Marking the 450th Anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto and the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Croatian Royal Council marked the 450th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto and the memorial day of Our Lady of the Rosary in Zagreb, Rijeka and Jelsa on the island of Hvar.

This Thursday, October 7, marked the 450th anniversary of the Holy League's victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto, the most important naval battle of the New era that marked a turning point of European and Christian domination over the Mediterranean and the gradual pushback against the Ottoman incursions into Europe. This naval battle is considered one of the most important battles in the context of European and Christian civilisations and is often associated with the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary, or Our Lady of the Rosary (also known as Our Lady of Victory). Due to this the whole month of October is, in spiritual terms, extremely important to the wider Catholic world. It's also associated with the devotion to Our Lady as the month of the Holy Rosary. Due to this, the Croatian Royal Council marked and commemorated the date through activities of secular and religious significance in Rijeka, Zagreb and Jelsa on the island of Hvar.

ZAGREB

According to tradition, on October 7 many parishes in Zagreb presented the Monstrance for the Eucharistic adoration, before which the faithful worshiped and prayed. Members of Royal Council on these occasions prayed the rosary in devotion to Our Lady, dedicating it for the souls of the fallen fighters at Lepanto and for their families and descendants.

JELSA

In Jelsa on the island of Hvar, a centuries-old devotion to Our Lady continues to be practiced. More interestingly, a local cult related to Lepanto had also developed. For the aformentioned battle, the island had built and equipped a war galley under the name of St. Jerome (Jerolim) which took part, directly engaging the Ottomans. After the battle, in honour of ou Lady, Lepanto altars were erected and the locals preserved various artifacts related to the battle. Due to a long maritime tradition and general maritime culture of the island of Hvar, and especially Jelsa, our members visited the parish church of the Assumption of Mary where they prayed and took pictures with an appropriate Croatian historic and royal flag (more details about the altar and galley to follow later on).

RIJEKA

A procession in honour of the Queen of the Holy Rosary was held in Rijeka, organised by the local Dominicans. During the event, participants prayed and remembered the significance of Our Lady and the Battle of Lepanto itself. Individual members and sympathisers of the Croatian Royal Council also took part in the procession.

Photo source: HKM/Ivan Dominik Iličić

In the following text, we present the writings on historical circumstances, iconography and symbolism of the Battle of Lepanto and devotion to Our Lady by art historian Marija Matijašević and doctoral student Ante Brešić Mikulić:

Battle of Lepanto and Our Lady of the Rosary

In 1571, on October 7, one of the most significant naval battles of the century took place. The Holy League, founded on the initiative of St. Pope Pius V, defeated the dominant land and naval superpower of the Mediterranean - the Ottoman Empire. The army of the Holy League, led by Prince John of Habsburg was composed from diverse sources such as the countries of Spain, Venice, Genoa, Tuscany, the Papal States, the Order of Malta, etc., totaling about two hundred ships. On the opposite side, the Ottoman superpower numbered between 260 and 300 ships which were led by Grand Admiral Müezzinzade Ali-Pasha. The battle was uncertain until the last moment. The conquest of the Ottoman command ship, which was fought for two whole hours, finally marked the supremacy of the Christian side. Not long after, a complete collapse of the Ottomans followed. Only about fifty ships managed to escape. All others were submerged or destroyed.

Model of the Hvar war galley st. Jerome (Hieronymus)

It is estimated that about 80,000 fighters took part in the ranks of the Holy League, of which between 8,000 and 10,000 were Croats. Many of them are related to the galleys that were built and equipped by the coastal communes and islands of Cres, Krk, Rab, Šibenik, Trogir, Hvar and Kotor, and in the earlier prebettle the city of Zadar. In the military structure of the then Venetian countries, the hinterland had obligations of military conscription in the army, while coastal cities and island had the primary obligation to fill galleys and ships during war. Precisely for this reason, the islands and towns filled the ranks of the fleet which bore Christian, Venetian and their own local and flags and banners, crowned with the laurels of victory in the name of Our Lady.

The preserved pulena (ship's beak) called Zvir (beast) in the shape of a dragon from the Hvar war galley of St. Jerome

Religious dimension was important from the very beginning. Namely, the soldiers were ordered to fast for three days before the battle and to regularly confess and receive Holy communion. Each soldier was given a rosary, which later led to its spread in general Christian piety outside of Dominican influence. On the very day of the battle, Pope Pius V called on priests to display the Blessed Sacrament for adoration and prayer in parishes. He surrendered the fate of the struggle to Mary.

