History is a testament to the fact that our Lady in general and the rosary, in particular, has had profound and unparalleled power. When the Albigensian heresy was stealing many away from the faith, Our Lady helped St. Dominic to battle the heresy through the rosary. As a result, many were rescued from falling away into error and brought back to the fold. The rosary not only has power in spiritual battles but has also shaped history and the world in which we live. In our own time, on 13th May 1981, Pope John Paul II was protected from certain death at the hands of Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman, when a bullet fired went straight into his abdomen but miraculously missed his vital organs. He attributed this to our Lady of Fatima and later made a pilgrimage to that town in Portugal placing the bullet in the crown of the statue of our Lady. The feast of Our Lady of Victory was instituted some 4 centuries earlier after the great naval battle in history, the Battle of Lepanto. Continue reading →