Some accounts say that Pope Pius V was granted a miraculous vision of the Holy League’s stunning victory. He was moved to institute Oct. 7 as the feast of Our Lady of Victory, which we now know as Our Lady of the Rosary.
Though the Ottoman threat was by no means eliminated by their defeat at Lepanto, the Holy League’s victory renewed the confidence, optimism, and perhaps most importantly Marian devotion in Christian Europe.
Rather than the ships and guns of the Christian fleet, Pius V knew that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary and devotion to her through the rosary that had given new hope to Christendom.
Today, the rosary continues to be the “weapon of choice” for Catholics fighting for God’s kingdom throughout the world. From outside abortion clinics to inside family living rooms, the rosary is faithfully prayed across the world.
By praying the rosary, Christians place their hopes and fears faithfully in the hands of Mary to take to the throne of her Son.
Pius V put it eloquently in his 1569 papal bull on the rosary, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices:
“In circumstances similar to those in which we now find ourselves, when parts of France and of Italy were unhappily troubled by the heresy of the Albegenses, which blinded so many of the worldly that they were raging most savagely against the priests of the Lord and the clergy, [St. Dominic] raised his eyes up unto heaven, unto that mountain of the Glorious Virgin Mary, loving Mother of God.
“For she by her seed has crushed the head of the twisted serpent, and has alone destroyed all heresies, and by the blessed fruit of her womb has saved a world condemned by the fall of our first parent …
“Following the example of our predecessors, seeing that the Church militant, which God has placed in our hands, in these our times is tossed this way and that by so many heresies, and is grievously troubled and afflicted by so many wars, and by the depraved morals of men, we also raise our eyes, weeping but full of hope, unto that same mountain, whence every aid comes forth.”
Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.