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Crusader friar of Habsburg Austria [Battle of Vienna, Sept. 11, 1683
Oriensjournal.com ^ | 2003 | James Bogle

Posted on 10/25/2009 9:29:10 PM PDT by Salvation

Crusader friar of Habsburg Austria


London barrister and historian James Bogle discusses here the life and times of a great Catholic: Blessed Mark of Aviano (Marco d’Aviano in the original Italian), who deserves to be much better known in the English-speaking world.

 

 

On 27 April 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Rev Fr Mark of Aviano OFMCap (1631-99). The ceremony occurred without any world-wide protest from Muslims, and certainly nothing of the sort that accompanied the considerably more innocuous recent commentary of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg.

Mark of Aviano was a Capuchin friar, born Carlo Domenico, in Aviano in the Republic of Venice. So keen was his zeal that, at the age of sixteen, he went to Crete – where the Venetians were then at war with the Muslim Ottoman Turks – to offer himself to defend the island.

Christendom was in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the Muslim Turks, and the Protestant Reformation had simply weakened the defences. Moreover, Catholic Christendom was fighting, now, on two fronts against both Muslim and Protestant and might, at any time, be swept away altogether. Particular determination, tenacity and courage was now needed more than ever from the defenders of Christendom. Fortunately, courage was not lacking.

Vienna besieged

In September 1529, after defeating the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohács, the Ottoman Turks and their allies laid siege to Vienna – the famous “Siege of Vienna” of 1529. After a tremendous struggle the Austrians, under the seventy-year-old Count Nicholas von Salm, were finally victorious, although Salm himself was killed during the siege.

On 7 October 1571, the Ottoman Turks had seized the opportunity to launch a vast fleet to conquer as much of Christendom as they could. Almost miraculously, they were defeated at Lepanto by the combined Christian fleets under the command of Grand Admiral John of Austria, the illegitimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.

To this was added the prayers of Christendom since the pope, St Pius V, had ordered a Christendom-wide Rosary prayer campaign for victory. Later, at the “Battle of Vienna” of 1683, King Jan (John) III Sobieski of Poland, also accompanied by Christendom-wide praying of the Rosary, delivered Vienna and Christendom once again from the Muslim Ottoman Turks.

Mark of Aviano, knowing the dangers, set out to risk martyrdom at the hands of the Turkish horde. Arriving at a Capuchin convent, he was welcomed by the superior, who, after providing him with food and rest, advised him to return home. But Mark stayed in the convent long enough to be deeply impressed by their way of life and – not least – by their militancy in defending the Christian faith. In 1648, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchins.

This was in the year when the Treaty of Westphalia was signed and ended the bloody and internecine Thirty Years’ War. It was the year when the Long Parliament in England passed the Vote of No Address, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

One year later, Mark professed his vows. He progressed sufficiently well in the Order that in 1664 he received a licence to preach throughout the Republic of Venice and other Italian states, especially during Advent and Lent. He was also given more responsibility when he was elected superior of the convent of Belluno in 1672, and of the convent of Oderzo in 1674.

 
 

New direction

But it was in 1676 that his life took a sudden new direction. He gave his blessing to a nun who had been bedridden for some thirteen years, whereupon she was healed.

Soon his fame grew widely enough for the Emperor himself – by then Emperor Leopold I – to take note. Leopold met Friar Mark, was soon deeply impressed by him, and effectively made him one of his privy counsellors.

Around this time Mark was also appointed by the Venerable Pope Innocent XI as Apostolic Nuncio and Papal Legate. His status was now complete: he was the personal adviser of the Emperor and of the defending Catholic monarchs.

He turned his attention back to his original aim and desire: the defence of a free Christendom from Islam. A passionate and eloquent preacher, he used his skills to great advantage in keeping and maintaining unity among the Holy League armies of Austria, Poland, Venice, and the Papal States, by now under the leadership of King Jan Sobieski, who was called upon by the Emperor to defend Christendom from the once more invading Turk.

This time, the Turks came by land.

Behold the Cross of the Lord!”

In the decisive Battle of Vienna of 1683, the Holy League armies succeeded in repulsing the invaders. Famously, during the fighting, Friar Mark brandished a crucifix at the Turks, shouting to them “Behold the Cross of the Lord: Flee, enemy bands!”.

