I learned recently that the ceiling of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, on the Capitoline Hill, with its gold, deep blue, heraldic devices, Marian imagery and martial trophies was made in honor of the Holy League over the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571.
The basilica itself is on the Arx of the Capitoline Hill where the Temple of Juno Moneta was, Juno the “warner” (Latin moneo). This is where we get the word “money”. In Italian a coin is “una moneta”. When the Gauls invaded in 390 BC the Romans sheltered on the Capitoline. One night some Gauls scaled the cliff and wound up in the pen of the sacred geese of Juno which made a racket, thus awakening and warning the Romans. Thus, Juno the Warner. The money connection is that is where the mint for coins was. Hence, “money”. In any event, the victory over the heathen at Lepanto was certainly Our Lady’s victory, and the feast was originally called Our Lady of Victory, though now it is called Our Lady of the Rosary.
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Also in Rome today… there is a Marian conference at my old school, the Augustinianum. Card. Burke defends the title Co-Redemptrix. Leo did not invite Card. Burke to the big “spit in the bucket” meeting going on across the way.
JUST IN: Cardinal Raymond Burke today in Rome opens the Oct. 7-8 Marian Conference, “De Maria numquam satis” [about Mary, one can never say enough] — The Blessed Virgin Mary in Dogma and Worship — on the 455th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto. https://t.co/L74oJoHIQF
— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) October 7, 2026
White to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Not on ROME 26/10– Day 06: Tomorrow should be good: “I think Commander Data would figure a way to eat snails faster.”
