Read Part 1: Fatima at the Third International Conference
Christendom Shall be Rebuilt
The subject of my second conference was “Behold Christ the King and Rebuild Western Civilization.” This was originally the title of a talk which was scheduled to be delivered by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. However, he cancelled just a few days before the conference. The conference organizers therefore asked if I could give a second talk on his topic. I wound up having only one day to prepare the talk, but fortunately I have given conferences on similar themes before.[1]
The talk focused on how Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are integral to the development of every individual’s interior life and to the flourishing of civilization as a whole. I emphasized the inseparable connection between Truth and Love: God is Love and God is Truth. If you are not in the Truth then you can’t authentically love. The rejection of truth, epitomized by the revolution against God and the errors of Russia, has destroyed Christendom and rotted our civilization. The abandonment of the truth has even infested our beloved Church, as can be seen by the acceptance of religious indifferentism and the prevalence of false ecumenism. We must therefore strive with all our hearts, with sacrifice and prayer, to love the truth.[2]
My second conference very naturally linked to my first. Once Russia is consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, then Our Lady Herself will work great miracles which will convert Russia to the one holy Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. Our Lord and Our Lady will then use Russia, not as instrument of chastisement upon the nations, but as an instrument of conversion and returning to God. In this future era, which we call the Reign of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, God will grant the whole world a period of peace, the likes of which have never before been seen in history. Our Lady will crush all heresies, including atheistic Marxism and its counterpart of modernism within the Church. The Eastern schismatics will return to the one fold of Christ under the Vicar of St. Peter, the Pope. Church and State will no longer be separated. Militant Islam will no longer pose a threat. The Catholic Faith will flourish. The souls living in that era of peace will see a great and glorious rebirth of Christendom which outshines even the most illustrious times of our Catholic past.
The Fatima Center plans to post these two conference talks at our website as soon as possible.
Brief Croatian Catholic History
Although both of my conferences were well received, judging by the feedback I received, it seems this second one – put together at the proverbial last minute – had the greater impact. This was yet one more occasion when it is very obvious to me that as souls consecrated to Our Lady we are simply instruments for Jesus and Mary to use as They will. It is far less about the message one plans to deliver and far more about the message God wishes His beloved souls to hear. How good is God’s providence!
The theme of Christ is King definitely struck a resonant chord with all the attendants. I learned that Croatians have a long and glorious history of defending Christ, the Church, and their Catholic Faith. For some 500 years the Croatians held the line against invading Ottoman Turks, preserving Christendom within the heart of Europe. In fact, in 1519 Pope Leo X bestowed upon Croatia the honorary title of Antemurale Christianitatis (Bulwark of Christendom) for the heroic and consistent defense of the frontier against aggressive Islam.[3]
Many Catholics are familiar with the celebrated Battle of Lepanto (1571). It is well known that this naval victory definitively destroyed the Moslem’s sea power in the Mediterranean. Pope St. Pius V credited the victory to Our Lady’s intercession and the prayer of Her Rosary. However, I did not know that within a few decades of that battle there were two miraculous Croatian victories that proved Catholics would also be able to withstand and defeat the Moslems on land.
The Siege of Szigetvár (or Battle of Szigeth)
In 1566, at the Siege of Szigetvár, some 2,300-3,000 Croatians under Nikola Šubić Zrinski faithfully defended their fortress from a siege by Suleiman the Magnificent and his army, estimated at 50,000-100,000. Sulemain had conquered Belgrade (see footnote 2), and the path appeared open to Vienna. The Siege of Szigetvár, on the Hungarian-Croatian border, lasted for 33 days and was a pyrrhic victory for the Ottomans. Zrinski and his men inflicted heavy losses on the Ottoman army and held the area until Sulemain the Manificent died. When the fortress was finally destroyed by a fire that could not be extinguished, Zrinski led his garrison in a final charge from the fortress, bravely dying on the battlefield.
While the Ottoman army ultimately captured and destroyed Szigetvár, they lost 30,000 soldiers. The sultan was dead, the army decimated, and the campaign against Vienna had to be cancelled. The terrifying Ottoman offensive into Central Europe that had laid waste to so many lands was finally halted. The well-known French statesman Cardinal Richelieu called it “the battle that saved civilization.”
