LiturgyTools.net: Hymns for the feast of our Lady of the Rosary (7 October)

This is a selection of hymns for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is celebrated on 7 October.

About Our Lady of the Rosary

This feast marks the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, which occurred in 1571 and stopped Ottoman / Turkish / Muslim invasion of Europe.

Before the battle, Pope Pius V led a Rosary procession through Rome and called on crew-men on the ships and and the faithful all over Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. Afterwards, when he was told that all but 13 of the nearly 300 Turkish ships had been captured or sunk, he instituted a feast day in celebration. It was called Our Lady of Victory for several centuries, and later renamed Our Lady of the Rosary.

The feast is one week after the Protection of the Mother of God, which is celebrated by many Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics, and marks a 10th-century battle which protected Constantinople against invasion after a reported Marian apparition.

Pope Leo XIII was particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary and wrote 11 letters about the feast and its importance. The first one “Supremi Apostolatus Officio,” (1883) notes that

It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary .... This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven has never shone forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church of God has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy … or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies.

Historians regard the battle of Lepanto as a decisive moment in European and world history, and a prime example of such attacks.

About these hymns

The hymns suggested here focus specifically on Mary as Lady or Queen of the Rosary.

Some of them are very popular in style, and may not be suitable for liturgical use in many cases. But they may be useful for teaching or devotional use.

Many general Marian hymns would also be appropriate for use on this feast day, but they are not specifically listed.

Suggested free-use hymns

Mother Dear O Pray for Me

O Queen of the Holy Rosary

O Come to the Throne of Grace

The Rosary (The hours I spend with thee dear heart)

Suggested hymns which may still be copyright

Hail Mary Rosary Song (contemporary - video here)

Queen of the Rosary

Miracle of the Rosary - Lee Denson

Rosary Children - Tucker (sheet music, video)