In 1571, Christian Europe was threatened with imminent destruction by the Ottoman Empire. The Christians’ faith and way of life were endangered. Pope St. Pius V called for a crusade against the Turks to save Christianity and the lives of the faithful. Few responded, but those who did were led by the famous Don Juan of Austria. The Archbishop of Mexico, hearing of the oncoming battle, sent to Spain a replica of the miraculous tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, forty years after the apparitions. This image was then carried into war at the battle of Lepanto on one of the Christian ships, and all faithful Catholics devoutly prayed the Rosary, begging Our Lady’s intercession at the behest of the Holy Father. Our Lady turned the tide of the battle, and the Catholic Church was victorious.
From “Lepanto,” by G.K. Chesterton:
Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne, a crownless prince has stirred.
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attained stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young,
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along the winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold.
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
Spurning of his stirrups like the throne of all the world,
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain -- hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea.
