

One fascinating aspect of the Old Testament is God’s interventions favoring those who do all they possibly can while facing overwhelming odds and counting on Him to do the impossible. As we read about David and Goliath, Gideon and the Battle of Jericho, the Maccabees and others, we have the impression that God actually dons armor and goes to battle on their side. New Testament history counts a number of such interventions. Among these is the marvelous story of the Reconquista, or recapture of Spain from Islamic domination.
Less than seventy years after the death of Mohammed in 632, his followers had already conquered most of the Middle East and North Africa. In the beginning of the eighth century, the leaders of the new religion turned their eyes to Christian Europe, dreaming of new Moorish conquests. On the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar, Visigoth Catholic Spain was in a state of decadence, undermined by the Arian heresy, steeped in vice, its army and people lax, and its leaders divided. In 711, because of internal divisions, traitors informed the Muslims about the weak points along the Spanish southern coast. Not waiting for a second invitation, the Islamic army landed. The poison of treachery added to the ruthlessness of the scimitar conquered all of Spain in a few years. But the Lord of Hosts had long prepared the Spanish David who would face the new Islamic Goliath.
A Warrior, a Cave and a Queen
The Cantabrian Range in northern Spain forms a natural fortress of lofty peaks, deep gorges, narrow valleys, steep cliffs and evergreen forests. This region numbers among the “Peaks of Europe” and was once the paradise of hermits, and the home of bears, mountain goats and soaring eagles. It is also known as the cradle of Catholic Spain, and it is the starting point of our marvelous saga. One day, around the year 718, a troublemaker clambered desperately up rocks and boulders fleeing from a young warrior intent on his capture. Suddenly, the pursued man dashed into a large cave and disappeared into its dark depth. Chasing after him, the warrior found the troublemaker clinging desperately to a venerable hermit. Beside the old man stood a small image of Mary Most Holy with the Infant in her arms. At the hermit’s request, the warrior granted the troublemaker sanctuary and gave up the chase. “God will bless you for this, my friend,” spoke the hermit. The troublemaker’s and the hermit’s names perished with history, but the young warrior’s name was Pelayo, a nobleman of royal lineage and fearless disposition. The cave is known to this day as Covadonga, and the diminutive image of Mary venerated there as Our Lady of Covadonga, Deliverer and Queen of Spain.Early Spain
In the beginning of the eighth century, Spain was ruled by the Visigoth King Vitiza, a man as insolent as he was corrupt. While still a prince, Vitiza murdered the Duke of Fáfila and exiled his son Pelayo. After Vitiza died, his sons were unable to secure the throne because of their cruel father’s unpopularity. Taking advantage of the chaos, the worthy Rodrigo, Duke of Bética, seized power and proclaimed himself king. At this, the supporters of Vitiza and his sons swore revenge. They sent messengers to Mohammed’s followers across the Strait of Gibraltar in North Africa and revealed to them all the weak points along the Spanish southern coast. Tariff bem Ziyad was the one chosen for the task by the shrewd Musa bem Nusayr, governor of Muslim Africa. Aided by yet another traitor, the Count of Olian, Lord of Gibraltar, then at odds with King Rodrigo, Ziyad won many successive battles in 711. What began as a simple incursion became a fullblown war of conquest as many enemies of the Visigoth regime joined forces with Ziyad.
The Fateful Battle of Guadalete
Finally, King Rodrigo was able to gather an army of 100,000 ill-trained men and met the Muslims in Guadalete. In the heat of the battle, the supporters of Vitiza and his sons joined the invading Moors, and attacking from behind decided the day for Ziyad. King Rodrigo was killed and his body vanished. Centuries later his tomb was discovered in Portugal.
Pelayo Emerges
In that battle, Pelayo, whose father the Duke of Fáfila had been killed by Vitiza, also fought. After the defeat of Guadalete, Pelayo fled with family members to Asturias in northern Spain.
