Ave Maria!

In this entry of Standing Fast, Fr. Angelo Geiger F.I. talks about Our Lady of Victories and the Battle of Lepanto won by the Christian forces against the Ottoman empire in 1571. More than ever we need our Lady to overcome the evil launched against us by both secularists and Islamic fundamentalists.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr. Angelo – Standing Fast #3: Our Lady of Victories first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger introduces a wonderful new website called maryvictrix.com – dedicated to the Virgin Mary and specifically as Our Lady of Victory. She is given this title after she gave Christendom the victory over the Muslims in the Battle of Lepanto, in 1571 when Pope St. Pius V implored all Christians to pray the Rosary for this intention.

In this historical context we created this website to promote Marian chivalry among men. By applying these principles of chivalry to spiritual warfare we hope to help men to reclaim their fatherhood, moral leadership, and to become leaders and promoters of their faith.

Come listen to Fr. Angelo’s unique perspective and check out the new site at: maryvictrix.com

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr. Angelo Geiger – Standing Fast #8: Maryvictrix.com first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #080720 ( 22min) Play – Fr. Angelo preaches on the Sunday Mass at the end of our Encampment Weekend for the Knights of Lepanto. The day’s Gospel has three parables of the Kingdom of God, the Field with the Wheat and the Weeds, the Mustard Seed, and the Yeast and the Bread. These parables that are agricultural in their details hark back to the fall which involved good and bad fruit, and so, underscores how salvation comes to us in the same way that the fall happened but in reverse. Listen as Father explains how this refers to our need to battle temptations in our life, to uphold family life and how this fits with the role of the Knights of Lepanto.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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The post Jul 20 – Homily – Fr Angelo: Three Parables on the Kingdom first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Standing Fast #28 – A Young Knight recites the Four Rules of Knighthood ( 2min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

This was sent to us by someone who attended the last Knights of Lepanto Encampment with his son who is the main actor along with Fr. Angelo. He filmed it himself and his children edited it, pretty good for a first try. We need more Catholics doing this. Bravo!

They cover the four rules of being a knight that were discussed at the encampment. These are:

1. Morning Act of Offering

2. Daily Examination of Conscience

3. Treat your Mother with Respect

4. Treat your Sister(s) with Respect

This sounds really tough for a knight of any age, but for one so young! But, hey, no pain no gain. At least there is no “Clean your Room Every Day.” Or is this included in “Treat your Mother with Respect”?

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Fr Angelo – Standing Fast #28: Four Rules for a Young Knight first appeared on AirMaria.com.

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary, shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
3. The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary, shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
10. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
12. All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my rosary is a great sign of predestination.

    (Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan) Imprimatur:
    +PATRICK J. HAYES. D.D. Archbishop of New York

    WHY the daily rosary?

    Our Lady has 117 titles. She selected this title at Fatima:? “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”

    St. Francis de Sales said the greatest method of praying IS – Pray the Rosary.

    St. Thomas Aquinas preached 40 straight days in Rome, Italy on just the Hail Mary.

    St. John Vianney, patron of priests, was seldom seen without a rosary in his hand.

    “The rosary is the scourge of the devil” – Pope Adrian VI.

    “The rosary is a treasure of graces” – Pope Paul V.

    St. Padre Pio the stigmatic priest said:? “The rosary is THE WEAPON.”

    Pope Leo XIII wrote 9 encyclicals on the rosary.

    Pope John XXIII spoke 38 times about our Lady and the Rosary. He prayed 15 decades daily.

    St. Louis de Montfort wrote:
    “The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the
    Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who so loves His Mother.”

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The Rosary defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Lepanto…

The story of the Battle of Lepanto…

Almost from the very beginning of Islam, there were wars upon wars between Christians and Muslims. We remember the Crusade wars, seven major and several minor, which lasted for centuries. This is the story of the Battle of Lepanto, which marked the end of the Crusades and was a turning point in the history of Christianity.?

Charles Martel’s victory at Poitiers definitely stopped the Moslem invasion of western Europe. In the east Christians held firm against attacks of the Muslims until 1453. In that year, Mohammed II threw huge assaults against Constantinople and by the evening of May 29 the Byzantine capital fell. By 1571 the Muslims were firmly installed in Europe. Their ships ruled the Mediterranean Sea from the Strait of Bosporus to the Strait of Gibraltar and constantly preyed on Christian vessels unless they flew the French flag. ?

Pope Pius V, in the last year of his papacy in 1571, tried to rally the nations of Europe to join in a Holy League to stop and roll back the Moslem enemy which threatened the entire continent. Spain, whose King Philip II was also King of Austria, responded favorably. The Muslims were then engaged in the conquest of Cyprus, an island belonging to the Republic of Venice. ?

Leading Venetian officials would have preferred to have worked out some peaceful-coexistence agreement with the Sultan, but under the crusading influence of Saint Pius V, they decided to join the Holy League along with the republics of Genoa and Lucca and the dukes of Savory, Parma, Ferrara and Urbino. ?