From 1683 to 1689 he committed himself to the military campaign, promoting good relations between the various component forces of the Imperial army. He acted as Chaplain-General to the Army exhorting, consoling, ministering to, and leading the soldiers. In this, he mirrored the heroic life of an earlier Franciscan, St John of Capistrano, who had aided the Empire’s Hungarian general, Count Jan Hunyady, to lift the Turkish siege of Belgrade in the fifteenth century.

Friar Mark’s guidance helped bring about a second liberation of Belgrade. This time, it was in 1688, the year that, in England, the Catholic King James II was being treacherously ousted from his rightful throne by the Protestant revolutionaries.

Not only Protestants, but also the devious and scarcely Catholic King Louis XIV of France, did not hesitate to side with the Turks against the Empire; but Friar Mark and King Jan III overcame all odds. Moreover, Friar Mark, magnanimous in victory, was ever astute in protecting surrendering Muslims and prisoners from retribution. His zeal for the defence of Christendom was fierce, but always tempered by mercy and compassion.

The Ottomans fought on for another sixteen years, losing control of Hungary and Transylvania in the process, before finally giving up. Thus, the Battle of Vienna marks the end of Turkish expansion into Christendom, finalized by the Treaty of Karlowitz.

The combination of the spiritual and the temporal, the religious and the lay, pope and emperor, friar and king, had once again proved the ultimate defence for Catholic Christendom. Not for nothing did Our Lord say, mysteriously, when St Peter showed him two swords, interpreted to mean the lay and the spiritual, “It is enough” (Luke 22:38). Sobieski, doubtless influenced by Friar Mark, had entrusted all to the protection of Our Lady of Czestochowa before the battle.

 

 

A significant date -- Siege of Vienna

Ironically, for us, the Battle of Vienna took place on a very significant date. It began on 11 September and ended on 12 September, the Vigil and Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, respectively. It thus began on the date that is now known to us as “9/11”, the day of the attack upon the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. The choice was doubtless deliberate on the part of the Muslim terrorists, but they did not reckon with its other resonances.

At Friar Mark’s beatification in 2003, the Pope said that Friar Mark reminds the European continent “that its unity will be more stable if it is based on its common Christian roots.” Other commentators like John Allen, of the National Catholic Reporter, feared that the beatification might lead to hostile reaction from Islam. But Italian director Renzo Martinelli, who is making a film based on the life of Mark of Aviano, countered by saying that “without him, Italian women would today be wearing the burqa.”

Legends surround Friar Mark. One says that the croissant was invented in Vienna to celebrate the defeat as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags. Austrian-born Marie Antoinette introduced the pastry to France in 1770.

Another legend from Vienna has the first bagel as a gift to King Jan Sobieski, to honour his victory. It was fashioned in the form of a stirrup, to commemorate the victorious charge by the Polish cavalry.

After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki (a Polish merchant) opened the third coffeehouse in Europe and the first in Vienna, where, according to legend, Kulczycki and Friar Mark added milk and honey to sweeten the bitter coffee. The result was thereafter termed “cappuccino”, after the brown hood of the Capuchin friar.

Missions to Islam

Other saints also had a particular mission amongst the Muslims. St John of Matha and St Felix of Valois (of the Royal house of France) founded the Trinitarians for the ransom of Christian captives, and St Peter Nolasco founded the Order of Our Lady of Ransom after our Lady appeared to him in 1218.

Yet foolish commentators would have us believe that the view of the Church has historically been a bloodthirsty one, bent partly upon conquest and partly upon plunder, but only incidentally upon any good. It is a mendacious picture. No cognisance is given of the simple fact that the entirety of Christendom was under constant threat, at short notice, from complete conquest by the invading Ottomans whose janissaries often roamed at will, marauding, upon the hills of Austria and flat plains of Hungary.

The Church’s attitude was not only reasonable and rational, but it was also robust yet merciful, courageous yet compassionate, firm but fair. Moreover, it still remains the only solution to handling the modern threat from Islamic terrorism and extremism.

This, truly, is the legacy of Blessed Mark of Aviano. No coward, he was ready to defend Christendom with his life, by martyrdom if necessary, but he was also ever-compassionate to the defeated enemy; and, the threat neutralised, he, like St John of Matha, St Felix of Valois and St Peter Nolasco, sought to negotiate diplomatically to find peaceful solutions. Like them, he was ready to redeem captives by personal sacrifice, if necessary, neither shrinking from the duty to defend Christendom nor erring on the side of hatred or disrespect nor unwillingness to parley even with the worst of erstwhile enemies.