Not My Sister
The Resistance Begins

The Battle (718–722)
On that day, two different civilizations and religions faced each other. Islam, which had triumphed over the Middle East and North Africa, was now poised to crush the last stronghold of a ruined country, a destroyed civilization, an enslaved people and a profaned religion. There, at Covadonga, was to be decided whether Spain would be an extension of Islam or the spearhead of Christian Civilization. As Pelayo and his men looked down from the cave of Covadonga they saw a massive Muslim horde. Alkama and his men jeered, sure of an easy victory. A chill of fear compounded the chill of the cave but the indomitable leader, pointing to the small image of Our Lady of Covadonga, reminded his brave men to place all their confidence in her protection. This little Lady “beautiful as the moon, brilliant as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array,”4 could not disappoint their trust. Thus began that terrible, unequal fight. At a signal from Alkama, a multitude of stones and arrows were hurled against the men in the cave. It was then that a wonderful thing happened. The acclaimed sixteenth-century Spanish historian, Father Juan de Mariana, describes the battle: They fought at the entrance to the cave with all sorts of weapons, and a shower of stones. Then it was that God’s power was manifest, favorable to ours and contrary to the Muslims because the arrows and spears that the enemy launched returned to them causing great harm among them. The enemy was astounded at such a miracle. Heartened and on fire with the hope of victory, the Christians emerged from the hideout, few in number, soiled and ragged, and engaged in a melee. They fell fiercely upon the enemy who, thrown off balance, turned and ran.5 Meanwhile, the other warriors, placed in strategic positions throughout the mountains, pushed down huge boulders and tree trunks on the Muslim army now trapped in the deep valleys of the region. Others shot their arrows. At the same time, a frightful storm broke out, which added to the panic, and caused the Muslims to flee in disarray. Pursued by the Christians, they were killed in the Cangas Valley in a terrible battle. The traitorous Don Opas was taken prisoner, and Alkama was slain along with thousands of Muslims. The remaining Moorish army took flight only to be buried by a mountain close to the Deva River that suddenly fell upon them and drowned them in the river. For centuries after that, whenever the river swelled in winter, bones and parts of armor floated to the top. Back in Gijón, on hearing of the astounding defeat, Munuza fled with his troops, only to be pursued by the Spaniards who caught up with him near Oviedo, killing him and his men.
Spain; Don Pelayo After Covadonga
Encouraged by such a victory and Pelayo’s example, an increasing number of Christians joined him. One of them was Alfonso, the son of the Duke of Viscaya, who left his father and his lands to join the fight at Pelayo’s side. Alfonso later married the hero’s daughter, Ormisinda, and at the premature death of Pelayo’s son Fávila, became King Alfonso I the Catholic. Rather than establishing his court in Gijón, the most important city of Asturias, Don Pelayo chose Cangas de Onis, in the region of the “Peaks of Europe,” since it was a more defensible position. Pelayo did not enjoy much peace. He neither sought it nor could he expect it from the Muslims. He spent the rest of his life battling the Moorish invader. He died from natural causes in Cangas de Onis in 737 and was buried by his wife Gaudiosa near the altar of Our Lady in the Cave of Covadonga. The epitaph on his tomb reads: Here lies the holy king Don Pelayo, elected on the year 716, who in this miraculous cave began the restoration of Spain.. . .
Generations of Heroism
The defeat at Covadonga cost the Islamic cause dearly. Arab historians lament that they had despised the Spaniards as “only thirty hungry men who lived on the honey of bees made in the cracks of rocks; and what can thirty men amount to?” Given the consequences of this defeat for the Islamic world, their historians morosely comment, “A grave miscalculation which was the cause of great affliction for Islam.”6 Indeed, this was a miscalculation of historic proportions for, according to the Spanish historian Menéndez Pidal, the average Spaniard was a man who endures the lack of amenities with strong resignation; resists all covetousness and the disturbing allurement of pleasures; is ruled by sobriety, which inclines him to a certain ethic austerity applied to all of life; his is a habitual simplicity of customs, dignity and noble stance, evident even in the humbler classes; he is strong in the family virtues; and when necessary, capable of a heroism rarely imitated.7 In other words, Islam chose the wrong country through which to begin the invasion of Europe. For, after Pelayo, and under the patronage of the Lady of Covadonga, a host of warriors undertook the eighthundred- year war to reconquer for the Cross what the Crescent and treachery had taken in a decade. Outstanding in heroism and dedication to the cause were men like Fernán González (930–970), who defeated the Muslims in the great three-day battle at the Valle de las Espadas (Valley of the Swords), where it is said that Saints James and Millan appeared to aid the Christians in the battle. Another hero of the Reconquista is Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid (1040–1099), the epitome of manly honor and loyalty to the cause of Spain despite rejection by his own king. Another outstanding figure is Saint Ferdinand III of Castille and León (1199–1252). This holy king, with a tender devotion to Our Lady, had a precious ivory statue of the Mother of God and her Infant Son, “The Virgin of Battles,” set in his saddle horn. He never lost a battle. When he breathed his last at fifty-three, exhausted by a warring life, only the kingdom of Granada in the south of Spain was still in Islamic hands, though reduced to being a vassal state to the Christian kingdom. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Kings, after a long, tedious war, received the keys of Granada from its last Muslim king, Boabdil el Chico. The recapture of Spain was complete. May Don Pelayo and all the saints and heroes of the Reconquista pray for all Catholics who, though in different circumstances today, feel backed into a “cave” pressured by the universal “politically correct” call to compromise or dilute their Catholic convictions and principles. Unfortunately, at times, the clamor even comes from individual members of the clergy more intent on conforming to the spirit of the age than to the spirit of immutable Truth, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The deposit of God’s Truth in the Divine Magisterium of His Church is the sure beacon, and the eternal inspirer of all those willing to attempt the possible knowing that they can then expect the impossible from the Lord of Hosts and His Holy Mother. “
Notes:
1. Later, Alfonso III had this cross covered in gold and precious
stones. Today, it is kept in the Cathedral of Oviedo with the
name of “Cross of Victory.” http://www.arbil.org/(31)pely.htm.
