MADISON — On Sunday, Oct. 7, which is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Catholics in Madison will be praying the Rosary on the steps of the state Capitol building (facing State St.), as part of the Rosary Coast to Coast initiative.
Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries begin at 2 p.m. with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Glorious Mysteries begin at 3 p.m.
There will be a short speech and hymns to the Blessed Virgin followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. First class relics of St. Dominic and St. Faustina will be available for veneration.
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary — also known as Our Lady of Victory — commemorates the great victory won by the Catholic forces of the Holy League over the Muslims at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Before the decisive battle, Pope St. Pius V asked all the faithful to pray the Rosary, and the ensuing victory was credited to the power of the Blessed Virgin’s intercession.
Today we are in a spiritual battle. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph 6:12-13). And in such a battle, the Rosary is a powerful weapon.
Rosary Coast to Coast is a effort to unite Catholics all across the nation in praying the Rosary together, on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, for the conquest of evil in our nation.
In the words of Bishop Robert C. Morlino, “We are very far right now from looking like the kingdom of God. We’ve got to get to work. The secular world is very hostile toward us right now, and so we have to respond with strength and with charity — always with the love of Jesus.
“What better way to thank God for his blessings in sustaining us so far and to ask for his healing and for the conquest of evil in our own country and in our own culture, than participating in a Coast to Coast Rosary, asking the Blessed Mother, who is the most powerful enemy against the forces of evil except for Jesus Christ himself. It is her foot that crushes the serpent. We should never forget that.”