In Hoc Signo Vinces
(In This Sign Shalt Thou Conquer)
by Michael D. Shaw
As the workers search the wreckage of the World Trade Center, and the rest of the nation searches its collective soul to achieve some understanding, I offer some thoughts for your consideration, and perhaps, consolation.
It surely is no great revelation that there has been a historical enmity between Islam and Christianity since virtually the time of Mohammed. The cause for the rise of Islam, and fall of much of what was once considered Christendom, is well beyond the scope of this essay, but it is worth noting that this rise coincided with the so-called Dark Ages in Europe.
On the Catholic liturgical calendar, October 7th is commemorated as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was on this day in 1571 that the Christian Fleet, furnished by Venice, Genoa and Spain, and commanded by Don Juan de Austria, defeated the Ottoman Turks, in the great battle at Lepanto (Navpaktos), Greece. This victory, in the largest naval engagement since the Battle of Actium in 30 B.C., is credited with saving Europe from being conquered by these Muslim Turks, then at the peak of their naval power in the Mediterranean.
Many secular histories of this confrontation do not relate that on this day, Holy Communion was given to all 65,000 members of the Christian Fleet, who also kept reciting the Rosary before and during the battle. The Venetian Senate wrote to the other States which had taken part in the battle:
"It was not generals nor battalions nor arms that brought us victory, but it was Our Lady of the Rosary."
In their bitter defeat, the Turks lost at least 25,000 men. The Christian side sustained about 8,000 deaths and 16,000 wounded, but 12,000 Christian galley slaves had also been freed from their servitude to the Ottomans. Although Cyprus, the original Ottoman objective, was eventually recaptured by the Turks in 1573, the boost in European morale from the Lepanto victory doubtless turned the tide against further Ottoman expansionism.
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