12/09/2015
12 September - Pesta Nama Maria Tersuci
“In the Name of Mary: Lord God, help!”
Mary! be thou our Mary, and may we feel the saving power of thy sweetest name; may it ever be our comfort to call on that name in all our troubles; may it be our hope in dangers, our shield in temptation, and our last utterance in death.
Sit nobis nomen Mariæ mel in ore, melos in aure, et
jubilus in corde. Amen.
Let the name of Mary be honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, joy in the heart. Amen.
Semoga nama Maria menjadi madu bagi mulut kami, musik bagi telinga kami, dan sukacita dalam hati kami. Amin
Sejarah di balik ditetapkannya tanggal 12 September sebagai Pesta Nama Maria
The Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, celebrated each year on September 12th, is a commemoration of the victory won through Our Lady’s protection at the Battle of Vienna under the great Catholic leader, John III Sobieski, king of Poland, who led the scant but fervent Christian forces against the Ottoman Turks. Like the Battle of Lepanto, Sobieski’s repulsion of the Turks at Vienna was one of the most decisive battles of European history, with all of Christian civilization hanging in the balance.
In 1683, Turkish forces were threatening (once again) to overrun Europe. The infamous Sultan, Kara Mustapha, carried the war into Austria for the purpose of annihilating the civilization of Western Europe and the Catholic religion in particular, boasting that he would not rest until he had stabled his horses in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Seeing the infidel army of 300,000 on a march through Hungary, the Emperor Leopold fled from Vienna. A garrison of only 15,000 men under the command of the valiant Count Stahremberg struggled to defend the city against the Turkish siege, enduring for many days not only the violent assaults but also the horrors of disease and fire.
With the Austrian capital reduced to the last extremity and Count Stahremberg himself wounded, the exhausted men continued to fight desperately, with no hope of success and with no earthly help in sight. Pope Innocent XI urgently appealed to the princes of Europe on behalf of Vienna. Sobieski immediately mobilized the Polish armies and set out on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, “to battle for the glory of the Cross and the preservation of all Christendom,” as he wrote in his letter to the Holy Father.
At Our Lady’s sanctuary at Czestochowa, he raised his sword before Our Lady’s altar and begged the Queen of Heaven to give his troops the victory. The troops themselves likewise prayed for a blessing on their arms. On the march toward Vienna, the men prayed the Holy Rosary and were instructed by Sobieski (who wore an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa) that they would have this battle cry: “In the Name of Mary: Lord God, help!”
In early September they crossed the Danube and joined forces with two German armies of Saxony and Lorraine. Having been unanimously chosen to lead the united armies, he reached the heights of Mount Kalemberg, overlooking Vienna, on September 11. At five o’clock the next morning, the armies of Christendom knelt in prayer as the papal legate, Father Marco d’Aviano, offered Holy Mass. The King yielded the honor of serving that Mass to no one.
Shortly thereafter they gave battle on the plain below with an army of not more than 76,000 men. At the King’s signal the drums rolled, cannons roared, and the great human avalanche plunged down the steep mountain precipices, shouting, “Jesus! Mary! Sobieski! Jesus! Mary! Sobieski!”
The left wing of the European force, formed by one of the German armies, was carried dangerously forward of the battle line by the impetus of their charge, and hastened to retreat before they could be surrounded and slaughtered. Their retreat was taken for flight by the Turks, who rushed forward in pursuit. Despite its early point in the day’s long hours of fighting, this was to be the decisive moment of the battle.
Sobieski himself led the Polish cavalry in a charge to meet the advance against the left flank. The reinforced hussars turned upon the Turks and charged again, making known by their shouts that the “Northern Lion” was on the field. The name of Sobieski spread panic among the Turks, many of whom fled, with the Polish cavalry in pursuit. The battle continued to rage all along the line, with the king everywhere commanding, fighting, encouraging his men and urging them forward.
By five o’clock in the afternoon, Sobieski had penetrated to the very heart of the Turkish army, and was himself the first to storm the seige-camp. Routing the Turks, he saved Vienna and probably all of Europe from imminent Muslim conquest. He was immediately hailed as a hero of Christendom, but he prostrated himself with outstretched arms and declared that it was God’s cause for which he was fighting, and ascribed the victory to Him and the power of Our Lady’s name. “Veni, vidi, Deus vicit,” he wrote in his letter to Pope Innocent XI – “I came; I saw; God conquered..”
A Mass of thanksgiving was celebrated at the cathedral in Vienna, during which Father d’Aviano honored Sobieski with the words from the fourth Gospel’s Prologue: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” And just as Pope St. Pius V had established the Feast of Our Lady of Victory (now known as Our Lady of the Rosary) on October 7, to perpetuate the remembrance of Don Juan of Austria’s heaven-sent victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, so now did (Blessed) Pope Innocent XI establish the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary to be celebrated on September 12 each year as a perpetual commemoration of the great victory She secured for Europe and the Church at the Battle of Vienna.
