The Battle of Lepanto: How the Rosary Saved Europe

From I Miss Christendom

October 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Here's why. In the late 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had the largest, most well-trained, disciplined, and equipped Navy in the world. They set their sights on conquering Rome and, from there, all of Western Europe. The admiral of the Ottoman Navy fleet was so sure of victory that he had himself crowned as the emperor of Rome. Pope St Pius V set out to organise a naval response of the Christian kingdoms called The Holy League. But unfortunately, England was not interested because they didn't think it would affect them, France had already made a deal with the Ottomans, and even Spain, because of domestic issues, was not able to help. What was formed was a ragtag of smaller kingdoms,  though the Spanish King did give his brother, Don Juan, to be the commander. They called on all of Christendom to pray the rosary for victory against the Ottomans. On October 7th 1571, the holy League engaged the Ottoman naval fleet. The Holy League was made up mainly of farmers and regular men who were not well-trained in battle. As opposed to the battle-hardened and well-trained Ottoman soldiers. Also, the Ottoman Empire greatly outnumbered the Holy League's number of ships. The Holy League displayed an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been touched to the original image and formed their ships in the shape of a cross. The Ottoman fleet formed a crescent moon and the battle began.  Within 4 hours, the Ottoman Fleet had been decimated, and victory had been to the Holy League. The Ottoman Admiral's head was displayed on the mast of one of their ships.