Not for nothing is Blessed Mark still honoured today in Austria and Venice. He and the whole Capuchin Order were, and are, especially venerated by the Habsburg imperial family, who, from the time of Blessed Mark, took as their personal chaplains the Capuchin friars, and often baptised their children with the name Markus d’Aviano.

Moreover, by imperial rescript, emperors were thereafter buried in the crypt of the Capuchin Church in Vienna. The ceremony was seen once again at the death of the Empress Zita in 1989.

The great procession halts at the door of the Capuchin church, the coffin carriage guarded by the Tyrolean Schützenkompanie, ahead of the guards, hussars, uhlans and lancers, the ranks of the nobility and the throngs of the people of Vienna. The Chamberlain knocks with his staff and the voice of a Capuchin friar calls from within “Who is there?”. The imperial and other titles are read out in full, and the voice says “We do not know her”; again the same reading takes place, but with fewer titles; finally the Chamberlain knocks and says “Zita, a sinful mortal”. The friar replies, “Then we know her!”, and opens the great door to let the procession into the imperial friary Church.

It is a ceremony wholly in keeping with the spirit of Blessed Mark. All the more fitting, then, is the large statue of Blessed Mark of Aviano, outside the Church, holding aloft the crucifix, advancing and calling on all – emperor, king or mere citizen – to yield to the Cross of Christ, the source of all peace, justice, hope and salvation for every man who ever lived or ever shall live.

Blessed Mark of Aviano, pray for us!


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: 911; austria; catholic; godsgravesglyphs; history; islam; muslim; ottomanturks; prayer; rop; september11; turks; vienna
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The red highlighting is mine. Does the date ring a bell with Americans.

Fall on your knees and pray the Rosary!

1 posted on 10/25/2009 9:29:10 PM PDT by Salvation
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To: nickcarraway; Lady In Blue; NYer; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; Catholicguy; RobbyS; markomalley; ...

I never knew that this battle against the Muslims took place on September 11th until tonight. We are having a mission and the mission priest was talking about the Rosary and brought it up.

Wow!

Did any of you know of the significance of September 11th?

Catholic Ping!


2 posted on 10/25/2009 9:32:11 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation
The Rosary, Bob and Penny Lord

The Battle of Lepanto - October 7, 1571
It was the sixteenth century, and the Body of Christ was being attacked from all sides. On one side, poor innocent believers were falling to an enemy from within the Church. The Church in Europe would lose 6,000,000 of her most precious, faithful children to heresy. As they did not know what was happening, they did not fight. They did not pray for our Mother Mary's intervention. And so, they were lost to us. Praise God, they are now coming back home to their Church, and they are so very beautiful. Could it be the many rosaries said by their families and friends?
As this sneak attack was going on, other enemies of the Church were attacking. Turkish forces were overtaking much of Christian Europe. As this wave of followers of Mohammed invaded a country, they not only took lives, they took souls. The name of Christ was not heard in these lands for up to 700 years. They knew that they would never be able to subjugate their conquests unless they could take away all hope. Had Satan told them of his motto over the gates of hell, "All you who enter here, abandon all hope."
But they were not victorious where people prayed! The Turkish fleet was attacking Austria. The Austrian fleet under Don Juan was no match against the superior Turkish fleet. It looked as if another country would be lost to Islam. Her family is in danger? They need her? Mary to the rescue! Pope Pius V sent out word to the forces of Christ, to pray the Rosary. A Rosary Crusade was waged on the knees of the faithful, and the battle was won.
To the eyes of the world, the Austrian fleet was outnumbered. But there was a powerful general that could not be seen by human eyes. It was Mary and her Heavenly Army of Angels! Although the Austrian fleet appeared finished, they were not. They were joined by the Angels, with Michael the Archangel in front. Swords of faith drawn, they were poised, just waiting for their Queen's command. The Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was placed at the helm of the ship leading the Austrian fleet into battle, to victory.
Man's weapons could not defend their land, but roses in the form of rosary beads moved Jesus' Heart and through His Mother Mary, He did the rest. Jesus, I trust in You!
Pope Pius V instituted the Feast of the Holy Rosary after this battle.

