Sts. Sergius and Bacchus were at one time officers in the imperial army. After many tortures they were put to death for being Christians. The date of their martyrdom, which took place in the Third Century, is uncertain. Together with them are honored two Roman martyrs, Marcellus and Apuleius, probably their contempories.
(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)

St. Mark, a Roman priest, ws the right hand of Pope St. Sylvester, during the latter’s pontificate, and finally succeeded him. St. Mark’s term as Pope lasted only eight months, for he was called to his eternal reward in the year 336. Pope Damasus records of him that his life was blameless and full of love of God. He cared little for honors and despised earthly things, for his inmost heart was attached to virtue alone. He was the champion of justice and a perfect lover of Christ.

(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)

October 7 is the anniversary of the glorious victory won in 1571 by the Christian forces over the Turkish fleet in Lepanto. This triumph of the Cross over the Crescent was universally attributed to the powerful intercession of the Mother of God. Whom Pope Pius V fervently invoked with her Rosary in his hand, and to whom the prayers of all Christendom were addressed. Two years after this great favor had been obtained Gregory XIII instituted an annual feast of thanksgiving to be celebrated on the First Saturday of October in all churches where an altar in honor of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary had been erected. From Being a local festival this celebration gradually spread and became general, until Leo XIII raised it to the rank of a double of the second class for the whole Chruch.

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