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The Month of the Rosary. In 1571 as the Ottoman Empire prepared for the invasion of Italy Pope Pius V called on the Catholic communities throughout Europe to join him in praying the rosary, and ask for protection from the threat of the Ottomans. The battle was a navel encounter off the coast of Greece and is known as the Battle of Lepanto. The battle led to the defeat of the Ottoman fleet on the 7th October and the threat of invasion ended. This led to Pope Pius V declaring the 7th October as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Many years later in 1884 Pope Leo XIII declared that the entire month of October was to be dedicated to the rosary. By then the recital of the rosary focussed on three mysteries; the Joyful, meditating on the birth of Jesus Christ; the Sorrowful, meditating on Jesus’ passion and death; the Glorious, meditating on Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension and the beginnings of the Christian community. In 2002 Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries, meditating on the public life of Jesus. He wrote: With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love