October 7, 1571, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Feast date was so named for the powerful role of the Rosary in winning the Battle of Lepanto; a victory that literally turned around the unrelenting tide of ongoing Islamic invasion and conquering of Christian Europe at the time. (Remember, today’s city of Istanbul was once called Constantinople, the place that first publicly embraced Christianity.) With good reason Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have been adamant in telling us: “Be Not Afraid,” and talking about the “New Evangelization” and a “New Springtime.” Even Pope Benedict’s newest encyclical, Caritas in veritate, speaks in the context of our current demographic, as well as ideological and cultural, realities.
