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| Battle of Muret |
The position of the crusaders seemed gloomy as they headed into the battle against the heretics at Muret. They were greatly outnumbered. The Cistercians at the monastery in Toulouse, where Saint Dominic was praying the rosary with a group of soldiers, asked him how he thought the battle would turn out. After a lengthy silence Saint Dominic replied, “There will be a time when the malice of the men of Toulouse will have its end; but it is far away. There will be much blood shed first, and a king will die in battle.” At first they thought this prediction referred to Prince Louis of France, the son of Philip Augustus, who had joined the army of the crusaders in the previous February but Saint Dominic said it would not touch him, but another. Soon afterwards Saint Dominic left to join the crusaders.
Mother Francis Raphael Drane wrote that as the king of Aragon appeared with an army of 100,000 men on September 13, 2013 , “the scene that morning within the walls of Muret was surely a religious one. Eight hundred devoted men, fortified by praying the rosary and the sacraments of reconciliation, were about, as it seemed to human judgment, to lay down their lives as a sacrifice for the faith. There might be seen how the holy sacrifice was celebrated in the presence of them all; and how, when the Bishop of Uzès turned to say the last 'Dominus vobiscum,' De Montfort knelt before him clad in armour, and said, 'And I consecrate my blood and life for God and His faith;' and how the swords and shields of the combatants were once more offered on the altar; and when it was over, and the horsemen were gathering together, and the very sound of the attack was at the gates, these men all once more dismounted, and bent their knee to venerate and kiss the crucifix, extended to them by the Bishop of Toulouse.”
Fortified by faith the soldiers rode out to battle, and the priests returned to the church to pray. Drane wrote, “Nothing more heroic is to be found in the whole history of chivalry, than this battle of Muret. It was a single charge. They rode through the open gates, and after a feigned movement of retreat, they suddenly turned rein and dashed right on the ranks of their opponents with the impetuosity of a mountain-torrent. Swift as lightning they broke through the troops that opposed their onward course, scattering them before their horses hoofs with something of supernatural energy, nor did they draw bridle till they reached the centre of the army where the king himself was stationed surrounded by the flower of his nobles and followers. A moment's fierce struggle ensued; but the fall of the king decided the fortune of the day. Terrified by the shock of that tremendous charge, as it hurled itself upon them, the whole army fled in panic. The voice and example of their chief might again have rallied them, but that was wanting; Peter of Aragon lay dead on the field, and Dominic's prophecy was fulfilled”
Drane, Augusta Theodosia (Mother Francis Raphael), The Life of St. Dominic and a Sketch of the Dominican Order with an Introduction to the America edition by Rev Joseph Sadoc Alemany, D.D., P. O’Shea Publisher, New York, New York, 1867, (p. 46-49).
