The Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the Feast of the Holy Rosary

Fr Zed muses on today's Feast and the great victory that inspired it.

From Fr Z's Blog

I very much appreciate the former name of this Feast: Our Lady of Victory.

There are many famous battles, but most of them come no where near the significance of Lepanto for the history of Western Civilization.

The Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571 was the largest naval engagement until Jutland in 1916. 40,000 dead in 4 hours.

One might muse on what would have been different had Islam triumphed at Lepanto.

Western Civilization would have been been scuttled and burned.

But the Christendom triumped.  Our Lady brought the victory.  She did so through the praying of the Holy Rosary by the sailors and warriors throughout the Christian fleet.  On the flagship there was a statue of Our Lady, which has recently been identified.  HERE

A few years ago, when I was in Madrid, I went to the Royal Naval Museum.  It happened that, for a short time, they were displaying the pennant that flew at the main mast of the flag ship of Juan Andrea Doria y Alvaro de Bazan, Juan of Austria.  The blue color represents the center of the line.

Another miracle occurred that day.  As the Battle raged, St. Pius V in Rome had a vision of the victory while he was visiting the headquarters of the Domincans on the Aventine Hill at Santa Sabina.  The messenger bringing news of the victory would arrive a couple weeks later.  You can visit the room where Pius received the message.

All sorts of people will post about Lepanto today, so I won’t over burden you.

Read GK Chesterton’s Lepanto.

Here is the Collect from the traditional Mass, which is the prayer we say at the end of the Rosary.

Deus, cuius Unigénitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectiónem suam nobis salútis ætérnæ præmia comparávit: concéde, qu?sumus; ut, hæc mystéria sacratíssimo beátæ Maríæ Vírginis Rosário recoléntes, et imitémur, quod cóntinent, et quod promíttunt, assequámur.

Let us pray.
O God, Whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has merited for us the grace of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech You, that, meditating on those mysteries in the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Please pray the Rosary today.  Please add a prayer for me.