Calendars Other Than Carmelite

Because yesterday, the 12th of September, was the feast of the Blessed Mary of Jesus, O.C.D. I neglected to mention that it was also the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. This is the patronal feast of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, among the best of the religious congregations in this area. And it is also a feast established in honour of the Catholic victory at the battle of Vienna over the Mahometan armies in 1683:

Vienna had to suffer another siege by the mortal foe of Christendom during the reign of Emperor Leopold I. Influenced by Louis XIV of France, the sultan sent directly against Vienna an army of 200,000 men under the command of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha; this army appeared before the city before the gathering of the imperial army had been completed. The defenders f Vienna were led by Count Rudiger von Starrhemberg, Bishop Leopold Kollonitz, who laboured unweariedly for the wounded and for the obtaining of provisions, and the burgomaster, Johann Andreas von Liebenberg. The Turks began the attack 13 July, 1683, and made violent assaults almost daily; the number of defenders sank from day to day, hunger and misery appeared, and the hospitals were full of sick and wounded. It was not until early in September that the relieving army, which had collected at Tulln, set out for Vienna; the commander-in-chief was the King of Poland, John Sobieski; among his generals were Charles of Lorraine, Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, Margrave Louis of Bavaria, and others. The memorable battle began on 12 September; the Christian army descended form the Kahlenberg in three charges and won a brilliant victory over the Turks. Thenceforth Austria and Germany were permanently relieved of the danger of invasion by the Turks, and Vienna was released from its difficult position of being the outpost of Christendom. From the old Catholic Encyclopædia

The John Sobieski in question was the great-grandfather of Charles Edward Louis John Philip Casimir Sylvester Maria Stuart, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Charlie who came so close to restoring a Catholic monarch to the British throne.


As for today, well it seems that Friday the 13th comes on a Wednesday this month.