October is the Month of the Holy Rosary. How much do you know, dear quizzers, about this beautiful prayer?
1) IN THE BEGINNING
What saint is generally credited with first promoting a devotion to the rosary?
- a) St. Therese of Lisieux
- b) St. Francis of Assisi
- c) St. Dominic
- d) St. Benedict
2) A MIGHTY SHIELD
What military victory in 1571 prompted Pope Pius V to establish the feast of Our Lady of Victory, a commemoration later re-named Our Lady of the Rosary?
- a) Lepanto
- b) Loreto
- c) Lexington
- d) Lisieux
3) A VISION IN BLUE
At what Marian apparition did Our Blessed Mother identify herself as “The Lady of the Rosary”?
- a) Lourdes
- b) Medjugorje
- c) Guadalupe
- d) Fatima
4) DAVID WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD
The Desert Fathers prayed a meditation similar to the rosary by reciting 150 what?
- a) Our Fathers
- b) Psalms
- c) Glorias
- d) Stations of the Cross
5) MEDIEVAL MEDITATION
In the Middle Ages in Europe, praying the rosary first utilized a ring of beads to keep track of praying 150 Our Fathers. What was the name for that prayer ring? (HINT: The word means “crown”)
- a) corona
- b) chaplet
- c) crosier
- d) cruciform
6) DO THE MATH
Dominican friar Henry Kalkar developed what aspect of praying the Rosary?
- a) switching from 150 Our Fathers to 150 Hail Marys
- b) dividing the 150 prayers into groups of 15 decades
- c) giving the decades the names “Joyful,” “Sorrowful” and “Glorious”
- d) adding a “Glory Be” after each decade
7) TOP OF THE LIST
What pope called the rosary “my favorite prayer; among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation”?
- a) Pope Francis
- b) Pope Paul VI
- c) Pope John Paul II
- d) Pope John XXIII
8) CHRISTOCENTRIC MARIOLOGY
In 2002, Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the recitation of the rosary. Which event is one of the Luminous Mysteries?
- a) Baptism of Jesus
- b) Transfiguration of Jesus.
- c) Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper
- d) All of the above, plus the Wedding Feast at Cana and Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
Answers: 1) c, 2) a, 3) d, 4) b, 5) a, 6) b, 7) c, 8) d
