The Victory of Lepanto and the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

In the 15th century, the expanding Ottoman Empire continued to threaten all Christianity in the West. Pope Pius V finally succeeded in uniting the forces of Venice, Spain and the Holy See. An important fleet was entrusted to Don John of Austria, and the Pope recommended that his commander-in-chief leave behind all soldiers of ill repute, promising victory if he did so. He ordered public prayers, and increased his own supplications to heaven. The decisive battle took place on October 7, 1571, in the Gulf of Lepanto, off the Strait of Corinth. A good number of the enemy ships were taken over. The Turkish admiral Ali Pasha was decapitated. Fifteen thousand Christian prisoners were released. Less than a third of the Turkish fleet was able to set out again, dealing the Turkish power a blow from which it never recovered. On the evening of the battle, Pope Pius V went to the window of his office and looking up at the sky, he cried out, "? our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which he has just given the Christian army." It was the 7th of October, a little before 5 PM, but the news of the victory did not reach Rome until 19 days later on October 26th, confirming the sovereign pontiff's revelation. In memory of this triumph Pope Pius V instituted for the first Sunday of October the Feast of the Rosary, and added to the Litany of Loreto the supplication "Help of Christians." Among the Catholic faithful, the Lepanto victory contributed extensively to the rapid popularity of the devotion of the Rosary.