Battle of Vienna - September 11, 1683
We're in the seventeenth century and the Turkish forces are still forging ahead, hell-bent on conquering and subjugating all of Christian Europe. We find ourselves in Vienna, in 1683. The Emperor of Austria's forces are exhausted and discouraged. They are badly outnumbered and weary from battle. The Emperor in a last ditch effort, sends word to King John Sobieski, Sovereign of Poland, imploring his help.
Now, this was not the first time that King Sobieski faced overwhelming odds in battle. But the pendulum swung so overpoweringly in the enemy's favor, he did not know if this was to be his death rather than his victory. As the Turkish invaders were converging on Vienna, King John Sobieski turned to Our Lady of Czestochowa: "Give us victory, My Lady, grant us your help and salvation. As for me, do whatever you choose. I'll accept your will, whether it's life or death."
Suddenly a thought came to him: "Instead of honoring her (Mother Mary), we have passed a lot of responsibility on to her. Seeking honor and glory for ourselves, we've left the toil to her. But she has accepted it. I don't know why she loves us, yet she does love us, even if we repay her with ingratitude and disloyalty."
"Give us victory," he prayed, "and let it be your victory alone." He came before the people and asked them to join him in publicly placing all their trust in Our Lady. He knelt humbly before his Queen, Mary most holy and one by one all the people knelt with him. He began the Apostles Creed, reminding them what they believed, and what so many before them had died for. All the faithful prayed, only now, the prayers took on different meaning. They were no longer just words; they were a battle hymn: This is what we believe; and for this we die, rather than deny our Lord.
As they continued the Rosary, now reciting the Lord's prayer, the words "thy Will be done" took on new meaning. They were truly commending their lives to the Father, self-abandonment, the trust of children, of whom Jesus said: "The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs". The King placed his troops and all of Vienna under the protection of Our Blessed Mother. Man, woman and child, peasant and noble, King and soldier all intoned, with one voice and one hope, the supplication, "Mary help us". And help them, she did.
80,000 Christian troops, with King John Sobieski in front, defeated a fierce Turkish army consisting of 250,000 barbarians.
Now, the Turkish army was known for their inhumane treatment of soldiers and citizens. The mere thought of them approaching a village would bring terror into the hearts of men as well as women. What gave these people the courage to fight and win? The Mother of God, "Mary, Help of all Christians". What gave them the power and the ammunition to use against the enemy? The Rosary!

3 posted on 10/25/2009 9:38:22 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

It coincided with a waxing moon. I honestly believe September 11, 2001 was meant to mock our emergency system.


4 posted on 10/25/2009 9:38:28 PM PDT by eyedigress
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To: eyedigress

**It thus began on the date that is now known to us as “9/11”, the day of the attack upon the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. The choice was doubtless deliberate on the part of the Muslim terrorists, but they did not reckon with its other resonances.**

I still believe that through prayer and a change in her ways (abolishing abortion) in the United States that we will win this continuing battle.


5 posted on 10/25/2009 9:44:17 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

September 11.

I think al-Qaida chose this date to attack for a reason....


6 posted on 10/25/2009 9:57:42 PM PDT by G8 Diplomat (A penny saved is a penny paid in taxes)
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To: Salvation
Did you happen to catch that abortion is the number one killer against the 6 inflictions combined against the black community. Why is this dismissed? It makes no sense.

May God be with you and keep you. The closer you get the harder the struggle.

7 posted on 10/25/2009 9:57:55 PM PDT by eyedigress
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To: eyedigress; wagglebee

Yes, I think I bumped that thread that wagglebee posted about it.


8 posted on 10/25/2009 10:00:35 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

I knew they chose that date because of some historical perceived injury, but this is very interesting.


9 posted on 10/25/2009 11:08:31 PM PDT by Melian ("frequently in error, rarely in doubt")
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To: Salvation

“feared that the beatification might lead to hostile reaction from Islam”

Cartoons lead to hostile reaction from “islam.” Those in power feared it then, and those in power fear it now. That is unless, of course, they embrace it.

It’s going to get ugly. That said, there are true men (and women) of stature who will rise to the challenge...


