The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-10-12
HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT.
BATTLE OF LEPANTo.
Won by Christians Over Turks
Through Devotion to Virgin.
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pOlhlS III the rise ana IAN OIL nations,
but few. if any, have equalled the bat
tie of Lepanto, either in the import
ance of it's immediate results or in the
wide-reaching extent of it's remoter
consequences, writes Rev. j. B. O'Con-
ner, o. P, in the Rosary Magazine.
The close of the sixteenth century
was of very stirring nature. Events
of the greatest Importance followed
one another in quick succession in al
most every sphere of human interest.
Philip II, one of the most powerful, if
not the mightiest monarch in Europe,
and one of the most interesting char
acters of his time, occupied the throne
of Spain. He succeeded Charles V, his
father, who in 1856 abdicated the
throne of Spain in favor of his son.
Pope Saint Plus V, one of the greatest
In an illustrious line of pontiffs was
guiding with steady hand the bark of
Peter through the troubled waters of
those stormy times.
III 1853 power had sprung up on the
shores of the Bosphorus, not only
formidable and alien, but actively hos
tile to Catholicity and western civiliza-
ton. From the desecrated walls of
st. Sophia, Mohammed watched with
jealous eye the Christian nations of
Europe, and secretly rejoiced over the
religious schisms and political dissen-
sicns which deprived them of that
unity in which strength loves to abide.
and placed them more and more at the
mercy of the first powerful invader
who should find a foothold on the
shores of southern Europe
The religious system of Mohammed
which at this time seemed to menace
the sway of Christianity, took it's rise
towards the end of the sixth century
near Mecca of Arabia Legalizing by
us doctrines every species of violence
ana debauchery, it spread with evil
raPldtty through Palestine. Syria and
Mesopotamia. Before the year 71O all
northern Africa, from Egypt to the
Fliiars of Hercules, was overrun and
supdued by the fanatical hordes
Oh Its devotees. The Holy Sc
Puichre at Jerusalem, hallowed
oy associations more cherished
than life itself, had fallen into their
unholy hands. Europe hurled eight
crusades against them, yet could not
stay their onward march. The great
'Hunyady and Scanderbeg had sue
ceeded in checking for a time their
ADVANCE, but this only served to give
the tidal wave of barbarism an oppor-
tunity of recoiling and gathering new
strength to hurl its inundating legions
deeper into the heart of Europe. The
noblest blood of the continent had
flowed in crimson streams in futile eff
forts to submerge them. Emperors,
kings and princes had laid down their
lives in fruitless attempts to stem this
seething tide of barbarism and infideI-
ity.
In 1866 Solyman the Magnificent died
and was succeeded by his son, Selim
~
gence an itching avarice The aggran-
dizement of his kingdom was his high
est ambition; and it need scarcely be
said that considera tons of right and
wrong were not permitted to disturb
his dreams of conquest It is not a
matter of wonderment that a prince
trained as he had been trained, and
actuated by motives such as influenced
his life should single out Catholic
Europe as the field wherein his ambi-
ton was to be realized.
The island of Cyprus, lying to the
south of the Dardanelles, had for him
an irresistible attraction. For strate-
gic purposes it was of supreme i'm
portance. 1t was a sure haven for all
the craft that piled the blue Mediter-
ranean; as base of attack and supply
1t was uneXCelled. For these reasons
Venice was DESTROYS Of retaining it,and
for these reasons Selim was anxious
to wrest it from her grasp. This was
the "casus. belli' in that desperate
struggle between the Cross and the
Crescent of which the battle of Jepanto
was to be the most decisive, as we'll
as the closing struggle.
What had long been expected at last
came to pass. The Turks, under the
leadership of Mustapha, who had led
the assaults against Malta, laid siege
to Cyprus. The beleagured island sent
up piteous cry for succor to Chris
tan Europe; but the influence of Veh~
ice had long been on the decrease. and
she was justly unpopular among the
European nations; therefore, her cries
of distress did not meet with as ready
a response as would have been granted
to any other Christian state similarl
Pope Plus, with the larger
and interest of one whose
children are the subjects of every ma
ton, beSought the powers of Europe to
unite in one supreme effort to relieve
the island of Cyprus. and to stem the
tide of barbarism that threatened to
their shores. He laid bare in
tervld language the danger that threat
ened and the awful consequences of its
realization, and urged them to meet it
with a league of the Christian powers.
The heroic times of the crusades had
passed; these grand, enthusiastic and
general uprisings of Catholic Europe in
defense of the cross were now, unhap-
PLY, no longer possible. owing to the
religious schisms and political bicker-
ngS which had disorganized govern
nent and demoralized society during
he sixteenth century. These remark
ible demonstrations of the middle, ages,
characterized by all the pomp and
might of war. and yet actuated by the
1urest of religious motives. which !
thrilled Europe through and through |
With the cry: God wills it, God wills |
t.! could no longer stir hearts recre-
INT to the ancient faith, and no longer |
susceptible to the higher sentiments of |
eilglon and patriotism. To England |
Ind Germany the aged Pontiff looked |
n vain. Professionalism, the so-called |
sentinel of religious liberty, could not |
,rook the wholesome restraint of &C.
lesiastical discipline. yet could view
with Indifference the debasing en-
hralment which was sure to follow
n the wake of Turkish domination.
chivalry was dead among the
lations that had emblazoned the rec
rds of medieval valor with the names
= eieiieil " I1Siliy anu fTeQer-
ck. The chilling blight of religious
narchy had swept over the lands
by a Boniface and an Au-
Justine, freezing the generous ardor
the veins of sons whose heroic sjres
ad fought and bled and died under
he walls of Jerusalem. France too |
ne who sent forth Charles Martel in
he early part of the eighth century to
rrest and annihilate an overwhelming
orce of Saracens near Poiters and
ours; she who had given to the second
rusade her king, Louis VII. to the
bird crusade again her king, Philip
augustus; and to the eighth and last
rusade her saint and king, st. Louis
X. to die plague stricken among his
1fected vassals under the walls of