oupacademic:

Very Short Fact: On this day in 1566, Pope Pius V was elected:

On the anniversary of the naval battle at (p. 27) Lepanto, Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to be celebrated on 7 October. Catholics believed themselves to be victorious through the help of the Holy Mother of God, invoked by praying the rosary. The feast confirmed a trend among Spanish and other Catholics to define themselves, in part, by opposition to Muslims. There is no other such religious feast by which Catholics have ever defined themselves against Hindus, Buddhists, or the followers of other world religions.

[p. 26, 27, Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction, by Gerald O’Collins]

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Image: Pius V, by Scipione Pulzone. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.