St. Pius V: His Life, Times, Virtues and Miracles by Robin Anderson

Author:Robin Anderson [Anderson, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2016-03-28T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

LEPANTO: THE HOLY ALLIANCE AGAINST THE TURKS

"The Turkish successes began in the middle of the XI century. They ended in the XVI. Selim the Sot came to the throne of Othman and St. Pius V to the throne of the Apostle. . .The battle of Lepanto arrested forever the danger of Mohammedan invasion in the South of Europe—and Lepanto was won by prayer. . ." wrote John Henry Cardinal Newman.

As early as 1073 Pope St. Gregory VII conceived (but did not live to carry out) the first Crusade. Since the 7th century, the Holy Places of Palestine had been in the hands of Mohammedans, and the Seljuk Turks—after capturing Jerusalem—were threatening Constantinople and the Eastern Empire.

The medieval Crusades (1099-270), though not always successful and marred by lack of discipline, intrigue and political divisions, did keep the West from invasion and staved off conquest of the East.

A united Christian league against the Turks was what was in the mind of St. Catherine of Siena in pacifying the warring Italian States and bringing Pope Gregory XI back to Rome, ending the papal exile at Avignon in 1377. But the ideal of a Christendom united under Pope and Emperor had been doomed by the "Golden Bull" of Charles IV in 1354, that marked the rise of excessive nationalism. The great schism of the West (1378-1417), with lawful popes at Rome and schismatic rivals continuing at Avignon, further prevented realization of St. Catherine's aim.

The need for a new Crusade was indeed realized by succeeding popes, in a better position than others to know the perils of national divisions which the united Turks took full advantage of. Little was effected, however; and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell to the armies of Mahomet II. This meant the end of the Byzantine Empire which for centuries had providentially barred Mohammedan entrance to Europe from the East.

Calixtus III appealed in vain to several European countries in an endeavor to get the Turks driven out of Constantinople. Pius II's noble efforts ended in failure and his death—all were too occupied with their own affairs. Paul II was unsuccessful, the Turks overrunning Greece in 1470. In 1480, during the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, Turkish troops landed at Otranto in southern Italy. Fruitless attempts were made by Innocent VIII to defeat the Turks in Europe. Leo X's appeals met with promises, but no support, from sovereigns wanting to get papal approval for their own ends.

Pius V was the Pope to whom fell the task of carrying out, at long last, the ideal that culminated in the greatest naval victory of history.

When the Turks succeeded in disembarking at Otranto, murdering the archbishop in his cathedral, martyrizing 800 men, and carrying off women and children into slavery, Mahomet II had boasted to the world that he would top St. Peter's dome with the Crescent Moon and wind the Pope's head in a turban. The failure of the Emperor Maximilian's attempt, in 1566, the first year of Pius V's reign, to wrest some

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