Know Thyself

This truly international uniting of nations in prayer is reminiscent of Pope Pius V forming the Holy League of Nations and his command to pray the Rosary for victory during the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.  In that battle the greatly outnumbered Holy League was victorious against the Muslim invasion of Europe. That victory led Pope Pius V to establish October 7 as the feast of Our Lady of Victory, later renamed the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary!

Pope Leo XIII had a vision in 1884 of an unleashing of Satan’s power for 100 years which inspired the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.  Also in 1884, a young girl named Fortuna Agrelli was graced with an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and given a special devotion. Our Lady said:  “Whoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in thanksgiving.” That devotion is the 54 day Rosary Novena.  In the same year that the 100 year unleashing of Satan was revealed, Heaven provided us with the spiritual weapons of the Prayer to St. Michael and the 54 day Rosary Novena!