They haven’t won yet.

Evil, no matter how imposing, can be conquered.

Amid the growing deterioration that surrounds us, both in and out of the Church (and they are interconnected), we must not lose hope. A reader reminded your Tatler of that and of the signal event which took place on 7 October 1571, the Feast of the Holy Rosary or, better known to some, The Battle of Lepanto, in which Western Civilization was saved from certain obliteration.

Had the Christian fleet not defeated the Ottoman Turks that day, Europe would have been inalterably changed. With Christianity eliminated, “there would be no universities, human rights, holy matrimony, advanced science, enfranchised women, fair justice, and morality as it was carved on the tablets of Moses and enfleshed in Christ.”

That did not occur, thanks to the splendid leadership of Prince Don Juan of Austria, son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and whom Pope Pius V chose to lead the fleet.

One could not find a better précis of the event than the one here. It gives one hope in these discouraging times that seemingly implacable evil can be still be defeated, Deo volente.

Addendum: another quote from the linked article, concerning Don Juan of Austria, must be shared here.

Like Cervantes, he was only twenty-four years old, roughly the same age as some modern youth on our college campuses who demand “safe spaces” to shelter them from lecturers whose contradictions of their views make them cry.