The Church celebrates this Saturday, September 12, the memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary, a commemoration closely associated with the Christian victory against the Ottoman Empire in Vienna in 1683. However, the liturgical celebration has a Spanish precedent dating back almost two centuries earlier: according to the Diocese of Cuenca, it was in this city of Castilla-La Mancha where its celebration was first authorized, in 1513.
The feast later spread throughout Spain and was already well established in the country when, 170 years later, Pope Innocent XI extended it to the whole Church in thanksgiving for the lifting of the siege of Vienna.
A celebration authorized in Cuenca in 1513
The Diocese of Cuenca itself has recovered this episode from its religious history: «The celebration of this feast was authorized for the first time in 1513, in the Spanish city of Cuenca; from there it became popular throughout Spain».
The origin in Cuenca thus places the celebration much earlier than the historical event with which it would ultimately remain especially linked in Catholic European memory.
Devotion to the name of the Virgin had, moreover, earlier roots. Among those who contributed to its development is Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who in one of his well-known Marian exhortations compared Mary to the star that guides the navigator and urged invoking her in the midst of difficulties.
The celebration born in Cuenca gradually spread over time to other Spanish territories, becoming a feast known in Spain before its incorporation into the calendar of the universal Church.
From Spain to the Battle of Vienna
The event that gave the celebration a universal dimension came in 1683, when the Ottoman Empire laid siege to Vienna. The fall of the Habsburg capital would have meant a significant Ottoman advance toward the heart of Europe.
A Christian relief army, made up of Polish, imperial, and forces from various territories of the Holy Roman Empire, came to the city’s defense under the supreme command of the King of Poland John III Sobieski.
On September 12, 1683, the Christian troops defeated the Ottoman army and ended the siege of Vienna. The campaign was accompanied by a strong religious component, with special prominence given to the Capuchin Mark of Aviano, sent by Innocent XI and later beatified by Saint John Paul II.
After the victory, Innocent XI extended the celebration of the Name of Mary to the whole Church in thanksgiving. Vienna has since remained closely linked to a feast that, by then, already had a 170-year history in Spain.
Read also: September 12: The Sweet Name of Mary
A celebration that remains in the calendar
The celebration later underwent various changes in the liturgical calendar. After disappearing from the General Roman Calendar with the reform following the Second Vatican Council, Saint John Paul II restored the memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary, which is currently celebrated optionally on September 12.
John Paul II himself dedicated some words to this celebration during the Angelus on September 12, 2004. «Following an ancient tradition, the feast of the Name of Mary is celebrated today», he noted then, before recalling that this name, «indissolubly united with that of Jesus», reminds Christians of their Mother.
The spiritual dimension of the feast also continues to be present in contemporary Marian devotion, beyond the historical event of Vienna and its Spanish liturgical origin.
Read also: Msgr. González Chaves: «The name of Mary is a seal of eternity»
More than five centuries after that first authorization in Cuenca, the memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary thus preserves a history that unites Spanish religious tradition with one of the decisive episodes of Christian Europe: Cuenca in 1513 and Vienna in 1683, two moments separated by 170 years in the history of the same celebration.