Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

"Lepanto: the Christendom that began to pray the Rosary"

Gulf of Patras, near Naupactus/Lepanto (Greece) (1571)

In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire dominated the Eastern Mediterranean and threatened Christian territories. To face it, the Pope san Pío V, Dominican, has driven a Liga Santa between the Apostolic See, the Hispanic Monarchy of Philip II and the Republic of Venice. The Allied Fleet, commanded by don Juan de Austria, was numerically lower than the Ottoman, according to all estimates. The shock came the 7 October 1571 in the Gulf of Patras, near Naupacto, the ancient Lepanto.

What history documents clearly is that, before the battle, Pius V asked insistently prayer, fasting and the prayer of the Rosary for the success of the fleet; in Rome and in other cities there were organized prayers and processions of the Rosary in the previous days. The fight, fought with a canyon and a galley approach against a galley, lasted about five hours and ended in an overwhelming victory of the Holy League: much of the Ottoman army was captured or sunk and was released around 12,000 Christian captives who were plowing in the Turkish galleys. There, by the way, he fought and was left with his left hand. Miguel de Cervantes.

The victory is officially known, Pius V attributed it to the intercession of the Virgin called by the Rosary, and instituted a Marian feast in his memory, first called Our Lady of Victories and then, with his successors Gregory XIII and Clement XI, Our Lady of the Rosary, fijada el 7 de octubre. Desde entonces el Rosario quedó grabado en la piedad popular como «arma espiritual», y los pueblos costeros de Italia y España se llenaron de exvotos navales, cofradías y altares del Rosario en acción de gracias.

The truth should be distinguished with affection from the legendary. It's documented the date and place, the sides, the victory of the League, the release of captives, the call of Pius V to prayer and the origin of the feast of the Rosary linked to Lepanto. It's very ancient pious tradition the scene of the Pope that interrupts a meeting in Rome and announces in ecstasy the victory; no consta in contemporary documents with that formulation. And the accounts of visible apparitions of the Virgin on the ships during the combat are later devotional literature: no constan as historical hecho.