Pg 22 - 29 Vennari Lepanto.indd

The Rosary Chapel at Venice Honors
The Rosary Victory of
the Battle of Lepanto
by John Vennari
O
n October 7, 1571,
Pope St. Pius V was at a
meeting in Rome with
his Cardinals at the Dominica
Basilica of Santa Sabina.
The Pope suddenly rose
to his feet, gazed intently out
the window, turned to his
prelates and said, “This is not
the moment for business; make
haste to thank God, because our
fleet at this moment has won a
great victory against the Turks.”
Pius at that instant was given
a vision by Our Lady of the naval
victory at Lepanto, though the
news of the triumph would not
reach Rome by regular channels
for another two weeks.
Pius had prepared well for
battle. Along with preparations
in the natural order, St. Pius V
engaged supernatural means. He
exhorted Catholics throughout
Europe to pray the Rosary,
begging Our Lady’s help and
protection. Our Holy Mother
responded. The date of the battle
– October 7 – is now celebrated
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as the Feast of the Holy Rosary.
A few years after the battle,
in Venice, a magnificent votive
chapel to the Madonna of
the Rosary was dedicated in
thanksgiving. Located inside the
large basilica of Santi Giovanni
e Paolo, the chapel stands today
as a splendid testament to the
power of the Rosary.
Why is the chapel in Venice?
Because the Venetian fleet was
one of the three principal naval
forces that secured victory over
the Turks at Lepanto.
The Menace of Islam
Islam has been a religion of
conquest from its inception.
The conflicts in Spain that
lasted 700 years, the defeat of
Constantinople, the sacking of
Jerusalem that launched the
Crusades as a counter-offensive:
all this and much more were
manifestations of non-stop
Muslim aggression.
In the century leading up
to the battle of Lepanto, the
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Mediterranean was regarded as
a “Muslim lake.” The Ottoman
Turks were relentless in their
exploits of conquest. By the 16th
Century, there was no sea power
greater than the Islamic Turkish
navy.
Muslims
pillaged,
slaughtered, raped and destroyed
everywhere they sought to
conquer. They kidnapped young
boys and girls unto slavery for
the perverse lusts of Muslims in
Constantinople and elsewhere.
They killed unarmed civilians
by the thousands, and forced
captured Christians as oarsmen
on their battle vessels.
In Cypress, not long before
the Battle of Lepanto, 500
Venetian garrison soldiers
surrendered on terms with the
Muslims. Once the city gates
were opened, however, the Turks
rushed the city, slaughtered the
garrison, and brutally attacked
and raped civilians. Countless
other atrocities, even worse,
persistently increased. Such
was the Muslim menace that
threatened all of Europe.
Christendom knew that
Islam planned the conquest
of Europe, and of Rome in
particular. Catholic author
Christopher Check writes the
“greatest dream, the dream of
all Turks”, the dream that the
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conqueror Soleiman’s soldiers
“toasted before setting off on any
campaign was the conquest of
Rome.”
St. Pius V
Pope St. Pius V, the learned
and holy Dominican who
ascended the Papal Chair in
1566, understood the threat. His
was not the modern approach of
cowardice disguised as dialogue,
but of manly confrontation with
evil. “I am taking up arms against
the Turks,” he pledged, “but the
only thing that can help me is
the prayer of priests of pure life.”
Venetian historian John
Julius Norwich writes that
for Pius, “the primary aim
of Christendom should be to
reestablish control of the central
Mediterranean, cutting off the
Sultan’s African territories from
those of Europe and Asia, thus
splitting his empire in two.”
To achieve this aim, in the
spring of 1571 Pius formed
the Holy League – an armada
of fighting ships to confront
Islam’s naval fleet. The League
consisted of war vessels from
Genoa, the Papal States, Spain
and Venice. The participation of
the island Republic of Venice,
which boasted centuries of seafaring expertise, was considered
crucial to the League’s success.
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were hearing confessions up
until the time of conflict, and
probably beyond.
Father Ladis Cizik explains:
“In naval battles between
oared ships, ‘positioning’ is all
important as one vessel strives
to ram the enemy in the side to
sink their ship. In addition, the
Catholic forces had a number of
ships with the then innovative
features of side-mounted
cannon; again positioning was
important. The Turkish ships
were arranged in the form of
the Islamic crescent, some three
miles in length. The Catholic
ships were arranged in the form
of Our Lord’s Holy Cross. On
that historic day, it was literally
the Cross of Christ versus the
crescent of Islam.”
At the decisive moment in
battle, the wind mysteriously
shifted 180 degrees. The
Muslims suddenly found the
wind against them, which
launched the Turkish fleet into
disorder. The battle lasted five
hours, the Christian fleet was
victorious, and some 13,000
galley slaves onboard Muslim
ships were freed.
battle was won. Pius would go
on to add “Help of Christians”
to Our Lady’s titles in the Litany.
October 7 would come to be the
Feast of Our Lady of Victory,
later changed to the Feast of Our
Lady of the Rosary.