2. Charles Martel, son of Pepin of Herstal and father of
Charlemagne, defeated Islam at the battle of Tours. See
“Charles Martel,” http://www.newadvent.org?/cathen/03629
a.htm.
3. http://www.arbil.org/[31]pely.htm.
4. Canticle of Canticles 6:9.
5. From an article by José Maria dos Santos, published in
Catolicismo (October, 2002), based on Father Juan de Mariana,
Eduardo Chao (Imprenta y Libreria de Gaspar Roig, Editores,
Madrid, 1848), 308.
6. From an article by José Maria dos Santos, published in
vol. I (Ediciones Minotauro, Madrid, 1957), 247, 248.
7. Ibid., 15, 16.
Albert Pike received a vision which he described in a letter to Mazzini, dated August 15, 1871. This letter graphically outlined plans for three world wars that were seen as necessary to bring about the One World Order. Today we can only but marvel !
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike2.htm
Pike’s Letter to Mazzini
It is a commonly believed fallacy that for a short time, the Pike letter to Mazzini was on display in the British Museum Library in London, and it was copied by William Guy Carr, former Intelligence Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. The British Library has confirmed in writing to me that such a document has never been in their possession. Furthermore, in Carr’s book, Satan, Prince of this World, Carr includes the following footnote: “The Keeper of Manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez’s knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925″.It appears that Carr learned about this letter from Cardinal Caro y Rodriguez of Santiago, Chile, who wrote The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled. To date, no conclusive proof exists to show that this letter was ever written. Nevertheless, the letter is widely quoted and the topic of much discussion.Following are apparently extracts of the letter, showing how Three World Wars have been planned for many generations.“The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the “agentur” (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions.” 2Students of history will recognize that the political alliances of England on one side and Germany on the other, forged between 1871 and 1898 by Otto von Bismarck, co-conspirator of Albert Pike, were instrumental in bringing about the First World War. “The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm.” 3 After this Second World War, Communism was made strong enough to begin taking over weaker governments. In 1945, at the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin, a large portion of Europe was simply handed over to Russia, and on the other side of the world, the aftermath of the war with Japan helped to sweep the tide of Communism into China. (Readers who argue that the terms Nazism and Zionism were not known in 1871 should remember that the Illuminati invented both these movements. In addition, Communism as an ideology, and as a coined phrase, originates in France during the Revolution. In 1785, Restif coined the phrase four years before revolution broke out. Restif and Babeuf, in turn, were influenced by Rousseau – as was the most famous conspirator of them all, Adam Weishaupt.)“The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the “agentur” of the “Illuminati” between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion…We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.” 4 Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, world events, and in particular in the Middle East, show a growing unrest and instability between Modern Zionism and the Arabic World. This is completely in line with the call for a Third World War to be fought between the two, and their allies on both sides. This Third World War is still to come, and recent events show us that it is not far off.

I am the bloodline of Pelagius(Pelayo),the past king of Asturias.And I,and he, in spirit thank you all that remember his sacrifice and faith that upheld the faith in what we believe.Much thanks and salute.
Comment by Asturias — May 21, 2011 @ 11:59 pm |