30 January 2025

Stories to Keep Valor Alive

This book is a companion to Joseph Pearce's ongoing series on the "Unsung Heroes of Christendom" because "defender" and "hero" are not necessarily the same.


From One Peter Five

By Mary Beth Bowen

“You’re so violent.” The blonde was only sore that I forcefully shoved her out of the way of her frisbee catch, giving our team a chance to win and depriving her’s of winning for the time being. She walked away without another word. But the strange word “violent” was still resounding in my ears.

Of course, I wanted to win, and I wanted to win badly enough that I was going to use force. But this girl telling me this over a petty physical struggle left me perplexed. Violent? That is certainly no way for reasonable young Catholic adults to talk to each other at a field game.

I am reminded of author Robert E. Dunn boldly saying, “I like people who are physical and have good manners.” He used the word physical but he means the admirable youthful sense of action that was so common in Catholics but has been termed by the modern world as “violent”. 

In his book, Defenders of Christendom, James Fitzhenry sums up this attitude in the opening chapter: “It is a modern fallacy to suggest that a Catholic must be a complete pacifist who will stand by and do nothing to defend his faith, his culture, or his homeland against oppression.”

Mr. Fitzhenry goes on to say that the reason for this confusion is the failure to make the proper distinction between the words “violent” and “force”. One is certainly an evil and is defined as an unjust application of coercion. Force, on the other hand, is the use of coercion under the legitimate authority in defense of justice.

I guess that we are backed by a long line of “violent” Catholics.

Clovis slamming his fist down and shouting “If only I had been there with my Franks!” when he was told the story of the crucifixion should fill all Catholics with a sense of pride. I’m sure that Hernan Cortez is labeled as one on the most violent Catholics who ever lived. These inspiring stories about our heroes are so important to defining what true Catholic force looks like.

This labeling of Catholic heroes as violent has only created a generation where bravery is suppressed, a loss of the sense of knighthood and the disappearance of virtue. This deprivation of noble force has made a weak generation and has thrown off balance the minds of the youth, especially boys. (Do the repercussions of “peace without victory” come to mind?)

James Fitzhenry has compiled a list of stories about daring Catholic heroes in his book Defenders of Christendom. Through these tales he reminds modern-day Catholics of the attitude and bravery that defined an epoch and saved a civilization.

In this book you will read about:

  • Bohemond and the siege of Antioch
  • The First Crusade
  • Dieudonne de Gozon
  • The Knights of St. John
  • The Order of Hospitallers
  • The White Knight of Wallachia Janos Hunyadi
  • Skanderbeg
  • The Siege of Rhodes and Malta 
  • The Grand Master Jean la Vallette
  • And finally, Don Juan of Austria and the Battle of Lepanto

Three personal favorite stories of mine from this book were about Dieudonne de Gozon the dragon slayer, Skanderbeg and Don Juan of Austria.

I believed that dragons were legendary creatures that were a symbol of evil or a representation of vice. I thought that stories of knights that fought against them were an allegory of a parallel battle of another nature like heresy or sin. After reading the story of Dieudonne de Gozon I have a different opinion of the legendary creature. Although the fight with the dragon is a physical battle, Dieudonne later also faces a spiritual inner battle with a dragon. He proves that he is a knight then he brushes aside the temptation and is doubly honored by the people. After his fight with the man-eating monster the head was on display at the city’s gates and eye witnesses have left their accounts of what it looked like. Their testimonies are relayed in Mr. Fitzhenry’s book. Whether you are left believing in the real existence of dragons or not, no man can contest that Gozon’s headstone reads, “Here lies the Dragon Slayer”.

The man whom the Turks called Skanderbeg is a prime example of a Catholic knight. Skanderbeg was captured by the Muslims when he was a child. He was raised to be such a fierce fighter that he was a particular enjoyment to the sultan. So detached was he from his faith and culture that he would take any fight “to defend the honor of the Turkish court.” After his conversion and escape, Skanderbeg did everything in his power to stop the advances of Islam. Once a particular favorite of the sultan, he was now a particular thorn in his side. The most inspiring thing about Skanderbeg was the fact that he knew that his greatest enemy was overcoming himself. “His courage stemmed from this struggle over his evil passions.”

G.K. Chesterton has made the Battle of Lepanto always stand out to us as one of the most important battles fought for Christendom. I have read many things about this battle but there were things in Defenders of Christendom that I had never heard before. The battle array described in detail, the woman who joined the fight in order to avenge the injustices done to women by the Muslims, and of course, the power of Our Lady at the turning point of the battle are all covered in this book. The hero of this tale is the illegitimate half brother to Phillip II of Spain, Don Juan of Austria, the Last Knight of Europe. Pope Pius V ceaselessly prayed for the outcome of the battle and Our Lady heard the prayers of all Europe and turned the tide of events.

Many of the heroes mentioned in the book Defenders of Christendom were forced to face their enemies without the help of their Catholic neighbors. This fact proves that there was some form of evil from inside of Europe. Whether it was pride, envy, or sloth, it is a certainty that it was shameful behavior for any Catholic knight to stand down while their enemies faced off with their neighbors.

At the time of Janos Hunyadi’s death, Pope Pius II lamented, “We are ashamed that the lukewarmness of Christendom is so great. Some run after their pleasures, others are enchained by avarice.”

James Fitzhenry writes of these,

Perhaps is it too much to expect that their vision should penetrate the darkness that spread over the land, but for whatever reason most seemed not to perceive the true nature of the enemy who marched westward, consuming and defiling once Christian domains as they passed.

Perhaps they thought that peace with the Infidel could only be attained through treaties and not war? Perhaps they thought that they were performing their Catholic duty by not taking up arms? Fitzhenry makes a very good point when he says, “If you are not fighting, then you have already surrendered.”

Why then were these so willing to rebuke and attack these Catholic heroes? “They were forever unwilling to raise a hand against their mortal enemy, yet ever ready to strike at a Catholic hero who risked everything for their common defense.” These rebukes only added to the latter’s glory, for as Thomas of Celano points out, “The more he is buffeted the more strongly will he triumph.”

Catholics are fighters by nature. Why else are we called Soldiers of Christ? Why else do we follow the banner of Christ our King in the daily conflict of life? Sports and other competitions are not spiritual battles but if you spend your childhood fighting to win a prize, will you ever be able to stand on the day that the physical or spiritual dragon enters the field in your life?

“Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war.” (Psalms 143:1)

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