Catholic Europe Stopped Islam at Vienna Once Before

Vienna
JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty

Austrians have decided to not elect a leader who is committed to stopping the Muslim migrant invasion. Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) went down to defeat today by a mere 31,000 votes out of 4.47 million votes cast.

Hofer had promised to use under-utilised presidential powers to dissolve a government that may be reluctant to secure the borders and culture of Austria and therefore Europe as well.

It is not to be. At least for now, Austrian patriots will have to look to the past for those willing to stand up against Muslim invaders.

The first time Austria defended western civilization was September 11 (note that date), 1683 when a coalition force including the Habsburg Monarchy, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under Jan III Sobieski, and the Holy Roman Empire, lifted the Muslim siege of Vienna and began the gradual roll-back of the powerful and marauding Muslim army of Ottoman Turks.

In centuries past, Vienna had been seen by the Muslim Turks as the key to their control of Europe standing as it did at the corner of numerous trade routes. That part of Europe had been under vigorous Muslim attack for centuries.

The Muslims, under the command of Grand Vizer Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, began a siege of Vienna on July 14, 1683. The defending troops were vastly outnumbered: 15,000 defenders versus upwards of 150,000 Muslim attackers.

The Muslim forces cut off Vienna completely, and extreme hunger and fatigue set in among the soldiers and citizens. Though the Muslims managed to breach the outer walls, they were unable to take the city.

Relief came with arrival of the King of Poland Jan III Sobieski who led the largest cavalry charge in history: 20,000 mounted Poles, Germans and Austrians. Sobieski himself led the charge with 3,000 Polish Hussars. They killed 15,000 Muslims that day. Within three hours of the final cavalry charge, the battle was over.

Afterward, Sobieski paraphrased Julius Caesar: “I came, I saw, God conquered”, pointing out that it was Catholic Europe that defeated Islam. Until recent days, it was the high-water mark for the Muslim invasion of Europe.

The Battle of Vienna is considered to have been a great victory of Catholicism over Islam. It is certainly how the victors viewed the battle.

Catholic aspects of the Battle of Vienna abound.  The relief of the city by Jan III Sobieski came about because of an alliance brokered by Pope Innocent XI between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Poland, which was also under attack from Muslims.

When the Muslim army advanced against Vienna, the Pope ordered that rosaries be recited in all the religious houses and churches in Rome. Catholics throughout Europe offered the same prayers.

Special devotions to Our Lady Help of Christians were said at the Capuchin Church in Vienna; an image — stilling hanging in Vienna — that became the symbol of the eventual Christian victory over the Turks.

The victory over the Muslims came on May 12 which is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, a feast extended by the Pope to the universal Church as a celebration of the victory at Vienna.

Sobieski began his forced march from Poland to Vienna from the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa on the Feast of the Assumption (when Catholics believe Mary was take bodily into Heaven), August 15, 1683 in order to arrive in Vienna a month later. Our Lady of Czestochowa became an important symbol for the Poles and the Polish Pope John Paul II in the victory of Soviet Communism in the twentieth century.

When the Polish Hussars under Sobieski charged the Muslims that day they sang one of the oldest national anthems in the world, the Bogurodzica (Mother of God).

Similar forces may be lining up today. The still-Catholic Poles elected a very conservative government led by the Law and Justice Party that is already causing headaches for the EU on the question of Muslim migrants. And the Catholic bishop of Salzburg has said Austrians have an obligation to vote for the FPÖ precisely to check the migrant issue.

And the alarm of EU bureaucrats is noted. Before the vote, an alarmed European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: “There will be no debate or dialogue with the far-right.”

The problem is whether largely secular Europe possesses the will to stop the new Muslim invasion. A highly motivated Catholicism stopped them once before, a highly motivated Catholicism not present in Austria today or anywhere in Europe. Catholic Europe stopped Islam at Vienna once before, but Europe is hardly Catholic anymore.

Without a doubt, many will see hope that Hofer came so very close.

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