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They confronted in her the armed of Imperio otomano against the one of a Catholic coalition, called Saint League, formed by the Spanish Empire, the States Pontificios, the … Over the next weeks the sultan's armies kept tightening the ring they had established on all sides of Vienna. February 13, 2019 9:40 pm February 13, 2019. The tortured Venetian was led in ropes to the town square and stripped. The Greatest Sea Battle in History: Lepanto, October 1571 For more than three years, Pope Pius V had labored mightily to sound alarms about the deadly Muslim buildup in the shipyards of Istanbul. Suffice it to say that in the center, the volleys from the galleasses out in front destroyed one Muslim vessel after another. Subsequently, it passed in turn to the Achaeans, the Thesbians, and to Philip Macedon, who gave it to the Ætolians; hence it was sometimes called the "city of the Ætolians" (Strabo, IX, iv, 7). October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrates the victory at Lepanto, the battle that saved the Christian West from defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. He wrote numerous influential books on economics, philosophy, and theology. The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic maritime states arranged by Pope Pius V, decisively defeated the fleet of the Ottoman Empire on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece.The Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto (Turkish: İnebahtı; Greek: Ναύπακτος or Έπαχτος … This time, however, the siege-lifting battle outside the walls of Vienna marked the high-water mark of Muslim power. The Protestant nations regarded the expanding Ottoman Empire as a Catholic problem. Premieres on October 07, 2014. The plan was to hold his ships in as long and straight a line as seamanship in a besetting wind would allow, while heading directly for the Muslim line. Novak was the 1994 recipient of the Templeton Prize and served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The following extracts are taken from How the 1571 Battle of Lepanto saved Europe… For those who know little history, today’s battle with the Islamic State in the Middle East may seem new and unprecedented. Never again did the Muslim fleet pose a grave danger to Europe from the south, although of course Muslim fleets kept busy expanding their bases on the African coast, harassing Western ships and territories across the Mediterranean. At Vienna, behind fearless and determined leaders, they chose to die fighting rather than to surrender. The Muslim admiral's head was cut off and borne aloft on a pike to be mounted on the bow of the Real. They had the power to sink a smaller, lighter, faster Muslim galley with a single burst. in 1571 the Ottoman Empire Launched one of the Largest Naval operations in history. Ship was lashed to ship, sometimes a dozen together. Don Juan and many of his men spent much of the night before the battle of October 7 in prayer. Now he would be able to keep the vow he had made to Pope Pius V, to seek out and destroy the threatening enemy. Episode 268: Don’t Forget God’s Goodness! Simply Catholic. For Islam, to lose a territory once Muslim is to incur a religious obligation to wrest it back. Within a hundred years, his successors had occupied and pillaged every Christian capital of the Middle East, from Antioch through North Africa (home of Saint Augustine) and Spain. Gibbon was writing about the decisive battle of Poitiers in a.d. 732, when at last a Christian leader, Charles Martel ("Charles the Hammer"), drove back the Muslims from their high-water mark in Western Europe with such force that they went reeling backwards into Spain. Two thirds of the Holy League ships were Italian, but Spain contributed most of the financing. The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were founded in 1949 by Father Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M. The video describes the Battle of Lepanto with events leading up to the battle. King Sobieski of Poland had drawn the privilege of advancing on the right flank, through the heart of the Vienna Wood. This is why we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, now known as Our Lady of the Rosary. Steve Grunow October 6, 2017 Tomorrow the Church commemorates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a celebration that has its origin not, as it would seem, in simply a prayer, but in a battle. The Muslim lines nearby broke, and their men began looting Mustafa's rich supply wagons and pleasure tents on their panicky flight southward. Nations that had been Catholic for a thousand years had broken away from the Church. This is not only because Messina is a devout Catholic City, but also because Sicily — the Island upon which one of its three corners, it dominates the straits of Calabria — was long ruled by the Spanish. 