On 7 February, Portugal celebrated the Feast of the Five Wounds of Christ, in memory of the promise that Our Lord Jesus Christ made to Alphonse Henriques regarding the foundation of Portugal.
Redaction (14/02/2024 09:00, Gaudium Press) At the age of 30 years, Alphonse gathered an army of 12,000 men and set off southwards to fight the infidels. When they reached Ourique, in the Alentejo region, his warriors were in a state of insecurity in the face of the Muslim army, which was made up of about 400,000 soldiers and was commanded by five African and Andalusian kings.
Later, Alphonse personally wrote down what had happened.
He went into his tent and, taking the Bible, read in the Book of Judges about the victory of Gideon who, with only 300 chosen men, defeated 135,000 Midianites who were oppressing the Chosen People. In his prayer to the Redeemer, he expressed his thoughts:
You know very well, Lord Jesus Christ, that for Your sake I have taken upon myself this war against Your adversaries; it is in Your hand to give me and mine strength to overcome these blasphemers of Your Name.
Then Our Lord, who was nailed to the Cross and surrounded by Angels, appeared to Dom Alphonse, who bowed down, and in his shedding of tears, said:
“To what end do you appear to me, Lord? Do you want to add faith to someone who has so much? It is better for my enemies to see You and believe in You than for me, who from the font of my Baptism knew You to be the true God, the Son of the Virgin and of the Eternal Father, and so I know you now.
The Redeemer answered him: “I have not appeared in this way to add to your faith, but to strengthen your heart in this conflict, and to found the principles of your kingdom on a firm rock. Trust, Alphonse, because you will not only win this battle, but all the others in which you fight against the enemies of My Cross!”
“Strengthen your heart” meant that he could not allow himself to be carried away by the insecurity of his soldiers, but instead to be invested courageously against the Mohammedans.
Jesus said that Alphonse would found an empire through which His Name would be preached in unknown nations; we could say that He was actually prophesying the evangelization of Brazil.
Our Lord added as well that Alphonse should compose a coat of arms on which would be depicted the five wounds of Our Crucified Lord, representing the price He paid to redeem the human race.
[1] Extract taken from the article ‘Afonso Henriques and the Battle of Ourique’, by Paulo Francisco Martos.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm, with files from Paulo Francisco Martos