The priests and the papal nuncio blessed each ship separately. According to tradition, while Ali Pasha's henchmen conveyed to the galley's rowmen in a general call for disobedience to knights and captains of the Holy League, guaranteeing the Sultan's freedom to each member if they refused obedience to the Christians. The then Supreme Commander of the Holy League, Prince Don Juan Habsburg, went personally from ship to ship with a large crucifix in his hand. He rallied the crew to fight to the end proclaiming:

„There is no heaven for cowards!”

After the defeat of the Ottoman fleet near the small town of Lepant in Greece, the dominance of the Christian world over the Mediterranean manifested. The victory was attributed to the prayer of the rosary and the forty-hour adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, during which St Pope Pius V invited all Christians to pray. A year after the Battle of Lepanto, Mary was proclaimed Auxilium Christianorum in Lauretan litanies, that is, an assistant to Christians. This began the spread of the cult of the Rosary (Our Lady of the Rosary) far beyond the Dominican order. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to the founder of the Dominican Order, Dominique de Guzmán, offering him a crown of rose flowers. In iconography, St Dominic is depicted as a somewhat mature man (neither too young, nor too old), in a Dominican habit with a book and lily flowers. Although there are depictions of him from earlier eras, after the Council of Trent and the victory at Lepanto, this iconography became more frequent, showing him at the moment of receiving the rosary from Our Lady. (1)

St Dominic recieving the rosary

Lepanto altar (currently in restoration) with the altarpiece of Our Lady of Carmen with St Simeon Stock, with figures of the celebrants of the Battle of Lepanto as well as souls in purgatory. Author: Baldassare D’Anna, parish church of the Assumption of Mary, Jelsa, around 1592.

After this key event for the Catholic Church, an intensive ordering of altarpieces in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary began. The spread was earlier mainly associated with Dominican monasteries, including three on the island of Hvar; in Stari Grad and Hvar, as well as Šćedar. However, a painting of this iconographic theme can also be found in Jelsa in the parish church of the Assumption of Mary. Art historian Ivana Prijatelj Pavičić attributes it to Baldassareau D 'Anna because of its resemblance to his other works on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.(2) The painting shows the Mother of God on a crescent giving a scapular to St Simeon Stock. Below it, on the left, doge Alviso Mocenigo and his wife are painted (he ruled over Venice at the time), but it's also likely to be a depiction of a later doge Sebastian Venier and his wife Cecilia Contarini. At that time he was the chief Venetian commander of the fleet. Pope Pius V is next to them. He is shown without the attributions of holiness because at the time of the creation of the painting he had not yet been canonised and elevated to the altar. On the right are King Philip II of Spain, Prince Don Juan Habsburg and a Queen? (possibly Margarita of Habsburg). Below them Archangel Michael is shown extending his hand to a believer in purgatory. After the iconographic analysis, the work was dated around 1592, ie after the Battle of Lepanto, which took place in 1571. The altarpiece was removed from the right side altar and placed in the space of the choir where it remained for a long time. Unprotected and prone to bad microclimatic conditions, it was leaning inappropriately on the bark fence. Finally, donations for its restoration were collected by the parishioners with the help of the pastor and the Municipality of Jelsa.

Detail of mechanical damage caused by removing of the metal crown

In addition to the above, other paintings depicting of Our Lady of the Rosary exist on Hvar. Art historian Zorka Bibić in her work The Altarpiece of Our Lady of the Rosary in Vrboska and other works by the Bassano family on the island of Hvar cites Our Lady of the Rosary from the church of St. Lawrence in Vrboska, which is attributed to Leander Bassan dal Ponte.(3) The central characters are the Mother of God and the protagonists of the Battle of Lepanto.

Leandro Bassano, Our Lady of the Rosary, parish church in Vrboska, after 1571.

Sources:

*1) Sanja Cvetnić, »DOMINIKANCI U HRVATSKIM KRAJEVIMA I IKONOGRAFIJA NAKON TRIDENTSKOGA SABORA (1545.-1563.)«, u: Croatica cristiana periodica, časopis instituta za crkvenu povijest Katoličkog bogoslovnog fakulteta sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 2010., str. 16.

*2) Ivana Prijatelj Pavičić, »O autorima dviju slika posvećenih pobjedi kod Lepanta«, u: Radovi Instituta za povijest umjetnosti 17/1993. br. 2, Filozofski fakultet u Zadru Sveučilišta u Splitu, 1993., str. 51.

*3) Zorka Bibić, »Oltarna pala Gospe od Ružarja u Vrboskoj i ostala djela slikarske obitelji Bassano na otoku Hvaru«, u: Prilozi povijesti otoka Hvara, Vol. XII, No. 1, 2014., str. 193.

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