In 1683, the Turks besieged Vienna. The united European armies had no chance of competing with the double to triple numerical superiority of the Ottoman army. Testimony of the cruelty of the invasion has been preserved in the account of the knight Jan František Beckovský /1658–1725/, who described the siege of Vienna as follows:
“Meanwhile, the Tatars drew ever closer to the city, first burning the neighboring and surrounding cities, towns, strongholds, villages, and even the entire landscape on this side of the Danube with fire, cruelly slaughtering the old and the infants, so that the whole roads were filled with dead bodies here and there. Then they captured and sold to the Turks up to sixty thousand adults. [...] They threw up to three thousand bombs or fireballs into the city, caused great damage to the buildings, injured and killed many people, and also started a fire through the dispatched incendiaries…”
The fall of Vienna was feared by all of Europe, which would subsequently be unable to withstand the rapid advance of the troops. Not only the inhabitants of the besieged city, but entire nations (especially the Poles) turned to the Virgin Mary for help and urgently invoked her name. On September 12, 1683, the Ottoman army was defeated and compelled to retreat to the Pannonian Plain. In gratitude for effective Marian help, Pope Innocent XI established a feast of the Name of the Virgin Mary for the whole Latin Church, which has been aptly celebrated on the anniversary of the victorious battle since 1911.
When the winds of confusion blow and you encounter the rocks of temptation, when the waves of pride or blasphemy or ambition or envy toss you to and fro, turn your gaze to the Star, invoke Mary. When your spirit's little boat is shaken by hatred or greed or bodily desires, turn your gaze to the Star, think of Mary. In times of danger, in moments of anxiety, in difficulties think of Mary, invoke Mary. Let her image not fade from your mind, let it not fade from your heart. In order to receive the help of her intercession, never cease to follow her example. When you follow her, you will not go astray; when you invoke her, you will not despair; when you think of her, you will not wander. When she holds you, you will not fall; when she protects you, you will not fall into despair and you will not fear. When she guides you, you will not tire; when she helps you, you will reach your goal.
(John Paschal, O.Carm. /+1361/, De tempore, Sermon 57 –
Paschal here quotes from memory the famous text of St. Bernard;
the introductory quote from the work Herald of Old Czech Tales II/3 by J. Fr. Beckovský, 1715,
quoted according to the edition from 1880)
