What great confidence his successor, Pope Leo XIII, placed in the
veneration and invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by means of the
rosary! He exhorted all Christianity to pray the rosary daily during
the month of October, in order to obtain assistance in these
distressing times. In his brief on this occasion Leo XIII says: "It has
been a favorite and prevalent custom of Catholics, in times of need and
danger, to take refuge in Mary, and to seek consolation from her
motherly concern."

Thus the firm reliance and confidence rightly placed by the Catholic
Church in the mother of God is stanchly avowed.

As a matter of fact, Mary, the immaculate Virgin, free from original
sin, the chosen mother of God, is endowed with such power by her Son,
as no other creature, man or angel, has ever received or can receive.

The efficacy of this great devotion to the great Queen of Heaven had
been demonstrated especially when false teachings, depravity, or other
great enemies threatened disaster to Christians.

History, early and recent, relates how public and private devotion to
the mother of God was held in times of calamity and distress, and how
these prayers were heard, and help was granted. Thus originated the
exalted titles which Catholics give to the Blessed Virgin, such as Help
of Christians, Refuge of Sinners, etc.

To these titles was added another, when under date of December 10,
1883, Leo XIII directed that the title "Queen of the Rosary" be added
to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. In his brief the Holy Father