The Battle of Lepanto: How Our Lady and Her Rosary Led the Catholic Legions to Victory Over the Islamic Forces of Europe

Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 A.D.. He would go on to establish the most warlike, powerful, and deadly religion in history. When Mohammed was 40 years old, he claimed he had a vision of  the angel Gabriel and received a revelation from God. This became the foundation of his new religion, Islam. 

This religion was founded on violence and forced conversion. Mohammed said that all who are unbelievers are open enemies of Islam "And when you (Muslims) travel in the land, there is no sin on you if you shorten your Salat (prayer) if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you, verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies." Quran 4:101. "O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”  He commanded that Moslems be constantly at the ready and constantly preparing for perpetual war against non-Moslems "And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah's Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy." Quran (8:59-60) Mohammed called this kind of warfare Jihad and any Moslem who died in it went immediately to paradise. "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain…Then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme." Quran (9:111)

Armed with the sword and confident in salvation, Mohammed and his followers went forth to convert all nations, converting them at the point of the blade and baptizing in their own blood all who resisted them. They swept through the Middle East, slaughtering, burning, and committing countless atrocities. Before these battles, Mohammed would instruct his men to, “"Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah." Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 992.  Within a century of Mohammed’s death in 632, Islam had swept to the Iberian Peninsula, subdued the Middle East and North Africa, and even stretched to the borders of India, “being made”, as Mohammed put it “victorious with terror.” Sahih Bukhari (52:220) Its advance into western Europe was only halted by the Frankish king Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in France in 732 A.D.  In whatever lands the Moslems conquered, all were forced to convert to their religion, face the prospect of death, or pay a tax called the Jizya as a sort of payment for protection. 

In 1453, the Islamic forces captured Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This empire had for many years stood as a barrier between Christian Europe and Islam. Now that it had fallen, Christian Europe was vulnerable to attack from the East. In less than a hundred years, the larger part of south eastern Europe was subdued and the Islamic horde only slowed its efforts in that region after two failed sieges of Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. 

In the 1500’s, the Ottoman Empire began to make a concerted effort to take control of the entire Mediterranean in order to use it as another sort of ‘stepping stone’ to invade the mainland of Europe. In 1565, they attacked the Island of Malta in the west Mediterranean, which was controlled the Knights of St. John. After a long siege, the Ottomans were defeated and instead turned their eyes on the Island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

 The Ottomans invaded Cyprus in 1570, taking Nicosia and other major cities. The following year they attacked the Venetian colony of Famagusta on the Island. In response, Pope Saint Pius V called upon Christian Europe to rise to the defense of Christendom and unite to defeat the beast of Islam. That same year, Venice, Spain, Sicily, Genoa, Sardinia, the Papal States, the Knights Hospitallers various Italian duchies joined forces in a Catholic alliance and raised a fleet of warships to liberate Cyprus. Command of the fleet was given to Don Juan of Austria. The Pope presented to him a blessed flag with an image of Christ crucified to be the banner of this Holy League. Don Juan also received, from King Philip II of Spain, a banner of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. Pope Pius V called upon all Europe to ask the aid of God in this expedition, and particularly requested that the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary be recited for this intention.

The fleet of the Holy League gathered in summer off the coast of Sicily. When it was fully mustered at the end of August it numbered 212 ships, 206 of which were galleys, the remaining six being large heavy galleasses mounted on front and sides with large heavy guns. There were also approx. 30,000 oarsmen and sailors, and around 35,000 soldiers.  They set out but upon reaching the island of Rhodes, they received news that the Venetians besieged at Famagusta had surrendered and it garrison had been butchered after being promised safety. The Moslems even had the Catholic leader of the garrison flayed alive, and then had his skin stuffed with straw and paraded around the city of Famagusta on a donkey.

 When the Christian fleet received this news, they were filled with even greater resolve to destroy this merciless adversary and sailed toward the gulf of Patras, wherein resided the Ottoman fleet. Before entering the gulf however, Don Juan drilled his fleet in naval maneuvers in the Adriatic Sea. In the early morning of October 7^th, the Holy League fleet moved into the Gulf of Patras and prepared to do battle. The banner of Holy League was raised aboard the flagship, the Holy Eucharist was administered to all, and Don Juan issued to his men the most powerful weapon on earth, the rosary. He requested his entire army to recite this prayer and ask the Virgin Mary for victory. 

