Feast of Our Lady of Victory

Victory, Feast of Our Lady of.—There are several feasts, in various churches, celebrated under this title. The best known are:

(1) October 7, in commemoration of the naval victory near Lepanto on October 7, 1571; instituted the same year as a greater double by Pius V; changed by Gregory XIII on April 1, 1573, into the feast of the Holy Rosary, first Sunday of October. The original feast, October 7, is still celebrated in many churches, e. g in the dioceses of Messina and Nicosia, in the Church of Nuestra Senora del Palan, at Barcelona, Spain, and elsewhere.

(2) Fourth Sunday of October (Our Lady of Victories), double of the first cia915 With octave, kept in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, Paris, in thanksgiving for the victory of Louis XIII over the Calvinists after the siege of La Rochelle in 1628. The celebrated Archconfraternity of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, originated in this church.

(3) Second Sunday of November, at Prague, Bohernia, in the Carmelite church; and at Rome in Santa Maria della Vittoria, double of the first class, in commemoration of the battle of Weissenberg on November 8, 1620. Formerly this feast was celebrated all over Bohemia and Silesia (double of the second class, Decree of July 13, 1675).

(4) At Toledo, Spain, September 6, greater double, in thanksgiving for the victory of the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand at Nordlingen, September 6, 1634.

(5) The last Sunday of September, in the Diocese of Marsi, Italy, in commemoration of the victory of Charles of Anjou over Conradin at Tagliocozzo in 1268.

F. G. Holweck.