Prelude to Lepanto
This was a thoroughly Catholic operation, so the combined nations titled their task force “The Holy League,” and it was placed under the command of Don John of Austria, a pious and capable leader.
The Holy League’s initial mandate was to rescue the besieged Venetians on Cyprus, but they were too late to save them.
The Venetians had held out manfully for a year. Holed up in their last stronghold at Famagusta, fewer than 10,000 Catholics checked the advance of 250,000 Turks, and surrendered only after being promised safe passage by the Muslims. When the terms were agreed on, the tiny garrison had inflicted 50,000 casualties on the Muslims and had been reduced to merely 900 men.
The promise of safe passage was not kept and a slaughter of Christians ensued. The Venetian commander had his ears and nose cut off and then was flayed alive. The treatment of the Christians in Cyprus left the Holy League no illusions about their fate should they be taken alive. Two thousand of the prettier boys and girls of Famagusta Cyprus were gathered and shipped off as sexual provender for the slave markets in Constantinople."
The gallant Venetians had lost Cyprus but probably won all of Europe. By tying up enormous numbers of Ottoman troops, they bought time for the Holy League to assemble a fleet.
Results :
The victory for the Holy League was historically important not only because the Turks lost over 200 ships and 20,000 men killed (not including 12,000 Christian galley slaves who were freed), but because the victory heralded the end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean.
Religious significance
The Holy League credited the victory to the Virgin Mary, whose intercession with God they had implored for victory through the use of the Rosary. Andrea Doria had kept a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe given to him by King Philip II of Spain in his ship’s state room. Pope Pius V instituted a new Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated by the Catholic Church as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
