Study Catholic History!

Don John of Austria

I love Christopher Check! He has a wonderful CD about the battle of

Lepanto. It begins with a discussion of Catholic history and the reason we Catholics in America are so ignorant of it. It's because we've been raised with British, Protestant history. So all the important events that shaped western civilization as impacted by the Church are ignored. 

When I was home schooling I remember checking out a history series from a Protestant publisher Abeka that taught about the Protestant religious "awakening" in America but said not one word about the Spanish Catholic explorers in California and Florida. You could read about the "first" colony in Massachusetts, but nothing about the Spanish colonies founded 100 years earlier.

The Feast of the Holy Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto

Two months out of the year are dedicated to Our Lady, May and October. Today is the Feast of the Holy Rosary in honor of the great defeat of the Muslims at Lepanto in 1571 when the Holy League defeated the invaders in a terrific sea battle. That decisive battle saved Western civilization and drove the Turks out of the Mediterranean for years. 

Feast of the Holy Rosary and the Victory at Lepanto

What a great day to reflect on the power of the rosary to win decisive battles like the victory at Lepanto in 1571. God raised up a crusader, Don Juan of Austria, to defeat the Islamic navy through the sign of the cross. Look closely at the sails and see the standard of Christianity, the cross, vs. the standard of Islam, the crescent. Chesterton, in his famous poem on the battle, depicts the crescent as the devilish smile on the face of Selim II as he calls on demonic spirits to give his forces the victory. 

This next painting shows the miraculous vision of Pope St. Pius V when Our Lady appeared and let him know the Holy League secured the victory.