Zrinski’s miraculous defense has became a symbol of Croatian resistance and heroism. His sacrifice became a symbol of freedom and honor, inspiring countless generations. His story is the basis for the aria U boj, u boj! (To the Battle, to the Battle!) from an 1866 opera by Ivan Zajc titled Nikola Šubić Zrinski.
The Battle of Sisak
The Battle of Sisak was fought in central Croatia in 1593 between Croatian and Habsburg forces and the Ottoman army from Bosnia, which had held Bosnia under Ottoman rule for almost five centuries.[4] The Ottomans had won a series of victories and Sisak, just 60 km southeast of Zagreb, was the last bastion preventing the fall of the capital. Croatia’s territory had been reduced to the reliquiæ reliquiarium (remnant of remnants).
Around 16,000 Moslems besieged the small garrison of some 800 Catholic defenders who were led by two priests. It was an impossible situation as the Croatians were outnumbered 20 to 1. However, the valiant defenders were able to hold off the siege long enough for Pope Clement VIII to summon a relief army of 5,000 Hapsburg soldiers. The relief army caught the besieging army by surprise. The garrison troops sallied forth and joined the battle. The Ottoman army was surrounded and fell into a disorganized panic. Some threw themselves into the river, and those who could escape fled in full rout. The Ottoman army was decimated; the commander and half the force died, and Croatia maintained its freedom and pedigree as the Bulwark of Christendom.
The battle is highly significant because it marked a change in the balance of power. The Turkish advance was finally thrust back. Now the war slowly shifted from a defensive one to an offensive one. This battle also signaled the weakening of Ottoman power. Vienna would still have to survive a harrowing siege in 1683, but victory was on the horizon. The Ottomans were finally and definitively defeated at the Battle of Zenta[5] on September 11, 1697 and a lasting truce would be forged.
The Battle of Lepanto
It was only through this trip to Croatia that I first learned that Croatian sailors from Dalmatia[6] played a meaningful role in the Catholic Holy Leagues’ great naval victory over the Ottoman Empire at Lepanto (1571). Among the Venetian fleet were approximately eight galleys from Dalmatian and Kvarner towns.[7]
Although the exact names of the individual ships have not been preserved, records do mention their commanders and origins. These galleys were typically commanded by local nobles and experienced seafarers from prominent coastal families. Their crews consisted largely of local men — Dalmatians, Istrians, and Bokelj sailors — who formed the backbone of the rowers and soldiers aboard.
These ships were engaged in the most intense phase of the battle, fighting in close quarters against Ottoman galleys. Combat involved artillery, arquebuses, and hand-to-hand combat. The skill and maritime tradition of the eastern Adriatic crews contributed significantly to the effectiveness of the Venetian forces.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Ragusa chose neutrality.[8] Although it possessed a powerful fleet, its ships were used only for logistical and supply purposes and did not participate directly in combat, as the republic sought to preserve its delicate diplomatic and commercial balance.
The involvement of these Adriatic galleys stands as an important chapter in the maritime and military history of Croatian lands. Though small in number compared to the entire Holy League fleet, their contribution was real and particularly evident in the front lines where the outcome of one of the most decisive naval engagements of the early modern period was determined.
Be Encouraged and Inspired
I was impressed with these stories and not just because of the heroism they reflect. I was inspired by the manner in which the conference attendees told me these stories. There was a gleam in their eyes and such enthusiasm in their voices; they were truly excited by these events which are not part of the distant past to them but a real and abiding part of who they are today.
I have a particular appreciation for these stories of Catholic heroism, and wanted to share them with you, especially because in them I see in them types which prefigure events to come as the prophecies Our Lady made at Fatima are all fulfilled. I have found this perspective to be somewhat uncommon among my American and Canadian Catholic confreres, yet among the Croatians I met it was a natural part of their Catholic world view. I believe that such an understanding of our past – and of our imminent future – should fill us with hope and absolute trust in Divine Providence and the all-powerful intercession[9] of Our Lady of the Rosary, our Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces.
The Battle Rages Today
The Catholic Faith and Our Lady’s Fatima Message are still being proclaimed and defended publicly in Croatia, as I would witness firsthand that Saturday morning.
To be continued …
ENDNOTES
[1] See Fatima and the Kingship of Christ, a talk I gave at the 2022 Fatima Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire on the Feast of Christ the King. The audio-only podcast contains some additional material.
[2] Much of my talk was inspired by the excellent book, Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul, by our founder, Fr. Nicholas Gruner. If you have not read this book, I urge you to do so. If you have read it, I urge you to read it again and to give the book as a gift to someone you know.
