The Martyrs of Otranto

The Ottoman Empire


After conquering Constantinople, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II set his sights on Rome, hoping to reunite the Eastern and (defunct) Western Roman Empire under one ruler. As he put it, "There is to be only one faith, one empire, one sovereignty in the whole world.” And further, "I give thanks to Muhammad who has given us this splendid victory; but I pray that he will permit me to live long enough to capture and subjugate Old Rome as I have New Rome." Envisioning himself as the successor to Caesar, Mehmet came frighteningly close to accomplishing his goal. Celso Maffei wrote to the Venetian Doge, "The axe is at the root. Unless divine help comes, the doom of the Christian name is sealed."

In 1481 a massive Ottoman fleet landed in Otranto, a town located in the southern “heel” of the Italian peninsula. An enormous number of the town’s population was put to the sword by the Muslim invaders. Noteworthy among a long list of atrocities committed by the Turks: the archbishop and bishop were killed, the latter sawed in half, 800 citizens who refused to convert to Islam were led to a hill and summarily beheaded while others were shackled and sold into slavery. In all, some 12,000 Italians were killed. A worried Pope Sixtus IV called for a crusade and, were it not for the combined forces of King Ferdinand I of Naples, France and Hungary, not to mention the unexpected death of the seemingly invulnerable Sultan (some would rightly call his demise an act of divine providence), Rome might have finally fallen to the armies of Islam.

The remains of the martyrs were collected by pious souls and, today, they repose in the Church of Saint Caterina in Otranto.