1 min read 0 views Comments Off on Battle_of_Lepanto_1571. Battle_of_Lepanto_1571 Chris Meadows. The Holy League, under the command of Don Juan of Austria, met the Ottoman fleet, led by Ali Pasha, at Lepanto on 7th October 1571. At intervals, back in Vienna, Mustafa had messages in German tied to dozens of rocks, which he had his catapults shoot over the city walls. Before the carver had reached Bragadino's waist, the man was dead. The best sea captains of Venice were the most eager to avenge their friends and fellow citizens. Thousands of mostly Slavic serfs were required to service his hunting party, in part by driving deer and other game animals his way. The Lepanto Institute for the Restoration of All Things in Christ is a research and education organization dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church against assaults from without as well as from within. The Muslim armies then headed north for the fortress of Famagusta, the last Venetian stronghold on the island, the "extended arm" of the trading posts and protective forts of the Venetian navy in the entire eastern Mediterranean. Many have reported that he did not die at the hand of the enemy bur rather died from natural causes. KEY FIGURES OF THE REFORMATION: PIUS V, THE PIOUS WARRIOR Fr. The lines of ships faced one another, one side firing one cannon shot. Submission to Allah is the reason the world was created. These issues had long separated the two churches. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP Prior: Brother André Marie, M.I.C.M. Relentlessly, the Turks kept heaving up small mountains of earth and sand just outside the walls, from which fire might constantly be poured down into the doomed city. Don Juan of Austria and the Holy League’s fleet was victorious over the besieging Muslim Turks through the Faithful in their millions praying the Holy Rosary. By Raymond Ibrahim. Reprinted with permission of the author, Michael Novak. They swatted resistance away like flies, and sometimes bypassed walled cities that refused instant surrender, planning to deal with them later with special severity. A newly formed Holy League, a navy culled by Pope Pius V from among Christian nations at the time to defend Christendom against the seemingly invincible Islam Turkish Ottoman Empire, fought a decisive — thought by some historians to be THE decisive battle–in the suffocating conquest of Christian nations by the Muslim empire. Technology, especially that pioneered by Venice and by oceangoing Portugal and Spain, had made the decisive difference. The battle of Lepanto (in Italian Battaglia gave Lepanto; in Turkish: İnebahtı deniz muharebesi 'naval battle of İnebahtı') was a naval fight that took place on 7 October 1571 near of the Greek city of Náfpaktos (Lepanto in Italian). The Spanish Empire and the Ven… In plain sight was his capital ship, the Real, its banners of leadership visible to all. In those days, sea warfare was like land warfare, only carried out on open decks side-by-side instead of in open fields. Now there was a cause that took precedence over the traditions of commerce. So it was that in the pleasant springtime of 1571, an entire Muslim fleet under Ali Pasha was ordered by the sultan to seek out and destroy Christian dominance of the Mediterranean Sea, all the way up to Venice. They looked flat on top, like merchant ships. © 1996-2019 Catholic Education Resource Center | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap, The Preliminary Battles of Malta and Famagusta: 1565 and 1571, The Greatest Sea Battle in History: Lepanto, October 1571, The Northern Pincers and the Siege of Vienna, September 1683, Living the Call: An Introduction to the Lay Vocation, No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, The Universal Hunger for Liberty: Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable, Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter's Questions About God, On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding. Whether in the form of armies, heretics, or traitors, the Church has always faced enemies seeking Her destruction. «Ad Rem» A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior, This has gotten a very good reception: "What Exorcists Know and You Should, Too" (with, Wife, nun, abbess, daughter of Saint Bridget of Sweden: Saint Catherine of Sweden (1381), A holy husbandman and husband (Saint Mary de la Cabeza was his holy wife): Saint Isidore the Farmer (1170), By his authority, Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, was crowned King of the Franks: Saint Zachary (752), Deacon Peter Robinson Recalls His Miracle of Anointing, Father Arrested for Calling His Sex Mutilated Teenage Daughter a She, Left Over Corned Beef? The French even preferred the defeat of their most dreaded rivals, the German-speaking Austrians. The Christians answered immediately, singing psalms together as they sailed forward to engage the enemy; then the battle descended into carnage and chaos, as one can imagine when, as in those days, it was basically sword wielding warriors fighting from ship to ship. At a stone column (which still stands today), Bragadino's hands were tied outstretched over his head, and an executioner stepped forward with sharp knives to carefully remove his skin, keeping it whole. Mustafa then ordered Bragadino's ears and nose chopped off, and forced the man to go down on all fours wearing a dog's collar around his neck, to the jibes, mockery, and horror of the onlookers. Only then will the world be at peace. It is not. The Muslims preferred to attack in a crescent rather than a straight line, but the winds at their back and tricky tides from the shoreline to their north forced them to straighten up their lines. