Happy Birthday Badger Catholics!!

Thanks for the happy birthday wishes on Twitter, but actually the Blog is three years old today!  Out baby's all growsed up!

Excuse spelling mistakes. Taken from Islam at the Gates by Diane Moczar. 

The sultan saw no reason why Belgrade should not easily fall, Hunyadi or no Hunyadi.  There was, however, someone else besides Hunyadi to reckon with, and he was a saint.   The combination of St. John Capistrano and Janos Hunyadi turned out to be unbeatable, even by Allah's instrument in person.  Traveling round Hungary, the great Italian preacher galvanized into action those who heard him speak.  St. John himself had been at first discouraged by the response to is impassioned appeals, but one day at Mass he saw in a vision an arrow with the words, "Fear not, John.  Go down quickly.  In the power of My name and of the Holy Cross thou wilt conquer the Turks."  He spoke of this vision in his sermons, and his new confidence was infectious.  Thousands of peasants and townsmen rushed to join the crusade, both from Hungary and from the neighboring countries.  

The Battle of Belgrade features 150,000 Turks strong, battle tested who just took the most impregnable city in Christendom, Constantinople. St. John of Capistrano is not impressed.

Does this remind you of a certain epic trilogy recently adapted to film??

When it became clear that the Turks were about to cut the city off more completely from all outside contact, St. John slipped out of Belgrade, promising to return with an army that would astonish both Turks and Christians.  Meanwhile, the defenders were appalled at the sheer number of mend and especailly of artiliary mustered by the Turks, which Hunyadi said was four times as much as the Turks had ever previously assembled.  The bombardment was in full swing by the time St. John returned.  When Hunyadi saw the motley crowd that the priest was bringing him, he declared he could not fight with such an untrained force.  According to some reports, he had begun to think that a truce with the sultan was the only way to save at least some lives in this terrible extremity.  The saint disagreed, arguing vehemently and promising victory, and the hero at last yielded to his friend's entreaties.

The whole story of the siege and of the inspired tactics of the defenders, both on land and water, it too much to tell in detail here.  During the battles, Capistrano would stand on a high point of the shore, within sight of both Turks and Christians, waving a banner of the cross and calling out the name of Jesus.  He spent much time at an inland camp receiving each group of new volunteers as it came in and knelt for his blessing.  He also evacuated the sick and wounded from the fortress to upstream villages.  He hardly ate or slept, though food was plentiful, for now crusaders were coming from Germany, Poland, Bohemia, and elsewhere - thousands of them. They were not professional soldiers but they venerated St. John so highly that they would follow him anywhere.  Priests and religious came with the new contingents, celebrating Mass, chanting their office, and hearing confessions.  One soldeir is said to have remarked, "We have a holy captain.  We must avoid all sin."  The battle cry St. John gave them was "Jesus!  Jesus!  Jesus!"  [Can you imagine defending Christendom against the gates of Hell to have this holy Franciscan screaming out the Holy Name of Jesus to bless you and exhort you to fight on!]
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Then it was that a small group of crusaders began firing on some Turks, who fled, and a large number of other Christians began to leave cover and attack, disobeying orders.  St. John attempted to call them back, but his voice went unheard.  He went outside the walls to bring them back, but when defenders inside the fortress saw him, they rushed out to join him.  Seeing such a throng approaching, the Turks began to flee and the Christians rushed forward, capturing the Turkish siege guns without a fight.  St. John began to see God's will in this spontaneous attack, and shaking off those who would have restrained him, he followed the crowd and climbed onto a heap of dirt with his standard-bearer next to him.  There he cheered the Christians on as they battled the Turkish reserves, waving his cross and shouting prayers.  The sultan himself, furious and incredulous, chanrged into the battle and managed to cut off the head of one crusader before receiving an arrow in his thigh and being forced into ignominious retreat.  He cursed the panicky flight of the Janissaries so fiercely that their leader turned back into the fray and was cut down before the sultan's eyes  At dusk, the crusaders returned to the fortress; the Turks had withdrawn to their camp, anxious to leave the place as soon as possible; they had lost about 50,000 men, 300 guns, and 27 boats.  Belgrade was saved.  

The Battle of Belgrade began with just 4,000 armed troops defending the city.

All the cities in Christendom are in spiritual desolation.  We must fight.  Men, have you grabbed Fr. Heilman's new book?