The Siege of Malta and Our Own Fight in 1565, Perhaps the Greatest Siege
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The Siege of Malta and Our Own Fight Page 1 of 3 In 1565, perhaps the greatest siege of all times took place on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The attackers were the Ottoman Turks, and the defenders were the Knights of St. John, a Catholic military men’s order. In the spring of 1565, the Turks brought 40,000 men in 200 ships and laid siege to the tiny island of Malta, which is only 9 miles wide by 18 miles long. Malta had only 700 knights plus about 8,000 men, against 40,000 Muslims. The Turks had sent spies the previous year, who measured every fort and counted every gun, and based on this intelligence, the Turks estimated that they would take the forts within a few days, or at most within a few weeks. The Muslims did not realize that the Knights’ fight was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places (Eph 6:12). The Knights of St. John was an international military order led by the Grand Master of the Order, Jean de La Valette. Originally founded to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land from Muslim assaults, the Knights grew to become a great sea power based out of Malta. Muslim Sultan Suleiman II had taken much of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, and wanted to extend his Muslim reign into Western Europe. Malta was the stepping stone to an attack on Italy, Rome and the West. Even before La Valette got word of the impending Muslim attack, he had been reinforcing the four main garrisons of Malta, storing up ample supplies of food, water and armament. He requested the help of Emperor Charles V, the Viceroy of Sicily and the rulers of Christian Europe. And the Knights prayed. Even during the siege they kept the liturgical feast days. The Muslims arrived on May 18, 1565 and soon began the siege of Fort St. Elmo at the entrance of the Grand Harbor of Malta. Fort St. Elmo was expected to fall in a few days against the much greater cannon firepower and the sheer numbers of Muslim attackers. St. Elmo endured a siege which averaged 6,000-7,000 cannon shots on most days. Incredibly, St. Elmo held out for over a month. The losses of the Turks were inexplicably heavy as compared to those of the Christians during the battles for the Fort. For example, during one major assault on Fort St. Elmo, 2,000 Turks were killed, while only 10 Knights and 70 Maltese soldiers died. During the first all- night attack of the siege, the Muslims lost 1,000 men and the Christians lost 150. On one of the last days of fighting at St. Elmo, the Turks lost 2,000 in one day, compared to only 200 of the Christians. The Christians’ fight was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of this world of darkness (Eph 6:12). Not everyone in the fort wanted to accept the slow martyrdom of remaining under constant bombardment. Some knights of St. Elmo wanted go forth and meet the enemy and die on the offensive, rather than die by siege, and they informed the Grand Master that they intended to go out of the fort and meet death while taking on the Turks in a final stand. This rebellion consisted of the younger knights – the older knights were prepared to obey the Grand Master of the Knights and remain in the besieged fort till the very end. The Grand Master reminded the men that a soldier’s duty is to obey. “We swore obedience when we joined the order. We swore also that our lives would be sacrificed for the faith, whenever and wherever that call might come. Our brethren in St. Elmo must now accept that sacrifice.” Inspired by the Grand Master, the Knights remained in the Fort, and stayed to the very end. Eventually the constant bombardment took its toll. The night before the fort fell, the two priests who remained in the Fort, heard the confessions of all the men who remained in the fort. On the day of the final battle for St. Elmo, 100 men remained in the fort. The Turks came on in their thousands, and still the men held them off for a time. The severely wounded asked to be propped up in chairs in the breached walls, so they could remain in the fight. Finally the fort fell, The Siege of Malta and Our Own Fight Page 2 of 3 and everyone in the fort was killed, including the two priests who remained with the men. Only nine Knights survived, enslaved by the Turks and never heard from again. But the Turkish losses were out of all proportion to the Christian losses. In all, 8,000 Muslims were killed in the taking of St. Elmo, while Christians lost 1,500 – six Muslims for every one of the Christians. The fort fell on June 23rd, the Vigil of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, the patron the Knight’s Order. While a military loss, it was as though God chose to honor these men even more by making them like their patron saint even in death; for in the same way that St. John the Baptist was martyred, a number of the men were given the glory of martyrdom by the same means on the Vigil of their patron’s feast day. Their fight, like ours, was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of this world of darkness (Eph 6:12). After the fall of St. Elmo, the Muslims focused on the other two forts which also protected the coveted harbor, resting on two peninsulas across the harbor from St. Elmo, half a mile away. While La Valette continually asked for reinforcements from the Christian rulers during that four-month siege, no real reinforcement came. Whether it was lack of will, poor planning or storms, in the end, God showed that the Knights’ victory would come about not through superior military odds but by divine help. A small relief of 700 men did make its way to the beleaguered Fort St. Angelo under cover of an unusual fog which had covered the island. These arrived on the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, June 29, as if to show that the fight was in God’s hands. In one of the battles for the remaining forts, the Turks lost 3,000 men in one day, compared to the Christians loss of only 250. In all, it is estimated that the combined Muslim losses were 25,000 men, compared to 2,500 Christian soldiers plus 7,000 civilians. Eventually the Turks abandoned the siege of Malta which had cost them so much. The Muslims gave up the siege on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of this world of darkness (Eph 6:12). This was not the first time in which great victories bringing peace have occurred on Our Lady’s feast days. From the surrender of German and Italian forces in Africa in World War II on May 13, 1943 (the feast of Our Lady of Fatima), to the ending World War II on August 15, 1945 (the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven), to the Christian victory in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, ending Muslim rule in Spain, on July 16, 1212 (the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel), Our Lady has brought peace to those who beseech her for it over the centuries. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of this world of darkness (Eph 6:12). Sr. Josefa Menendez was a religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart. Once when Sr. Josefa had difficult sacrifices to make, Our Lord encouraged her with these words: “Sin, which is an infinite offence against the infinite majesty of God, requires a punishment and reparation that is infinite…” Souls in the state of grace, when they suffer willingly, united to Christ dwelling in them in grace, take on a value which can be limitless. For this reason Our Lord said to her: “Your sufferings impede the loss of many souls; you satisfy the Divine Majesty for the outrages which He has received from them, and you expiate the pain which their sins merit.” She was simply living what Our Lord said in John 14:12, “Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these besides.” So whenever we have a sacrifice to make that we think is insurmountable… whenever the struggle to stay in or grow in grace seems daunting, we must remember the works that God can do with a willing soul that is in the state of grace. For this reason St. Paul said, “Work out your The Siege of Malta and Our Own Fight Page 3 of 3 salvation in fear and trembling, for God is at work in you, both willing and doing” (Philippians 2:12). Sometimes, like the younger knights in Fort St. Elmo wanted to do, we may prefer to just have it out in one big fight; but it takes greater perseverance and fortitude, and therefore it has greater expiatory merit, to plan our combat and endure it patiently, doing what is right when all around us we feel as though we are under a siege of immorality.