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Show I HISTORICAL I I DEPARTMENT. I ------s---------- BATTLE OF LEPANTO. Won by Christians Over Turks Through. Devotion to Virgin. In the world's history many decisive battles have been fought on land and sea battles that were the turning points in the rise and fall of nations, but few, if any, have equalled the battle bat-tle of Lepanto, either in the importance import-ance of its. immediate results or in the wide-reaching extent of its remoter consequences, writes Rev. J. B. O'Con-ner, O'Con-ner, O. P., in the Rosary Magazine. The close of the sixteenth century was of a very stirring nature. Events of the greatest importance followed one another in quick succession in almost al-most every sphere of human interest. Philip H, one of the most powerful, if not the mightiest monarch 1n Europe, and one of the most interesting characters char-acters of his time, occupied the throne of Spain. He succeeded Charles V, his father, who in 1556 abdicated the throne of Spain in favor of his son. Pope Saint Pius 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. ' In 1453 a power had sprung up on the shores of the Bosphorus, not only formidable and alien, but actively hostile hos-tile to Catholicity and western civilization. civiliza-tion. 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 dissensions dissen-sions 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 its rise towards the end of the sixth century near Mecca of Arabia. Legalizing by its doctrines every species of violence and debauchery, it spread with evil rapidity through Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia. Before the year 710 all northern Africa, from Egypt to the Pillars of Hercules, was overrun and subdued by the fanatical hordes of its devotees. The Holy Sepulchre Se-pulchre at Jerusalem, hallowed by associations more cherished than life itself, had fallen tntn tbo,- unholy hands. Europe hurled eight crusades against them, yet could not stay their onward march. The great 'Hunyady and Scanderbeg had succeeded suc-ceeded in checking for a time their advance, but this only served to give the tidal wave of barbarism an opportunity 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 efforts ef-forts to submerge them. Emperors, kings and princes had laid down their lives in fruitless attempts to stem this seething tide of barbarism and infidelity. infidel-ity. In 1566 Solyman the Magnificent died and was succeeded by his son, Selim II. This prince added to self-indulgence an itching avarice. The aggrandizement aggran-dizement of his kingdom was his highest high-est ambition; and it need scarcely be said that considerations 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 ambition ambi-tion was to be realized. The island of Cyprus, lying to the south of the Dardanelles, had for him an irresistible attraction. For strategic strate-gic purposes it was of supreme importance. im-portance. It was a sure haven for all the craft that plied the blue "Mediterranean; "Mediter-ranean; as a base of attack and supply it was unexcelled. For these reasons Venice was desirous 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 ihe battle of Lepanto was to be the most decisive, as well 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 a piteous cry for succor to Christian Chris-tian Europe; but the influence of Vei 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 similar! situated. Pope Pius, with the largeV sympathy and interest of one whose children are the subjects of every nation, na-tion, 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 inundate their shores. He laid bare in fervid language the danger that threatened 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, unhappily, unhap-pily, no longer possible, owing to the religious schisms and political bickerings bicker-ings which had disorganized government govern-ment and demoralized society during the sixteenth century. These remarkable remark-able demonstrations of the middle-ages, characterized by all the pomp and might of war, and yet actuated by the purest of religious motives, which thrilled Europe through and through j with the cry: "God wills it! God will it!" could no longer stir hearts recreant recre-ant to the ancient faith, and no longer susceptible to the higher sentiments of religion and patriotism. To England and Germany the aged Pontiff ldoked in vain. Protestantism, the so-called sentinel of religious liberty, could not brook the wholesome restraint of ec- I clesiastical discipline, yet could view with' indifference the debasing en-thralment en-thralment which was sure to follow in the wake of Turkish domination. Christian chivalry was dead among the nations that had emblazoned the records rec-ords of medieval valor with the names of Conrad Richard, Henry and Frederick. Freder-ick. The chilling blight of religious anarchy