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary arose from the victory of Our Lady's armies at the Battle of Lepanto. By Fr. Spirituality. Like Tweet Pin. But most of the Christian warriors wore the latest in body armor, which often repelled wooden arrows harmlessly. In 1570, Muslim Turks — in the guise of the Ottoman Empire — invaded the island of Cyprus, prompting Pope Pius V to call for and form a "Holy League" of … After the battle of Ægospotami (404 B.C. On one side were the war galleys of the Holy League and on the other, those of the Ottoman Turks, rowed by tens of thousands of Christian galley slaves. Only gritted-teeth determination could bridge the gap in time. This is why we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, now known as Our Lady of the Rosary. Read a more complete bio of Michael Novak here. On August 1, General Bragadino finally accepted surrender terms, which guaranteed safe passage of all his men to sail home to Venice, and safety to all citizens of the walled city. The Battle of Lepanto: When Turks Skinned Christians Alive for Refusing Islam . His own armed soldiers were reliant mostly on clouds of arrows. Thus, once again, this time by land, the Muslims had attempted to fulfill the Prophet's command to spread Islam to all corners of the world decisively, with force. TRAILER: Lepanto An epic retelling of the miraculous naval battle of Lepanto, which became the origin of the Feast of the Holy Rosary. He pledged to the armada a large contingent supplied by Spain and Portugal. Helping Catholics know & love the Lord and his Church. So great was the Venetian fury that even after the battle, many of its sailors spent hours using their pikes to kill Muslim sailors and soldiers struggling in the sea. All that remained outside Allah's reign was the northern arc from Southern France to Constantinople. Over three centuries, the number of European captives kidnapped from villages and beaches by these pirates climbed into the hundreds of thousands. Most galley slaves lived little more than five years. More than 40,000 men had died, and thousands more were wounded, more than in any other battle in history, more even than at Salamis or, in years to come, at the Somme. As Miguel Cervantes, who was at the battle, has the colorful Don Quixote say: “That day . Each new caliph of the Islamic empire was expected to expand the existing Muslim territories, in order to fulfill Islam's mission and gain for the leader the necessary popularity and legitimacy. The advancing army of relief replied that they would need almost two weeks more than that. The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire, Brother Francis, M.I.C.M. Meanwhile, Don Juan had put the Christian fleet of some 200 vessels on course toward Lepanto, where Ali Pasha was refitting his vessels in the safe protection of an impregnable harbor. For more than a thousand years after 622, southern Europe had to give active military resistance to the "Saracens" (as the Islamists came to be known in the West). At Lepanto, the Turks fired the first shot. They were repelled after an epic siege (which in itself is one of history's great stories). 1. Catholic Answers Press Lepanto: The Battle That Saved The West (MP3) Rating Required. For the purpose of these new galleasses, as they were called, was not to ram oncoming ships but to blast them with an array of cannons. The Battle of Lepanto took place in 1571. But the Holy League Christian ships … The duplicity and primitive brutality of Muslim conquerors were well known to hundreds of thousands of Christian families, through the fate of relatives in other overrun communities. From the album “Dawn of a New Era” out on June 14th, 2019 through Volcano Records, produced by Sebastian Seeb Levermann (Greenman Studios) feat. Edward Gibbon, in TheDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-78), describes how tall Islamic minarets could have been seen in Oxford before his birth, and the accents in its markets would have been Arabic: "The interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.". LEPANTO, BATTLE OF. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). The opposing forces were Christians, made up of an alliance of fleets from Spain and Italy, against a far superior Turkish navy. The anniversary of one of history’s most cataclysmic clashes between Islam and the West Thu Oct 8, 2020 Raymond Ibrahim. He gave Mustafa the long green cord of the Prophet to wear around his neck, both to signal the importance of his commission and to warn him that failure meant that he must be hanged — must even hang himself. At his front, however, Don Juan placed a nasty surprise for Ali Pasha. The Battle of Lepanto took place between the Holy League, consisting of Spain, Venice and the Papacy, and the Ottoman Empire, which lay to the south of Poland and Russia. Battle of Lepanto, (October 7, 1571), naval engagement in the waters off southwestern Greece between the allied Christian forces of the Holy League and the Ottoman Turks during an Ottoman campaign to acquire the Venetian island of Cyprus. A later northern pincers movement by land was aimed at an attack up through the Balkans, for the conquest of Budapest, and then in a northeast arc into Slovakia and Poland. Lepanto suggested that the Turks could be defeated in a head-on clash — at least by sea, which of late had been the Islamic powers’ latest hunting grounds. The savagery of Muslim attacks on the coastal villages of Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece was ratcheted upwards. Gear: The Holy Rosary. With every Muslim attack, fewer and fewer Christian soldiers were left to repel them. For more information, see www.michaelnovak.net. It took some wrangling, but it all came together at the Battle of Lepanto, a naval battle in the Gulf of Patras. Except that today the struggle is far, far more secular than religious — a war over political institutions and systems of law, with almost no public argument over religious doctrine. 