Liturgical Calendar

October means "eighth month" in Latin. In the old Roman calendar, the year began in the spring, not in the winter as in modern calendars. For Catholics, it is a special month for honoring the Virgin Mary by praying the Rosary. See this month’s Featured Article, "The Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary," and "The History of the Rosary."

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary: Pope St. Pius V established this feast following the naval Battle of Lepanto. Don Juan of Austria commanded the small Christian navy with ships from Spain, Venice, and Genoa and defeated the Muslim Turkish fleet of 15,000 ships at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Knowing that the Turks greatly outnumbered the Christian forces, Pope St. Pius V called for all of Christian Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. The Christian commanders prayed for the Blessed Virgin's intercession, and Admiral Andrea Doria carried a small copy of Mexico's image of Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. The battle took place as the Confraternity of the Rosary celebrated a solemn procession through the streets of Rome. The Christian faithful of the European nations prayed to the Virgin Mary to intercede against the Turkish aggressors as the Christian commanders defeated the larger Muslim navy. Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the Blessed Virgin's intercession, calling her "Mary, the succor of Christians." The defeat of the Turks was decisive, preventing the intended Islamic invasion of Europe. The Church celebrated the feast for many years as "Our Lady of the Victory." Later, the Church renamed the feast "Our Lady of the Rosary." In 1716, Pope Clement XI, who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712, extended the feast throughout the Universal Church. See the document on the history of the Rosary.

Our Lady of the Pillar: This Spanish feast, celebrated on October 12^th, remembers the miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary to the Apostle St. James Zebedee. According to tradition, St. James, the Apostle, credited with evangelizing Spain, was at the Ebro River near Saragossa when Mary appeared above a pillar or column and asked him to build a church. Thus, in honoring the Virgin Mary's request, St. James established the first Marian sanctuary on the Iberian Peninsula, and he is Spain's patron saint.

The Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist: St. Luke wrote the New Testament's third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He was a Greek physician who converted to Christianity and was a member of the Christian community at Antioch, Syria. The same faith community sponsored St. Paul on three of his missionary journeys. According to the Book of Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke accompanied St. Paul on two missionary journeys and traveled with him to Rome as a prisoner. St. Paul was fond of St. Luke and called him the "beloved physician." St. Luke is the only Gospel writer to include the infancy narrative of Jesus's Incarnation and birth from the Virgin Mary's perspective. He is also the only Gospel writer to include information about the angel's announcement of the birth of St. John the Baptist and an account of St. John's birth, circumcision ceremony, and naming. St. Luke is the patron saint of physicians, surgeons, gilders, glaziers, illuminators, notaries, writers, and artists. See an in-depth Bible study on the Gospel of St. Luke, also see an in-depth Bible study on St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles.

The Feast of St. Simon the Apostle:  St. Simon the Apostle is called "Simon the Canaanite" or "Simon the Zealot."  Both names refer to his association with the militant sect of revolutionaries called the "Zealots," who created a resistance movement against the Roman occupation of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. His name appears in each of the four lists of the Apostles in the Gospels and Acts (Mt 10:4; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). Instead of leading a revolt against the Roman Empire, St. Simon the Zealot helped lead the revolution to change the world through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to early Church history, he is believed to have preached the Gospel in Cyrene and other areas of North Africa, including Egypt. He later traveled as far as Britain before returning with St. Jude to preach the Gospel in Armenia and Persia. He suffered martyrdom by crucifixion in the Persian city of Suanir or Armenia. St. Simon is the patron saint of marble cutters and woodcutters.

The Feast of St. Jude the Apostle: "Jude" is the shortened form of "Judas." St. Jude is also called "Thaddaeus" (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18) and "Judas of James," meaning either brother or son of James (Lk 6:16; Acts 1:13). Since there are other brothers among the Apostles, he may be the brother of the Apostle St. James the Less (to distinguish him from the Apostle St. James Zebedee), who is often confused with St. James, the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem. St. James, Bishop of Jerusalem, was the relative of Jesus and the inspired writer of the Letter of St. James. Jude the Apostle is also not the same man as the brother/relative of St. James and the Bishop of Jerusalem, who wrote the Letter of Jude in the New Testament. Nor is he the same Jude as the traitor Judas Iscariot. St. Jude/Judas, the Apostle, was present at the Last Supper, where he asked Jesus in John 14:22, "Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus's response to St. Jude/Judas is in John 14:23-31, along with His theological teaching to the Apostles. In obedience to Jesus's command to baptize and carry the Gospel of salvation to the world (Mt 28:19-20), St. Jude/Thaddaeus the Apostle preached the Gospel in Samaria, Idumea, Libya, Syria, and Mesopotamia before traveling to Edessa in Asia Minor. Later, with St. Bartholomew and St. Simon, he founded the Christian Church in Armenia. According to tradition, St. Jude suffered martyrdom by being clubbed to death on the same day as St. Simon the Zealot's (Canaanite) martyrdom in either Persia or Armenia (see Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:16; Jn 14:22; Acts 1:13). St. Jude, the Apostle, is the patron saint of hopeless situations.

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