Lepanto: Our Lady of Victory

On this October 7 let us reflect on today’s Feast of Our Lady of Victory (or Our Lady of the Rosary). We know that the spread of this feast throughout the Catholic world is owed first of all to the great victory of the Christian allies (mainly Spanish and Italian) over the Ottoman naval forces on this date. And afterwards Our Lady was invoked under this title in other conflicts with the enemies of Christendom; for example, after the victory of the forces of the Holy Roman Empire led by Prince Eugene over the Turks at Peterwardein in 1716 this feast was extended to the whole Church. The present bishop of Rome in his new encyclical has recently reminded us of his view that there can never be a just war; the sense of the Church – and for that matter, her doctrine – took a very different position regarding war up to the last Council. The following images illustrate that.

In the Bavarian town of Ingolstadt is one of the most extraordinary creations of the brothers Egid Quirin and Cosmas Damian Asam, 18th century German masters of the baroque. The church of Maria de Victoria was built and decorated between 1732 and 1736 as a oratory for the Marian congregation of the former University of Ingolstadt (a Jesuit university situated in the Electorate of Bavaria and the alma mater of Baron Frankenstein). The simple hall is rendered extraordinary by the immense ceiling fresco as well as by further decorations and furnishings added in the decades after completion of the church – and in some cases even in the 19th century.

The magnificent painting of Cosmas Damian Asam shows the Incarnation set amid symbols of the continents of the earth as they were then understood. The fresco abounds in unusual tricks of perspective.

(Above and below) In this church can be found the Lepanto Monstrance of 1708, claimed to be the most valuable in the world. Created by the Augsburg goldsmith Johannes Zeckl, it depicts the naval battle of Lepanto as exemplified by a Christian ship overpowering a foundering Turkish vessel.

Near the monstrance is a cross carried by Tilly, the commander of the Catholic League army in the Thirty Years’ War, who died from battle wounds in Ingolstadt. To complete the picture we should add that the town of Ingolstadt itself was a key military stronghold of Bavaria for many years into the 19th century. A “Museum of the Bavarian Army” is located here.

Closer to home – if on a considerably lower artistic level – is the huge apse painting in Our Lady of Pompeii in Greenwich Village (the dedication to Our Lady of Pompeii is a variant of that of the Our Lady of the Rosary). In the section shown above is a reference to the battle of Lepanto, as is in the text surrounding the back of the sanctuary. This painting is actually a recreation of the original, which had beeen destroyed after the Second Vatican Council.

Indeed, Our Lady of Victory continued to be invoked once more later in the Twentieth century: here is the downtown New York church of Our Lady of Victory erected in 1947 by Cardinal Spellman. It has this dedication:

This Holy Shrine is dedicated to Our Lady of Victory in Thanksgiving for Victory won by our Valiant dead, our soldier’s blood, our Country’s tears, shed to defend men’s rights and win back men’s hearts to God.

Although we may wonder about the dedication’s concluding sentiments regarding a war fought mainly against and with formerly Christian, secular states, there is sincere sorrow for the dead and wounded and gratitude for the nation having prevailed in the struggle.

For more on the church of St. Maria de Victoria, its art and its meaning see Hofmann, Siegfried, Die Kirche Maria de Victoria. (with contributions by Kurt Scheurer)