Our Lady of Victory

 

This is a naval blog and today's the great Feast of Our Lady of Victory, now known as Our Lady of the Rosary, which celebrates the utter defeat of Turkish Sea Jihad at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The Ottomans, some two decades fresh from conquering Constantinople, launched across the Mediterranean with the grand aim of conquering Rome itself, the Big Apple. They were smashed by a Christian fleet led by Don John of Austria, the first decisive victory of arms against the Jihad in hundreds of years.

Don John's fleet sailed under the protection of the Virgin Mother of God and miraculously routed the Moslem aggressor. You can read about the action here and as you do, don't forget GKC's Lepanto. Death light of Africa? Love light of Spain.

Poetry in mind, here at the Compound we're about to grill Turkish style kebabs on short swords in homage to the victory. For breakfast? Croissants.

Deus Vult,

LSP

Lepanto

Love-light of Spain—hurrah! 

Death-light of Africa! 

Don John of Austria 

Is riding to the sea.

Today's the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto, in which the Muslim sea jihad was broken by a combined Christian fleet under the command of Don John. This remarkable victory, which prevented a Moslem invasion of Italy, is attributed to the powerful intercession of Our Lady.

Some argue that a new invasion is underway, so step up to the plate, do your bit,and pray the Salve Regina:

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To Thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To Thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us.
And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary,
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God:
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Have a blessed Feast of Our Lady of Victories,

LSP

Inspiration!

Here's some Lepanto, to inspire:

White founts falling in the courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard,
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips,
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross,
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young,
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain—hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea.

Thank God, and I mean that, for Don John. Returning the Prophet's battle flag was a mistake. 

LSP

Battle of Lepanto

It's the 444th anniversary of the battle of Lepanto, in which a Mohammedan navy was destroyed by a smaller Christian force, led by Don John of Austria. It's a comparable victory to the lifting of the siege(s) of Vienna, and prevented the Jihad from invading Italy.

Here's an excerpt from Chesterton's Battle of Lepanto:

They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
And he saith, “Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done,
But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces—four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not ‘Kismet’; it is he that knows not Fate ;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey in the gate!
It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth.”
For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
Sudden and still—hurrah!
Bolt from Iberia!
Don John of Austria
Is gone by Alcalar.

Had the battle gone differently, Europe, and by extension the world, might look rather different today. I'd say we owe a vote of thanks to Don John.

God bless,

LSP 

The Feast of the Annunciation

Today's the Feast of the Annunciation, and we rejoice with Mary over the message of an angel, Gabriel, which leads to the Incarnation of the Word and the salvation of mankind.

With that thought in mind, I drove North on the Dallas Tollway to visit Front Sight Firearms. They have a good-looking online presence and I was hoping to pick up an Aero Precision, 7.62 lower receiver. Buy it there and then, I thought, and save yourself FFL transfer fees and hassle. I also like to see what I buy before I buy it; old fashioned, I know, but that's me.

It was weird, driving out to far, far North Dallas, and it's something I rarely do. Miles upon miles of corporate headquarters, nestled between behemoth malls, big box stores and endless subdivisions. All bisected by highways; tomorrow's world today.

But  not my world, so it was strange to see. Not necessarily bad, but alien. McKinney was more of the same, neat little strip-malls with frozen yogurt franchises, and roads that aren't potholed. Look right or left, and you can see the subdivisions. Do the houses have plastic siding? I didn't investigate.

However, I did check out the gun shop. Word to the wise, Front Sight isn't what it appears online. They didn't have my lower, in fact they scorned it, which is odd, and the bored, dismissive, gun nerd behind the counter couldn't even be bothered to engage in right-wing gun shop banter, much less sell me anything. So I bought a Magpul flip-up front sight and left the store.

Is there anything good about Front Sight's shopfront? There is. Their prices are alright, (unlike Ray's) and what they have on offer seems good quality. But there isn't much of it. Don't waste your time going there, unless you're in the area and want to see the suburban metrosprawl. That's my advice. But hey, check them out, maybe they have what you want.

A few hours later I was back in the country. That seemed more normal to me, and I liked it.

Have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation, and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for her powerful intercession.

God bless,

LSP

Lepanto and Our Lady of Victory

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, commemorating the decisive defeat of the Muslim navy at Lepanto, on October 7, 1571.

A massive Turkish fleet under the command of Ali Pasha had set sail on the Mediterranean with the intent of invading Italy and conquering Rome. However, in a rare example of European Christian unity, a combined Catholic fleet was raised and placed under the command of Don John of Austria. This fleet met the Turks off Lepanto and routed them, in what some have described as the largest naval engagement to that point since Actium.

Here's an excerpt from Chesterton's Lepanto:

The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria
Is shouting to the ships.

The Christian victory is ascribed to the excellence of the Spanish marines, Don John's leadership and the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Victory.

We've forgotten Lepanto today, mostly. I'd argue that things would be rather different if the Jihad had landed in Italy in 1571.

I will celebrate this victory.

LSP