Father Cizik writes, ‘Peace
came through strength in the
Battle of Lepanto as the power
of the Rosary propelled the
battle-ready Catholic forces to
a decisive and historic victory.”
Historian John Julian Norwich
noted: “The battle of Lepanto had
been an overwhelming victory.
According to the most reliable
estimates, they lost only twelve
galleys sunk and one captured;
the Turkish losses were 113 and
117 respectively. Casualties
were heavy on both sides, as
was inevitable when much of
the fighting was hand-to-hand;
but, whereas the Christian losses
are unlikely to have exceeded
15,000, the Turks are believed
to have lost double that number,
excluding the 8,000 that were
taken prisoner.”
Among the Christian
wounded at Lepanto was Spain’s
Miguel de Cervantes, who would
survive to write the classic Don
A Rosary Triumph
Quixote.
As noted, St. Pius V received
Rightly called “the Battle
a miraculous communication that saved the Christian West,”
from Our Lady the moment the Lepanto marked the end of
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Islamic supremacy
of the seas, and
successfully halted
the Islamic invasion
in Europe (Muslims
now return in great
numbers by means of
lax immigration and
refugee invasion – see
page 41).
Lepanto also
changed sea warfare
forever. Oared boats
ramming each other
were now replaced
with vessels wielding
gun-powder and
Victory Procession at St. Mark’s in Venice after
mounted cannon,
the Battle of Lepanto.
initiating a wholesale
at St. Mark’s, Venice, of those
re-positioning of navy-craft.
killed in battle: “They have
Most of all, the Battle of taught us by their example that
Lepanto, won by the power the Turks are not insuperable, as
of the Rosary, was a lesson to we had previously believed them
a dispirited Christendom that to be … Thus it can be said that
Islam was not unconquerable. as the beginning of this war was
A month after Lepanto, on for us a time of sunset, leaving
November 11, 1571, Venice us in perpetual night, now the
Secretary of State Juan Luis de courage of these men, like a true
Alzaomora wrote to Don John life-giving sun, has bestowed
of Austria: “There is no man at upon us the most beautiful and
the court who does not discern most joyous day that this city, in
in it the hand of the Lord, and all her history, has even seen.”
it seems to us all like a dream,
The people of Venice saw this
in that never before has such a victory as the sudden dissipation
battle been seen or heard of.”
of the heavy black cloud that
Likewise Venetian historian had overshadowed them for
Paolo Paruta summed up public two centuries wherein they felt
sentiment at his funeral oration their days were numbered.
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The Rosary Chapel
At the Basilica Church of
Santi Giovanni e Poalo, Catholics
of Venice soon dedicated the
magnificent votive chapel of the
Madonna of the Holy Rosary in
thanksgiving. The chapel itself
was built by the great Venetian
Alessandro Vittoria; its ceiling
painted by the renowned Paolo
Veronese.
Tragically, in August 1867,
a fire virtually destroyed the
original chapel, along with some
great works of art that were
stored in the building.
The work of restoration soon
began, and the chapel was
solemnly reopened to the public
in 1959.
Upon entering the Rosary
Chapel today, the visitor is struck
by the profoundly Catholic
atmosphere, impressive interior,
and beautiful commanding
presence of the statue of Our
Lady holding the Child Jesus,
located over the main altar. Just
to regard Her holy image at this
magnificent Venetian chapel
gives one a sense of hope and
security. Everything about the
place exudes an air of reverence
and awe, along with the element
of Divine intimacy.
The chapel is a lasting
monument to the power of
Our Lady and Her Holy Rosary.
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It reminds us that against
insurmountable odds, the forces
of Catholicism – armed with
the Rosary, genuine Catholic
leadership, the true faith and
renunciation of sin – can prevail
over the fiercest enemy.
May Our Lord soon grant us
a Pontiff like that of St. Pius V
whose primary efforts for world
peace lie neither in worldly
wisdom, nor in dialogue with
pagan entities such as the United
Nations.
Rather, may our unworthy
generation soon be blessed with
a Pope who trusts first in Our
Lady of the Rosary and promptly
obeys Her Fatima requests.
Such obedience will result in
the promised period of peace
granted to the world without the
need for battles or the shedding
of human blood. This triumph of
the Immaculate Heart will be a
victory even more momentous
than that secured by Our Holy
Mother at Lepanto. |
Select Bibliography: A History of Venice,
John Julius Norwich; The Imperial Age
of Venice 1380-1580, D.S. Chambers;
Ten Dates Every Catholic Should Know,
Diane Moczar; Venice and the Defense of
Republican Liberty, William J Bouwsman;
“Our Lady and Islam: Peace Through
Strength,” Father Ladis J. Cizik, Catholic
Family News, Nov. 2015; “The Battle that
Saved the Christian West,” Christopher
Check, This Rock, March 2007; plus details
gathered by the author during a trip to Venice
in July 2015.
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The Battle of Lepanto by Veronese. At top: the Virgin Mary with Saint Roch, Saint Peter,
Saint Justina, Saint Mark and a group of angels in attendance — as a whole, the painting
presents the victory at Lepanto as Divine intervention.