The intercession of Our Lady saved Vienna from the Muslim assault
After Vienna the Turks arrived in Rome. But this was not possible thanks to two characters: a brilliant Polish leader and a Capuchin friar
The intercession of Our Lady saved a famous European capital from the destruction of the Muslims. September 11, 1683 Vienna it is besieged by an immense Turkish army commanded by the grand vizier Kara Mustafa and, reduced to fame. The Austrian capital is close to surrender. The Turks, arrested by sea at Lepan in 1571, remained by land their advance that seems unstoppable. Everything is ready for the event in which Islam has been working for a thousand years. The Turkish forces, he says Angela Pellicciari in “A history of the Church. Popes and saints, emperors and kings, gnosis and persecution“(Cantagalli edition), are clearly superior to the Christian ones and after Vienna they will focus on Rome. But an unexpected happens.
The general and the friar
A brilliant Polish leader, king, make the difference Jan Sobieskiand the Capuchin friar Marco d’Aviano. Commissioned by Innocent XI to form a Holy League against the Turks, Father Marco becomes advisor and confessor of Emperor Leopold I and manages to unite around him Spain, Portugal, Poland, Florence, Venice and Genoa.
“We deserved the infidels”
On the eve of the clash, friar Marco Aviano entrusts the fate of Vienna to Our Lady and turns to God with this plea: «O great God of hosts, look at us prostrate here at the feet of your majesty, to beg forgiveness for our sins. We know well that we deserved that infidels take up arms to oppress us, because the iniquities we commit every day against your goodness have rightly provoked your anger.“.
“Don’t let these dogs trample us”
The invocation is increasingly against “the fury and strength of the infidels”. “Although it is our fault that they have invaded these beautiful and Christian regions, and although all these evils that happen to us are none other than the consequence of our malice, nevertheless be propitious, O good God, and do not despise the work of your hands. Will you perhaps allow that it is trampled by the feet of these dogs? ».
The blessing for the battle
Fra ‘Marco then asks for the blessing for the soldiers: «So free the Christian army from the evils that are looming; hold the arm of your anger suspended over us, and make our enemies understand that there is no other God but You, and that You alone have the power to grant or deny victory and triumph, when you pleases. Like Moses, I therefore stretch out my arms to bless your soldiers; sustain and support them with your power, for the ruin of your enemies and ours, and for the glory of your Name“.
Muhammad threatens to hang himself
At dawn on September 11, an unprecedented victory of the Christian army over the Turkish army is consummated, to the point that Muhammad IV sends his grand vizier a green silk cord inviting him to end his life with it. The next day, while Viennese confectioners are said to invent croissants, a crescent-shaped cake, the solemn Te Deum of thanksgiving is celebrated in the church of the Virgin of Loreto. Innocent XI, attributing the victory to the intercession of the Madonnahe decides to celebrate the narrow escape by instituting the feast of the Holy Name of Mary on 12 September.
The beatification of Fra Marco
On April 27, 2003, sa John Paul II beatific Marco d’Aviano, who was buried in the Capuchin crypt in Vienna, next to the tombs of the Habsburg emperors. On the imperial side, no more solemn homage could be paid to the memory of the Capuchin friar and to the irreplaceable role he played in the constitution of the Holy League, in supporting Leopold I, in patient harmonization of the interests of the forces in the field.
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