This is great! Running to over 1300 words, you don’t meet many people who can recite G.K. Chesterton’s epic poem, Lepanto, from memory but Collin Cousino of Saint Andrew parish in Saline is somebody who can…and here’s the video to prove it.
Chesterton's poem celebrates Christian Europe’s naval victory over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Thus Europe was saved from further conquest by the formidable Muslim empire.
The victory was ascribed at the time, and since, to a heavenly favor granted through Our Lady in response to the praying of the Holy Rosary. Hence the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary tomorrow, October 7, upon the anniversary of the sea battle.
"I learned the poem in my early teens, maybe about age 12 or 13, it was the first longish poem I ever memorized, and it was kind of an accident,” explains Collin.
“I got a book of Chesterton's collected poems from the library and, when it was time to return the book, that particular poem had made such a strong impression on me that I decided to copy it out into a notebook.”
“Copying it out carefully like that helped impress it strongly on my memory and I found that I could nearly recite it all and, in perhaps after a week or two of effort, I had it down solid.”
“What impressed me was the sense of great spiritual powers at battle, not just men and armies. the Rosary isn't specifically mentioned in the poem but it mentions the vision of Pius V, the powers of Christendom for good and ill, Saint Michael, and Mahound (a medieval version of Mohammed) viewed as like a pagan god or devil. All these are meeting in battle, not only men and ships.” If you would like to read along with Collin, click here for the text of the poem,