The Feast of the Holy Rosary, originally named Our Lady of Victory, was instituted by Pope Saint Pius V to celebrate the victory against the Ottomans on 7 October 1571 in Lepanto, on the west coast of Greece, during a naval battle against a European coalition mobilised by the Pope under the aegis of the Holy League. This victory brought a definitive end to Ottoman expansionism. Celebrations began in 1573. 

Saint John XXIII later changed the feast’s name again to Our Lady of the Rosary. The rosary consists of a cross linked to round beads which allow us to meditate on episodes from the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious life of Jesus.

This Communion antiphon, composed in the first mode, consists of three parts, the first, symmetrical in shape, parallels the incipit florete flores quasi lilium and et date odorem, et frondete in gratiam. Two fragrant flowerbeds in honour of Our Lady illustrate the outpouring of praise that spontaneously melds in the second part, collaudate canticum, when the melody rises to the top and then, at the last moment, full of thanksgiving, is integrated as it gradually descends into the lower register of the mode.