rce against them. Overwhelmed and crushed they were, but they revived.
The Seljukians fell, in consequence of the united zeal of the great
Christian commonwealth moving in panoply against them; the Ottomans
succeeded by reason of its deplorable divisions, and its decay of faith
and heroism.

2.

Whether indeed in the long run, and after all his disappointments and
reverses, the Pope was altogether unsuccessful in his warfare against
the Ottomans, we shall see by-and-by; but certainly, if perseverance
merited a favourable issue, at least he has had a right to expect it.
War with the Turks was his uninterrupted cry for seven or eight
centuries, from the eleventh to the eighteenth; it is a solitary and
singular event in the history of the Church. Sylvester the Second was
the originator of the scheme of a union of Christian nations against
them. St. Gregory the Seventh collected 50,000 men to repel them. Urban
the Second actually set in motion the long crusade. Honorius the Second
instituted the order of Knight Templars to protect the pilgrims from
their assaults. Eugenius the Third sent St. Bernard to preach the Holy
War. Innocent the Third advocated it in the august Council of the
Lateran. Nicholas the Fourth negotiated an alliance with the Tartars for
its prosecution. Gregory the Tenth was in the Holy Land in the midst of
it, with our Edward the First, when he was elected Pope. Urban the Fifth
received and reconciled the Greek Emperor with a view to its renewal.
Innocent the Sixth sent the Blessed Peter Thomas the Carmelite to preach
in its behalf. Boniface the Ninth raised the magnificent army of French,
Germans, and Hungarians, who fought the great battle of Nicopolis.
Eugenius the Fourth formed the confederation of Hungarians and Poles who
fought the battle of Varna. Nicholas the Fifth sent round St. John
Capistran to urge the princes of Christendom against the enemy.
Callixtus the Third sent the celebrated Hunniades to fight with them.
Pius the Second addressed to their Sultan an apostolic letter of warning
and denunciation. Sixtus the Fourth fitted out a fleet against them.
Innocent the Eighth made them his mark from the beginning of his
Pontificate to the end. St. Pius the Fifth added the "Auxilium
Christianorum" to our Lady's Litany in thankfulness for his victory over
them. Gregory the Thirteenth with the same purpose appointed the
Festival of the Rosary. Clement the Ninth died of grief on account of
their su