading on the subject of Catholic Chivalry. There you will find links to a work that I have recommended before,Kenelm Henry Digby’s Maxims of Christian Chivalry, which is an abridged version of a much larger, and extremely hard to find work, The Broad Stone of Honour. What is news to me is that this latter work is online in four volumes, each volume receiving its title from a different knight:
Some time ago I designed a desktop wallpaper for the Knights of Lepanto and Mary Victrix. I am now making it available in different sizes for both PC and Mac.
I originally designed it for a Mac cinema display (letterbox) with a nice dark area for the icons on the right. I have adapted the original to several sizes of the cinema display for the PC with the icon space on the left, and I have further cropped it for several sizes of the standard apsect ratio. It does not look as good in the standard ratio, but so be it. (The space for the icons had to be cropped out.)
The artifacts pictured in the wallpaper are all significant. Any thoughts? All feedback will be appreciated. Click on the thumbnail and right click to “save image as”.
Father Rick Heilman, founder of the Knights of Divine Mercy has been in touch with many Catholic men’s organizations, trying to band together a New Holy League in order to protect the public order by praying a nine month rosary novena preparation for the national election. MaryVictrix is privileged to be counted among the League, and you will find Radix with Doug Barry enlisted as well. Father Heilman was kind enough to post The Spirit of Lepanto post as an explanation of the spirit of this New Holy League.
I urge all the Knights of Lepanto and all men at arms who read MaryVictrix to go to HolyLeague.org, join the league and pray the rosary novena. I am posting below, Fr. Heilman’s launch announcement.
Update: Join the Holy League by clicking on the membership tab and sign up.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Now is the Time! Christ put it this way, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
On the eve of Super Tuesday, and exactly nine months from election day, the sense of urgency could not be greater.
I am asking all men who truly believe that “nothing is impossible with God,” to join me, in this critical election year, to reclaim surrendered ground from the culture of death.
This clarion call is not for those who are too absorbed in their own lives, or for those who have long since lost the belief in answered prayer. This is for those who have been waiting for just such a campaign that asks them be a part of something so important … possibly the most important thing.
Here it is, quite simply …
Drawing inspiration from the epic Battle of Lepanto in 1571, which called on all Catholic warriors and knights to band together to form an armada to combat spiritual error and fight for Truth. This faithful remnant was dubbed “The Holy League.”
In the Spirit of Lepanto, we are compelled to re-ignite the warrior spirit in all of us and take a stand against the mighty forces of spiritual error and the dictatorship of moral relativism. Do I have your attention? Good!!
The battle today is a spiritual warfare and is fought, by and large, on our knees. Please go to this brand new website, launched just today, and join ranks with the new armada of life as we gather the warriors and knights once again to form the new “Holy League” for today. We are appealing to every catholic man and every Catholic men’s apostolate and organization with this clarion call to join ranks in this new “Holy League.” Don’t be found outside looking in … stand up and be counted!
The story of Lepanto, the prayer campaign, the weapons of spiritual warfare … it’s all there on this exciting new website.
Please join, and please do all you can to spread the message of this clarion call to join the “Holy League.”
Doug Barry is up and running with a new redesigned website. He will have regular vlog posts there under the heading “Take the Hill.” Perhaps we can get some of his work up here and on AirMaria!
And peace, Eustace. Do not scold, like a kitchen-girl. No warrior scolds. Courteous words or else hard knocks are his only language (King Tirian, last king of Narnia).
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Posted by frangelo 
Posted by frangelo 
Posted by frangelo 
Some time ago I designed a desktop wallpaper for the Knights of Lepanto and Mary Victrix. I am now making it available in different sizes for both PC and Mac.
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