The Battle of Lepanto continues today as a Spiritual Battle

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto on which we celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Victory, now known as Our Lady of the Rosary. The great naval battle was fought on October 7, 1571, in the Gulf of Patras between fleet of the Holy League made up of European Catholic states and the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim’s had already taken over the Middle East and now believed they could begin their attack on Europe since the Protestant Reformation was causing divisions among the Christians. To defend Christian Europe, Pope Pius V called the fleet of the Holy League together and then called all Catholics to pray the rosary, asking the Blessed Mother’s intercession to her son Jesus Christ. The battle of over 400 vessels was decisively won by the Holy League, and Europe was to remain Christian. Unfortunately, today much of Europe has given up Christianity, not to the Muslims, but to Materialism. In the United States, there are many enemies of Religious Freedom and many problems caused by recent scandals in the Church. Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria in Texas opened the Rosary Congress for the Church and our Nation at an evening Mass October 6, 2019. The Rosary will be prayed on the hour every hour before the Real Presence of the Body of Christ in Eucharistic Adoration from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. The intentions will be in reparation for the recent scandals in the church and to implore God’s mercy on our country. I will be including the intention of God’s guidance on the Amazon Synod being held in Rome at this time. The Amazon bishops are looking to make many changes within their dioceses because of a lack of vocations. Prayers for increased vocations within the Diocese of Victoria are being answered. Instead of making changes to the Church, let us pray for increased vocations in the Amazon region.