The Holy League, the cooperation that allowed the great victory in Lepanto

The Holy Leaguewhich was created in 1571, is a coalition of countries with a military purpose: to stop the attack of the Ottomans, that is, to protect Christianity. This coalition It consisted of the Hispanic Monarchy, the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Order of Malta, the Republic of Genoa and the Duchy of Savoy.

Lepanto was the great successful attempt to say “enough” to the Turks. At the end of Europe the don was incomparable Juan of Austria, a confidant of King Philip II, great support from Pope Pius V and great promoter of the Holy League. On the other side there was Download Ali Pashaalso known as “Ali Pasha”admiral of the Ottoman Sultan Selim IIson of the great September Suleiman the Magnificent.

On the Christian side was the flag The Royal and in the ottoman The Sultana. Soldiers mostly moved in galleys, but it was unfair for the Ottomans. Don Juan of Austria ordered an anchor to be weighed on October 3, 1571. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra He was on the Marquesa galley, under the command of Don Álvaro de Bazán. As the days passed, when he moved to Lepanto, he began to feel ill. When the day of the battle arrived, October 7, he was so ill that his commanders excused themselves from the fight. But when the fight began, when he was injured in the hold of the galley with a “fever,” he thought and rose with strength to fight. They wounded his chest and left arm. It took a long time to recover and when I returned I was christened “El Manco de Lepanto”, a nickname that I wear to prominence.

In the pre-attack phase, the admiral’s musket wound Ali Pasa in the head, in the attack a swordsman cut off his head and a piper put it back on a pike and lifted it up. When he showed it to the enemy, it caused panic among the Ottomans and praise from the Europeans. Until Don Juan saw this absence and stopped it. Because that humility was irrelevant. And he did well, because victory is one thing, and boasting about it is another.

The Battle of Lepanto by Andrea Vincentino.

As is known, Pope Pius V ordered all Christians to pray the rosary on the day of the war. That was the “mighty weapon” that Christianity claimed for victory in battle. Indeed, that day was like Our Lady of Victories.

To celebrate the success of the battle, D. Luis de Requesens and ZúñigaMarine lieutenant in the Battle of Lepanto and Major General of Castile, enabling the construction of a temple in Villarejo de Salvanés in honor of the Virgin. He gave the land, part of the money and allowed the French to enter the convent, which was built next to the temple. Luis de Requesens He was a personal friend of the Pope Pius Vhaving been silent to the king Felipe II in the presence of the Saviour, who permitted his holiness present the image of the Virgin, which seems to be the one to whom he prayed the rosary asking for victory. After three decades of construction, when the temple was completed, the statue was installed under the new dedication of Our Lady of Victory of Lepanto. In 1936 the statue was destroyed, it is now a copy.

Over time, on October 7, in which the Catholic Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Victory, it changed to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which meant by extension that the whole month of October is considered as the month of January. rosary