3. Lepanto – the most important naval battle in history – was a turning point for Christendom. They were his best, his ultimate, weapon. The battle was considered to be ferocious and not too soon after commencing, the first king of this battle fell, al-Malik, who fought valiantly and laid to waste many of the invading and crusading enemy. Six new, taller, sturdier ships packed with cannons (especially in the bow) and heavily laden with lead and shot placed themselves a mile forward of the Christian line. From there, it took Spain another 750 years — until 1492 — to drive Islamic armies back into North Africa, whence they had invaded. The approaching Christian generals met together to go over the plan of attack, and then rapidly set off to their southwest, far enough from the city to advance undetected. More amazingly still, Muslims very quickly went farther into the Far East than Alexander the Great ever had. It is true that in a few cases whole clouds of Muslim arrows felled many in the Christian ships, including the great Venetian commander Agostino Barbarigo, who was shot in the eye. Protestants and Catholics were at each other’s throats, while the Islamic Ottoman Empire threatened Eastern and Southern Europe. A later Pope added the title "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" in honor of the laity's favorite form of prayer. When a fast corsair dispatched from Famagusta arrived to deliver the tale of the dishonors visited on General Bragadino and his 350 surviving soldiers, the blood of the Venetians boiled. The sultans had long had the advantage of an enormous standing army ready for all seasons, swiftly added to when larger ambitions demanded. Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike License. 2. In matters of the spirit, we seem always to become tongue-tied, as if lacking in spirited confidence. Indeed, each summer they celebrate the Disembarking of Don Juan of Austria, during his stay at Messina, prior to heading out to Lepanto. The last 400 yards took an immense effort, but the Christian forces reached open ground with less than an hour of daylight left. The Turks who took over the Arab world expanded their empire in all four directions on the map. The commander in Vienna promised he could hold out until September 1. In this way, the Muslim forces would essentially encircle Italy from the north. It is not. The video describes the Battle of Lepanto with events leading up to the battle. Thousands of Christian men, women, and children were marched off toward slavery in the East. Lepanto was the largest naval battle fought in Europe since the antiquity, with over 400 ships involved between both sides. The Defeat Of Islam At The Battle Of Lepanto This Saturday, October 7 (this was last year), over a million Catholics in Poland are . Nonetheless, at least one Christian ship was later found aimlessly afloat, with every single man dead or wounded. Today, the Church faces all three. Episode 266: So, It’s Lent! Then they were visible in small numbers, and only as the two fleets closed to about two miles of each other could any one of the 200,000 sailors, marines, and janissaries on board catch a glimpse of the lines and dispositions of the fleets. The battle took place just off the coast of Greece at a place known as Lepanto; the year was 1571. Beginning in mid August, without any warning, huge explosions tore gaping holes in one strong point after another, and sometimes beneath homes in the very center of the city. For this, Kara Mustafa relied on his mobile cavalry, some 20,000 Tatars from the Asian steppes in camp about 20 miles south of Vienna. They tried to excuse their bloodlust by saying that they never wished to see those men sailing against the West again. But the Christians had a secret weapon. Was: $13.95 — You save $5.00 Current Stock: Quantity: Decrease … Ahead of Don Juan’s three battles was a wedge of galleasses—slower, less maneuverable gunships that made … Genoa, too, contributed a fleet under their famous but now elderly Admiral Andrea Doria, these days a less-bold warrior despite the glory of his earlier exploits. The next hundred years or so would be the most fruitful time since 632 to fulfill the destiny of Islam in Europe. (Sister Mary Peter and Gary Potter both have articles that discuss this important battle.). Mere secular force will not do, since the fundamental battle is spiritual. Some historians argue that this battle has significant ramifications, shaping the way that Western and Christian Europe saw itself in relation to the Turks. Lepanto was a great Christian victory against heretical Islam and … Muslim losses kept getting fully replenished by sea, and the Muslim forces grew stronger as the Christians got down to their last six barrels of gunpowder, with only four hundred men still able to fight. Messina has never forgotten the battle of Lepanto. At the time the battle was won, Saint Pius V was studying financial sheets with the papal treasurer. An interesting aside for trivia lovers is that the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, later to write one of the world’s literary masterpieces, Don Quixote de la Mancha, participated in Lepanto, and lost a hand for his efforts. 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