A living rosary in Lemont

Students at Everest Academy in Lemont participated in a Living Rosary in five languages on Oct. 5. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on Oct. 7 and was instituted in 1571. The students prayed a mystery of the rosary for Cardinal George. According to the University of Dayton's online Marian resources, October is considered the month of the rosary primarily because the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falls in the month. This feast "was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the church in answer to the praying of the rosary by the faithful," the website says. "The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on Oct. 7, 1571. Legend tells us that the rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom."