[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Said it all already.

[Parmenio]

No the Pasha’s head was not put on a stick. It was brought to Don Juan of Austria (commander of the Christian fleet) who was so disgusted by the act that he ordered the head to be tossed into the sea.

[Parmenio]

Also the battle raged on long after the beheading of Ali Pasha and the taking of the Sultana (Ottoman flagship). In fact, the Ottoman left wing almost turned the Christian right wing, and if they had, the Ottomans could very well have won the battle. I appreciate your sentiments mene, but mis-stating historical facts is not the way to go.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Here's something that almost lost everything for us, for good: "Europe" did not unite behind this fight. Barely half of Christendom --- the Catholic half ---united, basically Spain, the various city-states of Italy and allies, and the Papal States. They prayed in the Bacilica of Santa Chiara, confessed their sins, knelt for the Papal blessing, received Holy Communion, said their Rosaries. They had bigger cannons, bigger boats (the galleasses) and very fortunate -- you may say Providential--- winds. Both sides were inclined to fight to the bitter end. The Turkish Janissaries, when they ran out of ammunition, took to throwing oranges and lemons (absurd, but brave) and the 12,000 Christian galley slaves, busted free, came out swinging their chains, wreaking havoc amongst the Turks.

Thus the Holy League confronted the Ottoman navy, the greatest maritime fighting force in the history of the world. and annihilated them. The Pope sang a Te Deum.

In memory of which we now celebrate an annual feast day on October 7, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. .

[Dqban22]

Christianity and Islam in History
MSGR. WALTER BRANDMULLER

I will address the topic of Christianity and Islam by limiting myself to a brief presentation of historical facts, without entering into the specifics of religious and theological dialogue.

On the same day when the Vatican made public Benedict XVI’s message for the World Day of Peace next January 1, cardinal secretary of state Angelo Sodano sponsored a meeting at the Pontifical Lateran University the grand chancellor of which is the pope’s vicar, cardinal Camillo Ruini. The meeting focused on a topic crucial for the Church’s geopolitics: “Christianity and Islam, Yesterday and Today.”

In his message, Benedict XVI pointed to “nihilism” and “religious fanaticism” as the two deep sources of Islamist terrorism.

But the analysis at the December 13 meeting at the Lateran concentrated above all on the history of the relationship between Christianity and Islam. The occasion for the meeting was the fifth centenary of the birth of saint Pius V, the pope of the battle of Lepanto in 1571, at which a league of Europe’s Christian states inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Turkish fleet.

The topic was explored by an authoritative specialist in Church history, monsignor Walter Brandmüller, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

Delivered in the presence of cardinal Sodano, his address represented the Holy See’s current point of view on the question: a point of view that is certainly less pliant than the one that prevailed during the pontificate of John Paul II. - Sandro Magister

Christianity and Islam in History
by Walter Brandmüller
I will address the topic of Christianity and Islam by limiting myself to a brief presentation of historical facts, without entering into the specifics of religious and theological dialogue. This seems useful to me, because the celebration of the fifth centenary of the birth of Pius V was a bit muted, especially in academic circles. The victor at Lepanto in 1571, this pope who had the courage and the energy to construct an alliance of almost all the Christian kingdoms against the Ottoman empire which was advancing to threaten Europe and had already established dominion over the Balkans today, precisely on account of the unhappy restoration of hostility between the two worlds one formerly Christian, and to a certain extent still Christian, and the Muslim world seems to many to be an obstructing presence best left in the shadows.

The so-called “secularism” that would silence all the monotheistic religions through accusations of fundamentalism, or that exalts dialogue by negating their differences, intends to blot out the age-old conflict that has pitted the two religious communities against one another. Above all, it intends to neutralize the Roman pontiff, who has shown himself capable of blocking the Islamic advance and saving Christian civilization.

Although the two monotheistic religions in question share, among other things and to different degrees, the Jewish tradition a specialist like Samir Khalil Samir emphasizes how before Mohammed the Arab Jews and Christians called their God by the name of Allah there are many differences between Christianity and Islam, and the differences are fundamental.

Since their very beginnings, there have been differences in how Christians and Muslims think of conversion and the use of violence.

THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0110.html

[JoeFromSidney]

When I was a visiting professor in Istanbul, one day one of my colleagues took me to the Naval Museum. One of the prize exhibits was the flag that had been flown by the lead ship of the Ottoman fleet during the Battle of Lepanto. It had been captured during that battle and eventually ended up in the Vatican. As a good-will gesture, a recent pope (I believe it was John Paul II) returned it to Turkey.