The Great Miracle of the 813 Martyrs of Otranto

[Stone]

The Great Miracle of the 813 Martyrs of Otranto

TIA | July 20, 2024

It was July 28 in the year 1480. On that hot and sultry summer day, the people of the town of Otranto, the easternmost city of the Italian Peninsula, were surprised to see a great Turkish war fleet approaching the city shores.

The fleet appears on July 28, 1480, and 15 days later the Turks enter Otranto

The Turkish commander Gedik Ahmed Pasha was seeking revenge for his failure to take the fortress of the Island of Rhodes. He had set out for the port of Brindisi, but the winds had diverted him south and sent his 90 galleons to the quiet isolated village of Otranto with its 6,000 inhabitants.

For 15 days, from July 28 to August 11, Captain Francesco Zurlo and the town’s citizens, untrained for war, held off the attackers. But the Turkish bombs finally opened a gap in the city walls, and the Turks overran the city, falling upon and slaughtering all who came in their way.

The town’s population had taken refuge in the Cathedral. The Turks knocked down the door and were met by the elderly Archbishop Stephen Pendinelli, who stood before them fully vested and with Crucifix in hand. He was given the choice: “Mohammed or the sword.”

The Archbishop responded by loudly calling out for the assailants to convert to Christ, the only Savior. He was torn to pieces by their scimitars and his head was placed on a stake, which was paraded to the city’s entrance. Until the end, the steadfast Prelate encouraged his people to remain faithful to Christ and His Holy Church.

Then Gedik Ahmed Pasha ordered the women and children to be set apart to be sold into slavery. The men over age 15 – 813 in all – were gathered together. The Ottoman captors threatened to behead them all unless they would renounce Christ and embrace Mohammedanism. If they would perform this simple act, they – along with their wives and children – would be freed.


Antonio Primaldo, a standing witness to the Faith

One of the company stepped forward. It was the old and respected town tailor, Antonio Primaldo, who spoke in a loud and clear voice these words:

“My brother, until today we have fought and defended our country land to save our lives, and for the glory of our earthly governors. Now the time is come for us to fight to save our souls for the Lord, who died for us on the Cross. Thus it is fitting that we should die for him, remaining firm and constant in the faith, and with this earthly death we will gain eternal life and the glory of martyrdom.”

The body of Primaldo remained standing after his beheading until the last martyr was killed

Moved by the tailor’s courage and words, the men gave a loud cheer, and in a single voice cried out they preferred death rather than denial of Jesus Christ.

At dawn the prisoners, half-naked and with ropes tied around their necks, were led to the Hill of Minerva outside the city in groups of 50. There, the 813 men and youths were to be killed one by one before the eyes of their families.

Blessed Antonio Primaldo was the first to be beheaded: The valiant tailor, giving the example to those who would follow, stood straight, tall and fearless as a scimitar sliced off his head.

Then a great wonder came over all. For instead of falling to the ground, Blessed Antonio Primaldo’s headless body remained standing, a witness to his faith that could not be felled. The Turkish soldier tried in vain to knock it down. Only when the last of the men was slain did his body collapse of its own accord.

That day the Hill of Minerva became the Hill of the Martyrs.

One of the Muslim officers called Bersabei, seeing this great miracle, was converted and publicly professed his faith in Christianity. His reward was to join the Martyrs of Otranto in their eternal glory and bliss: His fellow Turks immediately seized him and impaled him upon a scimitar.

The skulls of the martyrs enshrined in three large reliquaries in the Cathedral of Otranto

The bodies of the martyrs were not discovered until a year later when Otranto was retaken. Cardinal Pietro Colonna, the papal legate, was among the first to find the remains. He testified that they were intact and “their faces were joyful, as if they were laughing.”

The siege of Otranto, with the martyrdom of its inhabitants, was the last significant military attempt by a Muslim force to conquer southern Italy.

Today the relics of the 813 martyrs are revered in a number of churches throughout Italy and Spain. In a special chapel in the beautiful Cathedral of Otranto, the skulls of large number of the martyrs are housed and honored as precious relics.

Blessed Antonio Primaldi and his companions, known as the Martyrs of Otranto, were beatified in 1771. Their feast day is August 14.