had swept over the lands evangelized by a Boniface and an Augustine, Au-gustine, freezing the generous ardor in the veins of sons whose heroic sires had fought and bled and died under the walls of Jerusalem. France, too, sne who sent forth Charles Martel in the early part of the eighth century to arrest and annihilate an overwhelming force of Saracens near Posters and Tours: she who had given to the second crusade her king, Louis VII, to the third crusade again her king, Philip Augustus; and to the eighth aftd last crusade her saint and king, St. Louis IX. to die Plague-stricken among his infected vassals under tne -vails of Tunis she, the mother of such heroic' cons, busied with intestine brawls, if not actuated by unworthy motives, must needs turn a deaf ear to the Pontiff's Pon-tiff's cry of aistress. Philip of Spain, while not actually refusing his assistance, assist-ance, procrastinated and quibbled and strove to turn the Church's distress and the continent's peril to his own au-vantage au-vantage by demanding extraordinary favors as the price of his co-operation. While the Christian states were in this demoralized condition, Europe was astounded at the news that Cyprus, unaided and unsuccored, had fallen, after stubborn sieges of its two capitals, cap-itals, Nicosia and Famagusta. The latter capital did not capitulate until ,six general assaults had been led against it, which cost the Turks, 50,000 lives. Upon the heels of this disaster dis-aster came the disheartening news that the Moslem power, elated by its recent re-cent successes, deemed itself invincible and was preparing'to invade Europe. While the efforts of Pius V had failed in their immediate object, i. e. the relief of Cyprus, they were not entirely barren bar-ren of results. The Holy Father had at last succeeded in forming a league of a few of the Christian states. Spain, Venice and the Papal states gallantly gal-lantly flung themselves into the breach while the rest ' of Europe looked on with indifference.' In the latter part of 1571, five months after the capture of Cyprus, the Christian Chris-tian armament with Don John of Austria, Aus-tria, then but twenty-four years old, in supreme command, appeared upon the Mediterranean in quest of the ships of Islam. The first rendezvous was at Messina where .they put forth every effort to strengthen the fleet against the shock of the impending contest. On the 16th of September, a flying squadron squad-ron sent in advance to'reconnoitre the coast, returned with the news that the Turks were in the Adriatlc with a powerful pow-erful fleet. 'The?'ehtire Christian fleet thereupon sailed for Corfu and reached their destination on the 26th of September. Septem-ber. A council of war was now called, and as not unfrequently happens in such deliberations, there was an utter lack of harmony.' The prestige of the Turks, enhanced by recent successes, the comparative weakness of the Christian force, and above all, the fear of the terrible consequences of possible defeat, caused several of the allied leaders to doubt the wisdom of meeting meet-ing the followers of Mohammed in a single, decisive battle. But the sentiment senti-ment of the majority prevailed, and it was decided to push on to meet the enemy in a conflict that, in all probability, prob-ability, would result in the salvation or undoing of Europe. The weather which had been unfavorable, unfavor-able, delayed the meeting of the hostile fleets until the 7th of October, when fhey met at the entrance of the Gulf of Lepanto. On the very same shores of Greece where 1600 years before Anthony An-thony and Octavius had fought the battle bat-tle of Actium for the undivided ruler-ship ruler-ship of the Roman world, Cross and crescent were now- to meet in mortal combat for the possession of Europe. The entire strength of the allied forces was 200 galleys, with galleases and 79,000 men. The Turkish armament, as it appeared in the offing, consisted of 300 galleys propelled by Christion slaves and 120,000 men. The opposing fleets immediately formed in line of . battle. Don John of Austria, the commander-in-chief, in his flagship, the Real, directed the center which consisted of eixty-three galleys. He was supported on one side bv Col- onna, captain-general of the Papal forces, and on the other hy Veneirio, the Venetian commander. Andrew Do-ria, Do-ria, whose very name struck terror into the Moslem heart, commanded the right wing. The left wing was under the command of Barbaiigo, a Venetian noble. The reserve of thirty-five galleys gal-leys was commanded by the Marjuis of Santa Cruz who was under orders to act where needed. The center of the Turkish fleet was under the command , of Ali Pasha, the commander-in-chief. The right wing was under the direction of Mohammed Sirocco, the viceroy of Egypt, and the left under Ulutch Ali, the notorious corsair cor-sair of Algiers. To the ordinary observer