The Hope of Lepanto: the Feast of the Holy Rosary

We are not to lose hope even in the face of the nightly evening news.  We have Jesus and all the treasures of the Catholic Church.  And on October 7, we have the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of Victory.  This feast shows us the way to victory. 

At a time when the culture of death is encroaching, we have the Blessed Mother to shore us up.  She nursed Jesus in a manager, stood at the foot of his cross at his crucifixion, and comforts us now in the face of rampant evil.  We do not go to Mary instead of Jesus, we go to Jesus with Mary. 

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary began as a celebration of the victory of the Battle of Lepanto—securing European Christendom against a Turkish invasion on October 7, 1571.  This victory is a testimony to the power of fervent prayer.

The Battle of Lepanto

Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory at Lepanto—one of the most decisive in all of naval history according to historians-- to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through a campaign to pray the Rosary throughout Europe.  The Muslim Ottoman Empire had been expanding into Europe for 900 years.   By 1453, they took over Christian lands in the Byzantine Empire, placing it under Islamic law.  Westward movement continued into the Mediterranean, even threatening Rome. 

In 1570, Pope Pius V called for prayer and action.  He pleaded with every man, woman, and child to pray the rosary.   He also put together the Holy League--a coalition of Catholic powers which included Genoa, Spain, and the Papal States. 

The ships sailed near the west coast of Greece where the Turks vastly outnumbered them. The Pope, Christians throughout Europe, and crew members, all armed themselves with the Rosary in preparation for the battle. Mass was said on all the 200 ships.  People prayed from dawn to dusk.  The wind was against the Christians and the heavy iron rams--which ordinarily would ram and sink adversaries-- had been removed.  The reason was that over 18,000 Christian slaves were oarsmen in the galleys. The Holy Alliance chose to handicap themselves rather than sacrifice the Christian slaves. 

As the battle commenced, everyone kept praying.   Author Ron Tesoriero recounts the fierce clash in his book Reason to Believe. 

“By late afternoon at 4:00 pm on the 7^th of October, the exhausted Pope rose and went to the window of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  He gazed out and burst into tears.  Vatican archival documents tell how he then turned to face the congregation with the exultant words:  'The Christian fleet is victorious!  Our great task at present is to thank God for the victory he has given.'

 ‘The victory was decisive and crushing.  It marked a turning point in the history of Christianity and of Europe.  Between 25,000 and 30,000 Turks and 9,000 Christians lost their lives. There was no way that anyone hundreds of miles away in Rome could have known of the outcome until news reached there by the usual means, a journey of days. There was certainly no way that anyone could have known that the Holy Alliance claimed victory at exactly 4:00 pm.” 

Pope Pius V instituted the feast in thanksgiving for the victory as Our Lady of the Rosary.  This feast is not just for the past, but also for today as we pray to overcome anti-Christian forces. 

  Let us pray with the spirit of Lepanto.  Our Lady of Victory, pray for us!  Our Lady of the Rosary ,pray for us!

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For more inspiration check out Patti's latest book: Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith & Get to Heaven. Other books include:  Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families and the best-selling Amazing Grace Series.

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