[3] The Battle of Belgrade (1456) ranks among the most important Catholic victories over Ottoman aggression.It halted the Ottoman advance into Europe for 70 years.
Constantinople fell in 1453 and the forces of Sultan Mehmed II, ‘The Father of Turkish Conquest,’ appeared unstoppable. The Byzantine Empire, which lasted for more than one thousand years, was destroyed. Now the whole of the Balkans fell before Mehmed’s forces, and he had his eye set on Central Europe, the heart of Christendom. The lynchpin in the Catholics’ defense was Belgrade. Mehmed lay siege to the fortress and cut the city off on all sides. He had 70,000 soldiers, 300 canons, 200 ships on the Danube and Sava, and numerous siege engines. The defenders were Hungarians, Croats and Germans, some 7,000 strong led by John Hunyadi. They were joined by Crusaders gathered by St. John Capistrano, a Franciscan who unceasingly preached the power of the Cross and the Holy Name of Jesus. Once the Catholics broke the siege on the Danube, Mehmed increased his bombardment of the city. His forces breached the city walls and entered the lower city but were stopped at the fortress itself. Capistrano and Hunyadi rallied the defenders and led a successful counterattack. Despite superior equipment and greater numbers, Mehmed’s army was routed into a complete retreat. Unfortunately, joy of the victory was short-lived. The devastated city suffered from the plague and both John Hunyadi and John Capistrano died from it soon thereafter.
However, news of the magnificent and total Christian victory spread across Europe. Pope Callistus III ordered the church bells to be rung at noon in thanksgiving to God and to commemorate this great victory. This tradition still remains with us: the Angelus bells at noon.
The Turks continued to attack Belgrade for 70 years, as it remained the key to the kingdom of Hungary. Finally in 1521 Sulemain the Magnificent conquered the city. He turned it into a Turkish city that, according to Evilya Çelebi (an Ottoman traveler and historian of the 17th Century), had 273 places of Islamic worship! Even to this day there remains a significant Muslim population in the Balkans.
[4] One of the conference organizers informed me that he was born in Bosnia, as have a long line of his great great grandfathers — since at least the 7th century! He fought in the most recent war in Bosnia, first against the yugoslav Komunist and the Palamists (the Eastern Orthodox Serbs), and then against the “Poturice”, a term used for the descendants of Bosnians who apostatized from the Catholic Faith by accepting the Moslem religion in order to have a little bit of a better life under the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[5] At the Batlte of Zenta, Prince Eugene of Savoy, fighting on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, led the Holy League in crushing Sultan Mustafa II’s invasionary force. The Catholics attacked as the Ottomans attempted to cross the river Tisza in Serbia. The Grand Vizier was killed, the Ottoman army dispersed, and Prince Eugene even captured the Ottoman treasury and imperial regalia, an act unprecedented in the Ottoman’s military history. The Holy League sustained minimal losses. This victory was the most decisive battle in the Great Turkish War (1683-1699), also known in the West as The Last Crusade. Prince Eugene continued to defeat the Ottomans in a series of smaller battles, and the war was formally concluded by the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). The Ottomans were forced to return significant territory to the Catholic Hapsburgs, including lands in Croatia, Slavonia, Transylvania, and Hungary. It ended Ottoman power in Central Europe and established the Hapsburg hegemony in the area which lasted until the end of the First World War.
[6] Dalmatia is the Eastern Adriatic Coast and is part of the country of Croatia. One of the most famous men from Dalmatia that Catholics know is St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar who, at the behest of Pope Damasus I, translated the Sacred Scriptures into Latin (the Vulgate) circa 400 A.D.
[7] Historical sources confirm the participation of galleys from Krk, Cres, Rab, Šibenik, Trogir, Hvar, and Kotor, along with one galley from Koper in Istria. This is how the approximate number of eight galleys is determined.
[8] The Republic of Ragusa was an independent city-state centered about the city of Dubrovnik in South Dalmatia. It was a powerful and wealthy maritime republic which was able to preserve its independent status until it was conquered by Napolean Bonaparte’s revolutionary French army.
[9] Catholic theology teaches that God is omnipotent by nature. He has chosen to make Our Lady all powerful by His grace. This distinction is extremely important in the Catholic Faith even if it appears quite similar in practical application.