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On 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

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

The Rosary Chapel at Venice Honors

The Rosary Victory of the Battle of Lepanto

by John Vennari

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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.

M u s l i m s p i l l a g e d , 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

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 sea-faring 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.

A Rosary Triumph

As noted, St. Pius V received a miraculous communication from Our Lady the moment the

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 Quixote.

Rightly called “the Battle that saved the Christian West,” 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 mounted cannon, initiating a wholesale re-positioning of navy-craft.

Most of all, the Battle of Lepanto, won by the power of the Rosary, was a lesson to a dispirited Christendom that Islam was not unconquerable.

A month after Lepanto, on November 11, 1571, Venice Secretary of State Juan Luis de Alzaomora wrote to Don John of Austria: “There is no man at the court who does not discern in it the hand of the Lord, and it seems to us all like a dream, in that never before has such a battle been seen or heard of.”

Likewise Venetian historian Paolo Paruta summed up public sentiment at his funeral oration

at St. Mark’s, Venice, of those killed in battle: “They have taught us by their example that the Turks are not insuperable, as we had previously believed them to be … Thus it can be said that as the beginning of this war was for us a time of sunset, leaving us in perpetual night, now the courage of these men, like a true life-giving sun, has bestowed upon us the most beautiful and most joyous day that this city, in all her history, has even seen.”

The people of Venice saw this victory as the sudden dissipation of the heavy black cloud that had overshadowed them for two centuries wherein they felt their days were numbered.

Victory Procession at St. Mark’s in Venice after the Battle of Lepanto.

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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.

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.

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.