Lepanto
Tuesday October 7, 2008
Categories: War
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, the 1571 grand naval battle that saved Europe from Ottoman Turkish conquest. The victory -- one of the greatest ever in naval warfare -- was credited by Pope Pius V to...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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We said the Mass for Our Lady of the Rosary this Sunday and our priest's homily talked about Lepanto. It was nice - I can't imagine hearing a homily like that outside of an FSSP chapel.
And it is still celebrated by other Mediterranean bottom feeders as well, for obvious reasons.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist it.)
We read about the Battle of Lepanto in our homeschool this morning and the girls colored pictures of Our Lady of the Rosary. Thanks for printing Chesterton's poem! It really draws you in and just begs to be read aloud. He was really a master of meter! Domino Gloria!
Yes, Rod, let's lift a glass to events of centuries past which we trot out once a year to get drunk over. What's tomorrow? Anything worth an 18 year old Macallan?
Nay, tonight, let's lift five or six glasses, so we can be drunk enough to ignore how Europe repudiates its history and allows its slow but sure Islamicization. Look to Cologne this past September to inform your sense of Europe's sense of its own dim history. Listen to the mayor of Cologne describe "a victory for the city of Cologne and a victory by the democratic forces of the city" as leftist nutjobs smash a dismally small gathering of concerned Europols, otherwise called fascists by the weasily Europress. Take note of the construction of a giant mosque, funded by Turks (Turks!), in Cologne and its intended purpose as revealed by non-other than Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in 1998, declaimed, "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers."
Sorry, Rod, but one drink raised to an event over four hundred years old that holds absolutely no significance for a people who appreciate nothing about history will not be enough to make this evening in my LazyBoy nice and warm. I'll have to rely on John S. McInsane in tonight's debate, tossing back a dram with every gritted utterance of "reform."
In spite of SB Duodenum's downer comment, I'll drink to it nevertheless. And maybe say a rosary for a new and decisive Lepanto, even though it would likely take a different form.
Rod, I'm delighted that you have a feeling for such occasions. I had thought--if you'll forgive me for saying it--that your crunch diet was a little deficient in iron.
Surely the appropriate drink would be some of that fine Spanish brandy also known as "Lepanto" commemorating that great victory.
A wonderful feast day; thanks for the reminder, Rod!
Little Red Hen, my youngest daughter also colored a picture of Our Lady of the Rosary today in honor of the feast.
I'll join you in your rosary intention tonight, Irenaeus.
What a glorious poem! I had the privilege of hearing Otto von Habsburg speak at a conference in Rome last year. I thought of this poem as I listened to him defend Christian culture in Europe. It is well worth raising a glass to "knights" like Dr. Habsburg.
Happy feast day, and yes both lifting a drink and saying a rosary are the best way to celebrate. Although if you have to choose one or the other, I'd point to St. Thomas More's advice "Prayer is more enjoyable than drinking, and more pleasing to God."
Just got back from a Mass at Holy Hill, Archbishop Dolan of Milwaukee gave a great Homily and talked a bit about the battle and tied it into many other cases in history where Catholics have turned to Mary for help.
So Steve K, with all due respect to FSSP I can glady say you stand corrected!
ds - Deo gratias!
As a European and a Catholic I appreciate this post, Rod.
May the prayers of Our Lady of the Rosary always assist us.
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