Before, the battle began, one of his admirals informed Don Juan that it was still possible for the Holy League to retreat so as not to run the great risk of losing to the mighty Ottoman navy. To this Don Juan replied, “The time for counsel has passed. Now is the time for war.” He then shouted to his men, “My children we are here to conquer or die. In death or in victory, you will win immortality.”

Both sides formed up in battle array; each side having three divisions, set up with right, center, and left wings, with each side having a reserve. The commanders of both forces commanded their centers.  The Holy League positioned two large galleasses in front of each of its wings.  It initially had trouble drawing up into formation on account of the wind which was not in the league’s favor. The Catholics prayed that the Turks would not engage before they were drawn up in formation and the wind suddenly changed in their favor. By late morning all but the Catholic right wing was fully in position.  

Around noon both fleets began to close with each other. As the Turks advanced they were met with a withering barrage of cannon fire from the Galleasses on the Holy League left and center. On account of this, many Ottoman ships were lost before actual contact was made, being cut to pieces under the unrelenting fire of these heavily armed Venetian ships. First contact was made on the Holy League left wing, close to the northern shore of the gulf. In the vicious hand to hand combat that ensued, both the Ottoman and Holy League Commanders of those two wings that clashed were killed, and the tide was turned decisively in favor of the Christians only after a large amount of galley slaves escaped from the Ottoman ships and joined the Holy League side. 

Meanwhile, the two centers clashed and ferocious combat began. In the confusion, the flagships of both fleets with their Admirals on board met face to face. Admiral Ali Pasha was killed by Don Juan, and his flagship taken. After two hours of brutal hand-to-hand fighting, the Ottomans were finally beaten on the left and center. 

On the right wing, the situation was a bit different. The Holy League commander of the right wing noticed that the Ottoman left which he was facing began to move south, away from the main fleet. Fearing that this might an attempt to outflank him, he moved parallel to the Ottomans. This, however, created a gap in the Holy League formation, exposing the right flank of their center. Seeing this, the Ottoman commander seized his advantage and charged into that gap smashing into the Holy League center. This created much confusion and the Christians feared it would turn the tide of the battle in favor of the Ottomans. However, the gap was filled by a reserve force from the Knights of Malta and the Ottoman commander involved, realizing that the battle was lost for him, broke through the Holy league line and sailed away. 

Isolated fighting along the battle line continued into the evening, but at the end of the day, it was clear that the Ottomans had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Christians. The Ottomans had lost over 25,000 men and 187 ships while the Holy League had lost around 10,000 men and 13 ships. 

While all this fighting had been going on, the people of Europe raised up prayers to God through the Virgin Mary, asking for victory against the mighty beast of Islam. In Rome, Pope Pius V was meeting with his treasurer while the battle was at its close. He suddenly rose, went to the window, and gazed into the sky. Then, turning he said, “This is not a moment for business; make haste to thank God, because our fleet this moment has won a victory over the Turks.” He instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory, to commemorate this great battle which was won because of all of Christendom’s entreaties to the Blessed Virgin Mary through her rosary.

The Battle of Lepanto was a significant defeat for the Ottoman navy, which had not been defeated since the 15^th century. While it did not cripple the size Ottoman navy, as they were able to rebuild their fleet within six months, they suffered a major psychological defeat and the quality of their new fleet was significantly lower. They were no longer viewed by Catholic Europe as ‘Invincible’ and the morale of the Ottoman troops was significantly lowered as a result. Furthermore, the battle halted the Ottoman encroachment into Italian Territories in the Mediterranean. The following year, the Holy League resumed operations in the Mediterranean, but the Head of the Ottoman Navy avoided any armed conflict with them and fled to the safety of their fortress of Modon in southern Greece. 

 Author: Charles B. - Graduate of Holy Innocents School and Historical Researcher

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