The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-09-13
TO REFORM ARMY
OF THE VATICAN
Reorganization of Tiny But His
toric Force Is Planned

Rome, Sept. l3.-ln consequence Of
series OF Incidents the most recent
OF which was the mutiny Of the Swiss
guards, the vatican authorities are to-
day taking steps To reform the tiny.
but historic, army under their control.
Although consisting of less than 300
men. the armed forces of the Holy
See comprises five different corps.
They are the noble guards. Swiss
guards, Palatine guards. gensdames
and iircmcn. or as they are called.
guards of the fire"
The most important of these is the
today this organization dates back To
a little over one hundred years. The
predecessors of the noble guard, how
ever, first came into existence i'm liSi,
having been organized as papal
guard IN the time of lnnocent VIII.
They were, however. disbanded in
1898 when Plus VI was carried off 10
| France. whence he never returned. In
y SOL an agitation was started in Rome
among the aristocraCy again To form Il
body guard for the pontiff, and an
address was sent To Plus VII, offer
| ing their services gratiously. TO this
| Plus replied by message from his sec
Rotary Of state, dated May II, 1901,
| which may be- called their act Of foun-
dalton. and which provided that the
corps consist of sixty individuals, men
and officers. Now they are reduced Ia
about fifty ana their command, which
was hereditary in the Barberini and
! Altieri families has lately passed IL
the Rospigliosi, the present command
or being Prince Camille. The Amer
| lean connection of this family are no.
Iiable, Prince Camill having two sons
| both of whom married American girls
| The wife of one was Miss Ethel Julia
Bronson. OF New York, while the 9th
er made Miss Mildred Haseltine his
wife.
First Guard Destroyed.
The Rospigliosi are very proud %
having had the communicating Of the
noble guard conferred upon them, a:
thereby they take rank with the flv'
other houses which hold heredity posi-
tons at the papal court. These ar
the two princes assistants of the papa
throne. namely the heads of the or
SIM and COlonna families, deadly riv
ais i'm the middle ages; the master @
the sacred hospice, who is the hea'
Of the Ruspoli family; the standar'
bearer of the holy church, the head o
the Patrizi- MontorO; and the marshal
Of the conciave, the head of tn
Chigi.
To ;hat warrior pope of the DELI
Revere house. julius H. who "threN
the keys of st. Peter into the Tibei
saying that he had more need of tn
sword Of ST Paul" who built the cas-
tie of Ostia and fortified the monas
terry Of Grottaferrata, and who wa
hoisted up in a basket To inspect tn
siege works of Bologna. the forma
ton of the famous corps of the Swis
guards was due.
The bellicose pontiff in Octobe
lbVHt 'IIllSNth ANo WI
were officially described as 'Praetol
ION guards Of the pOpe's person an
palace" but only two hundred cam
30 Rome under the command of Gas
par de Silenen, "A nobleman of Lucei
he. who remained at the papal cou1
till his death. The Swiss guard ";
destroyed almost Ia a man in the "a
. nous sack of Rome by the. constab
+ of Bourbon in 1927. Ii was reorgani;
: ed in ljiS aud since then has nev'
D ceased To exist. with the two notab
hut temporary exceptions of u
: French occupation of 1898 and lSO
. The Swiss guard now numbers on
e about seventy, and are recruit'
e equally from the Catholic German al
French cantons Of Switzerland.
e The palatine guard formerly WI
composed of members of the upp
middle class. but it is now recruits
from among shop keepers and smi
tradesmen belonging to Catholic clu
S and societies i'm Rome.
= II is not uuartered inside the vat
y can, but receives an indemnity {
expenses and uniforms and is on
e called upon for great functions
important events, such as canor
II sation in st. Peters, or the visit
a foreign ruler To the pontiff.
a commander holds the rank of gen
le raj. and until lately this position
r entrusted To Count Camille Pee
nephew of Pope Leo XIII.
Enlisted NapoIeon's Soldiers.
The papal gensdarmes owe IN
origin to the time when Plus VII "
ns in exile after having been kidnapr
W and taken TO France by gene
ID obeying the instructions of the gre
\ Bonaparte. Forced To submit to
H. will of Napoleon, he had as guar
T. the French grenadiers. who, howeV
he admired greatly. When rus
returned to Rome he constituted
bodyguard for himself which he ca
cd the "papal carabineers.' wear
a the same uniform as Napoleons $
lit diers. and being composed OF II
u who had served under the empei
nj Napoleon himself took "a great INT
est in this body, but he did not
the name given to II and he indu
the pontim to change II into that
gcnsdarmes.
= Nnwodavs the gensdarmeS are