The Papal fleet was of course part of the Holy Alliance. Pius V asked Philip to appoint Don John of Austria, the 25-year old son of Emperor Charles V, as commander-in-chief of a planned expedition against the Muslims. After receiving the banner of the Holy League from the Pope, through Cardinal Granvalla, Don John’s fleet set sail from Genoa for Naples on June 26, 1571. ?

Few historians mention that just before the departure, Philip II presented Don John with a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe which she had caused to be miraculously imprinted on the cloak of the Indian peasant Juan Diego in Mexico 40 years before. Don John placed the picture in the chapel of the admiral-vessel, the Genoese John Andrew Doria, asking for Mary’s protection of his expedition. ?

On September 16, the Christian fleet put to sea. Don John anchored off of Corfu where he learned that the Muslims had leveled entire towns and villages and then retreated to the coast of Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth.

At dawn on October 7, at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras, the Christian and Moslem fleets finally came face to face for the battle of Lepanto.?

The wind and all military factors favored the Muslims, but Don John was confident. He boarded a fast ship for a final review of his fleet. He shouted encouraging words to the men and they shouted back. After Don John returned to his own position, the wind mysteriously changed to the advantage of the Christian fleet. First-hand witnesses wrote about this moment as a most dramatic turn-of-events resulting from an “unknown factor”. ?

At that very moment, at dawn on October 7, 1571– as Vatican Archives later revealed–Pope Pius V, accompanied by many faithful, was praying the Rosary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.? From dawn to dusk the prayers continued in Rome as the Christians and the Muslims battled at Lepanto.? When it was all over the Muslims had been defeated. Of some 270 Moslem ships, at least 200 were destroyed.? The Turks also lost 30,000 men while Christian casualties numbered between 4,000 and 5,000.?

The Rosary had won a great military victory. Like all truly great military leaders who hate war and love peace, Don John retired after his victory at Lepanto. He died a few years later at the age of 31. Another who took part in the great battle of Lepanto, Miguel de Cervantes, lived longer to write his famous tribute to Christian chivalry, Don Quixote.?

The origin of the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary on October 7th …

Following the great Christian victory at Lepanto, Pope St. Pius V declared that henceforth a commemoration of the Rosary would be a part of the Vatican’s Mass on every October 7.? His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, went further. In 1573 he established the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary–to be celebrated at all Churches which had specific altars dedicated to the Rosary.?

In 1671 Pope Clement X extended observance of the feast to all of Spain.

Only 12 years later in 1683 the Muslims again swept into Europe. With 200,000 men, they laid siege to Vienna. After months of valiant resistance by a small garrison, the city was relieved by an army under John Sobieski, King of Poland. The Rosary, to which the King was dedicated, was again instrumental in a military victory. Pope Innocent XI consecrated September 12 of that year to the Holy Name of Mary. The Moslem hordes were hurled back yet again at Peterwardein in Hungary by Prince Eugene on the Feast of Out Lady of the Snows, August 5, 1716. As a result of this victory, Pope Clement XI extended the Feast of the Rosary to the Universal Church.

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Homily #081007 ( 15min) Play – On this feast of the Holy Rosary, Fr. Angelo Geiger explains how this feast was originally called Our Lady of Victory in honor of the miraculous victory at the Battle of Lepanto which stopped the Muslim Ottoman Navy from taking over the Western Mediterranean and so prevented them from conquering the rest of Europe. This miracle happened after everyone in Europe prayed to Mary through the Rosary. Let us pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victories in all our battles.
Ave Maria!
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The post Oct 07 – Homily – Fr Angelo: Our Lady of Victory first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #081011 ( 33min) Play – On the first morning of our Fall Encampment for the Squires and Knights of Lepanto we have the honor of having Fr. Pablo Straub as a guest preacher. He gives a profoundly stirring homily on Catholic Men and Fatherhood but starts with the Divine Motherhood of Mary as mentioned in the Gospel and so covers the full spirituality of families.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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The post Oct 11 – Homily – Fr Pablo Straub: Catholic Men first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #090523 ( 10min) Play – Fr. Angelo preaches at the 2nd Mass for the Spring Encampment for the Knights and Squires of Lepanto. He calls the Roman Missal the Dangerous Book for Boys (a book he has talked about before) because it is about the Mass, the re-presentation of the Sacrifice on Calvary where Our Lord engages in the most dangerous battle ever fought, the battle against Satan to save mankind who was enslaved to him.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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The post May 23 – Homily – Fr Angelo: Missal, Dangerous Book for Boys first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #091007 ( 08min) Play – Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary – Our Lady gave the Rosary to the Church as a weapon for spiritual combat that has lead to many spiritual and even physical victories.
Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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The post Oct 07 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: Victories of the Rosary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Standing Fast #31 – Our Lady of Victory ( 9 min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In this edition of Standing Fast Father Angelo returns after a long hiatus and speaks about the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Spirit of Lepanto. It is a spirit of prayer and action, of manly courage and humble recourse to God in times of need

In the video I mention the book by Dom J.B. Chautard, O.C.R., The Soul of the Apostolate.  This link will take you to Amazon for the current published edition of the work.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

The post Video – Standing Fast #31: Our Lady of Victory first appeared on AirMaria.com.