who contemplates con-templates final results from the low view-point of natural causes, it must have seemed as though the utter annihilation anni-hilation of the Christian fleet would inevitably follow a few maneuvers, a general assault, and then the end. Not so, however, to him who from the commanding com-manding eminence of faith regards nature's na-ture's laws as subsidiary to a first and Infinite cause, which is God. The enemy en-emy possessed a vastly superior force. Its fighting men were homogenous, well disciplined and encouraged by the prestige pres-tige of recent victories; they were possessed pos-sessed of a courage and daring born of fanaticism. For them, victory upon the waters of Lepanto meant the triumph tri-umph of the Crescent, the approbation of Allah. Death could but open to them the gates of a glorious immortality. On the other hand, the heterogeneous force of the league was . not only" inferior in-ferior in numbers, but it lacked the discipline, dis-cipline, and cohesion that comes from previous experience as a fighting unit. It was, moreover, weakened by the jeal- I ousies of the different nationalities of i which it was made up, and by a lack I of confidence arising from the supposed invincibility of the enemy. A moment before the storm of battle i burst, how. characteristic Were the scenes enacted upon the decks of the opposing fleets. The followers of the prophet rent the air with wild shouts and frenzied shrieks and danced in the din of clashing cymbals and blaring trumpets. From the decks of the Christion Chris-tion fleets rises no battle-cry, no shout of defiance. The soldiers of the Cross are kneeling upon the decks 'of their ships and in silent prayer are imploring the Mother of God to obtain f rom her Divine Son the victory for truth and right. The opening gun was fired by the Ali Pasha in command of the Turkish center cen-ter and was answered by Don John from the Real. The hostile fleets, throwing the angry water from their bows, their decks black with mailed men, their frowning sides perforated with primitive guns, rapidly approached, ap-proached, crashed, quivered, and were locked in mortal combat. Don John immediately pushed his heavily armed galleases to the front and as the Turks swept abreast of them, their terrible broadsides belched forth a storm of fire and shot that carried death, ruin and consternation among the advance ships of the enemy. The crafty Ali Pasha, deeming these novel craft impregnable, im-pregnable, caused his center to diverge and pass them. Admiral Barbarigo, in command of the left wing of the allied forces, had taken up a position some distance from the land, supposing that the shoal waters between him and the shore would prevent him from being outflanked. His judgment was good, but his knowledge of the local surroundings sur-roundings was defective. The Viceroy of Egypt, who was more familiar with the surrounding waters, saw the mistake mis-take of the Venetian admiral, and by a bold dash succeeded in flanking and doubling up the left wing of the allied forces. This placed them between two fires, which in a short time wrought terrible execution. Early in the fight Barbarigo was mortally wounded while gallantly directing and leading this terribly unequal struggle, but his brave Venetians, with a valor worthy of their best traditions, fought on with unabated un-abated fury. On the extreme right of the Christian line, the crafty old corsair, Ulutch Ali, attempted to accomplish the same feat, but was met by a seaman worthy of his strategy in the Genoese admiral, Andrew An-drew Doria. The latter quickly divined di-vined the purpose of the Turk and effectually ef-fectually defeated it. Doria soon nullified nul-lified this success and all but lost the division under his command. In an effort ef-fort to prevent himself from being outflanked, out-flanked, -he extended his line too far. thus weakening it to a notable degree. de-gree. Uluth was not slow to see the fatal mistake; he swooped down on the attenuated line, broke it, captured the great Capitana and sank several of the galleys. . Thus, with the right and left wings crippled, and in imminent peril of destruction, de-struction, the prospect was not hopeful for the Christian cause. In the center, where the battle was fiercest, Don John was meeting with but indifferent success. . He sought out the Ali Pasha to engage him in dual conflict. Both commanders espied each other at the same time, and urged forward for-ward their galleys until they met with a terrible shock. The erquebusiers of Don John and the Turkish Janizaries engaged each other with terrible slaughter. The arquebusiers inflicted the greater damage, but this was nullified nulli-fied in a great measure by the reserves which poured in from the Turkish fleet. The fight was now general. The sound of crashing timbers, heartrending heartrend-ing groans and shrieks that pierced