Monday was the feast of the Holy Rosary. On Sunday, October 7, 1571, as the population of Rome processed in honor of the Virgin and prayed the Rosary in the streets, a combined Christian fleet sailed to meet the Ottoman Turks, late conquerors of Cyprus, in the Gulf of Lepanto. With undaunted courage amidst horrific slaughter, they won an overwhelming victory, checking the Islamic advance into the Mediterranean. In gratitude, Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican, added the title "Mary, Help of Christians" to Our Lady's Litany.
"Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation. It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about Himself....Islam is not a religion of redemption. There is no room for the Cross and Resurrection....the tragedy of redemption is completely absent. For this reason not only the theology but also the anthropology of Islam is very distant from Christianity." (Pope St. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope.)
They said to themselves, 'We will utterly subdue them'....Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals....Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries. (Psalm 74)
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