10 posted on 10/26/2009 12:26:30 AM PDT by piytar (This tag deleted by the Ministry of Truth. Love Big Brother. Or else!)
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To: Salvation

Could September 11, 2001 had been realized because the Muslim world has not forgotten the September 11, 1683?


11 posted on 10/26/2009 3:22:05 AM PDT by Biggirl (In Memory Of Jasper Howard (1989-2009),RIP UConn #6 =^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: Salvation
I still believe that through prayer and a change in her ways (abolishing abortion) in the United States that we will win this continuing battle.

What does Mary do in heaven every day? I think she listens for our prayers -- I couldn't agree with you more.

The Rosary Online
12 posted on 10/26/2009 3:45:41 AM PDT by mlizzy ("It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy" --Mother Teresa of Calcutta.)
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To: Salvation; Biggirl
Could September 11, 2001 had been realized because the Muslim world has not forgotten the September 11, 1683?

After our 9/11, passing reference was made in the "popular" many times about the fact 9/11 had some significance to Muslims. Never did I see it explained. That just shows how immune most journalists are to the history Christianity. Thanks for posting "the rest of the story.".

13 posted on 10/26/2009 5:23:14 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Salvation
Not only Protestants, but also the devious and scarcely Catholic King Louis XIV of France, did not hesitate to side with the Turks against the Empire

Just to be fair, Protestant Saxony, a traditional ally of the Hapsburgs, was part of the Christian coalition. Also, the French were traditional allies of the Turks going back to the rise of the Hapsburgs. The French did not take kindly to having Hapsburgs surround their territories in modern day Belgium, parts of modern day France, Germany and Spain. By the time of the siege of Vienna religion was not the factor it was before. Protestant William of Orange was organizing coalitions with anybody to stop the expansionist policies of Louis XIV.

14 posted on 10/26/2009 6:51:46 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: Salvation

I read that before (not in this detail) somewhere on Islam Watch (cannot find the exact article)...but more background information...here...

“On September 11, 1581, Queen Elizabeth granted exclusive trading privileges to 16 individuals, including Staper and Osborne. This agreement led to the founding of the Levant Company.”

from...

http://www.islam-watch.org/AdrianMorgan/Clash-of-Civilizations-Shakespeare.htm

also...

Janos (John) Hunyadi, Hungarian warrior and captain-general, is today virtually unknown outside Hungary and the Balkans, but he probably did more than any other individual in stemming the Turkish invasion in the fifteenth century. His actions spanned all the countries of south-eastern Europe, leading international armies, negotiating with kings and popes. He died of plague after having destroyed an Ottoman fleet outside Belgrade in1456. His work slowed the Muslim advance, and may thus have saved Western Europe from falling to Islam. By extension, he may have helped save Western civilization in North America and Australia, too. Yet hardly anybody in West knows who he is. Our children don’t learn his name, they are only taught about the evils of Western colonialism and the dangers of Islamophobia.

from...Fourteen Centuries of Jihad against European Civilization...here...

http://www.islam-watch.org/Fjordman/Fourteen-Centuries-of-Jihad-Against-European-Civilization.htm

Thanks for the ping/post, Salvation. Fascinating, educational, enlightening.


15 posted on 10/26/2009 7:06:50 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: Salvation

Yes, I knew! The muzzies never forget, and they always go back to finish something they did not do right — Twin Towers, for instance.


16 posted on 10/26/2009 7:24:35 AM PDT by bboop (Tar and feathers -- good back then, good now)
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To: Salvation

Thanks for the great history thread. Amazing.


17 posted on 10/26/2009 7:48:37 AM PDT by Judith Anne (Drill in the USA and offshore USA!! Drill NOW and build more refineries!!!! Defund the EPA!)
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To: Salvation

Wow! Wonderful. Thanks for posting this.


18 posted on 10/26/2009 8:34:51 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Palin/Hunter 2012 -- Bolton their Secretary of State)
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To: piytar

**It’s going to get ugly. That said, there are true men (and women) of stature who will rise to the challenge...**

It could get very ugly for us.....but look at the long term goal of happiness in heaven.


19 posted on 10/26/2009 9:22:11 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: mlizzy

There are other evils to abolish along with abortion — how about the belittling of the Sacrament of Matriomony that is happening.

Prayers for couples who are dedicated to their Catholic and Christian marriages.


20 posted on 10/26/2009 9:23:44 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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