the innermost soul, prayers, cheers and blasphemies, accentuated now and again by the clarion notes of the trumpet trum-pet inviting deeds of valor, swelled and deepened by the roaring of the guns all rose in terrible pandemonium. The sea is splashed with clotted blood; Christian and Turk toss side by side on the crests of shoreward swells, peacefully insensible in death to the storm of human passion raging above them. At the masthead Cross and Crescent flap in the wind, tugging at their halyards as though they too were anxious to engage. in dual combat. On the slippery, blood-stained decks, struggling strug-gling forms surge backward and forward for-ward in mortal conflict; the sun in horrid hor-rid mockery glints unon polished steel of sword and scimiter for a moment poised in air before they are plunged into wells of living blood. On the left wing, the Venetians, though surrounded and subjected to a desperate cross-fire, fought on with undiminished courage. At last their desperate valor was rewarded: they succeeded in beating off the enemy and then assumed the aggressive. They boarded one after another of the ene- my's vessels and put their crews to the sword. The Viceroy of Egypt was slain and his vessel sunk. The news of this calamity spread consternation among hisr followers, and they fled before be-fore the victorious Venetians. Barba-rigD Barba-rigD lived to hear the news of victory and died amid the shouts of triumph. On the right wing, Doria's broken line was saved from destruction by the prompt arrival of the reserves under the Marquis of Santa Cruz. Unable to cope with these two skillful generals. Ulutch AU fled after having cut adrift his prize, the Capitana. The fight between the commanders-in-chief continued. Twice the allied forces boarded, only to be repulsed with great loss. Once again the trumpets trum-pets rang out calling the boarders to charge. As they sprang upon the bul warks they were again met by the janizaries jan-izaries with the grave Ali Pasha at their head. Before the last desperate des-perate struggle was a minute old, the Mohammendan commander fell, pierced by a musket ball. At the sight of their stricken leader, the janizaries ceased to offer further resistance and i fled. At the same moment the Turkish ensign was lowered and in its place the Cross fluttered in triumph at the peak. In four hours almost the entire Moslem Mos-lem fleet had perished. The Turks lost 25,000 killed and 5,000 were , taken prisoners. pris-oners. Twelve thousand Christian captives cap-tives were liberated from a living death. Not more than forty of the Turkish galleys escaped destruction or capture. The entire Christian loss did not exceed 4,600. It is difficult to overestimate the importance im-portance of this engagement. Although Al-though the battle lost no territory to .the Turks, it destroyed their prestige to such an extent that many historians date the decline of the Ottoman empire from the battle of Lepanto. Had the Crescent triumphed on that day, the Christian religion--would in all probability proba-bility have disappeared from Europe, and with it western civilzation. As this was one of the most active periods of colonization in the new world, there can be but little doubt, such was their ambition, their activity and their power, that they would have followed up their victories to the dependencies of the conquered. And so in this blessed land of ours where today the cross-crowned spire proclaims the worship wor-ship of Christ, the domes and minarets of Turkish mosques might have indi-i indi-i cated the abode of Oriental fanaticisms and superstition. Had not victory rested upon the Christian arms at Lepanto, Le-panto, the effete, enervating and rotten civilization of the east would obtain where today the strenuous character of the Saxon, Teuton and Celt has proved itself equal to the best that is in mankind. man-kind. Instead of convents and monasteries, monas-teries, which draw down a benediction upon the earth, the repulsive harem of the infidel would curse and defile the soil. And the cathedrals of Westmin-ter. Westmin-ter. Cologne, Notre Dame and St. Peter's itself would have shared the sad fate of St. Sophia. It is needless to say that the sunburst of universal truth which today bathes the world would have remained obscured behind the mists of superstition and Oriental inertia. It is pleasing to know that St. Pius regarded this victory as an answer to the prayers of the faithful offered u through the medium of Mary's Rosary. Ro-sary. It was to commemorate this triumph tri-umph that St. Pius proclaimed that on the first Sunday of each October the new feast of "Our Lady of the Rosary" Rosa-ry" should be celebrated with all possible pos-sible pomp and solemnity and for a constant remembrance of the same glorious glo-rious event he added to the Litany of Loretto the invocation, "Help of Chris- I tians, pray for us!" |