Swiss Guard: Their Finest Hour, So Far

Posted on December 30, 2023 by Brian H. Gill
Screenshot from Vatican News video of the Swiss Guard at the December 25, 2023
The Swiss Guard at “Urbi et Orbi” address by Pope Francis. (December 25, 2023)

Whether they’re called the Swiss Guard, Papal Swiss Guard, or Pontificia Cohors Helvetica, those 135 men wear what may be today’s most colorful full dress uniforms.

Although they look like something straight out of the Renaissance, the uniform’s not much over a century old.

Up until 1914, when Pope St. Pius X died, each pope had tweaked the design a bit. Maybe because our next Pope, Benedict XV, came on duty about the same time that World War I started, the Swiss Guard’s then-commander, Jules Repond, did the uniform redesign. Or authorized it, at any rate.

I gather that the blue, red, and yellow stripes are Medici family colors. The Basque hat reflects Swiss Guard uniforms painted by Raphael.1 And none of that’s what I was going to be talking about today.

Background: Vatican by the Tiber —

Thoroe's map: Vatican City, including data from OpenStreetMap. (March 23, 2013)
Vatican City, map by Thoroe. (2013) used w/o permission.

Folks in my part of the world, when they talk about such things at all, say “the Vatican”, “Vatican City”, and “the Holy See”, as if they’re all one thing. They’re not.

The Holy See has been around for two millennia. It’s our organizational structure, going back to when being Christian was a criminal offense.

'The Walls and Gates of Rome in the 6th century, with Gothic camps from the Siege of Rome 537-538' from Edward Stanford's 'Procopius, History of the Wars, Books V-VI' (1919) Via Project Gutenberg and Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.Before the Roman Republic trashed its reputation and usefulness, “the Vatican” was a marshy tract of land and a hill on the west bank of the Tiber, across from Rome.

During imperial times, it was an upscale residential district. The land is now a few miles inside Rome’s city limits, and if I go through the whole story, I’ll never finish this in time.

Long story short, part of the Vatican was a cemetery. A notorious criminal and enemy of the state was buried there. We know him as St. Peter. We kept track of his gravesite until, a few centuries later, Christianity was decriminalized.

The current St. Peter’s basilica was built over St. Peter’s tomb — allegedly, since the last I checked, some academics say that this mustn’t be so.

Finn Bjørklid's (?) map showing the Bronze Age collapse.This is the same lot who said Troy didn’t really exist, that the Trojan War never happened, and that’s almost another topic.

Anyway, Vatican City didn’t exist (no, really, it didn’t) until 1929. That’s when the Lateran Treaty sorted out some some long-standing SNAFUs.

How long Vatican City will exist, that I don’t know. It’s a political entity as well as being the Holy See’s headquarters. But the Holy See was around long before Italy was a kingdom,2 and I’m wandering off-topic again.

Popes, 16th Century Politics —

Google Maps: part of Vatican City and Rome, centered on Teutonic_Cemetery. (2023) Imagery by Airbus, Maxar Technologies.
Part of Vatican City and Rome, centered on Teutonic Cemetery.

I’ve read that the Swiss Guard is one of the oldest military units in continuous operation; and that it dates back to 1506 and 1814. Like pretty much else involving humans, the situation’s complicated.

Oversimplifying things something fierce, Pope Julius II organized the original Swiss Guard in 1506.

This was back when the Holy See and secular leaders had very close working relationships.

Constantine the Great’s decriminalizing Christianity was arguably a good idea: but carrying ancient habits and attitudes into the post-Roman world caused problems we’re still sorting out.

On the ‘up’ side, I think Europeans have finally stopped trying to reanimate the Roman Empire, and that is another topic.

Where was I? Swiss Guard. Pope Julius II. European 16th century politics. Right.

Julius II’s Swiss Guard were, I gather, a personal bodyguard for the pope.

The Hundred Year’s War was over by 1506, and the Thirty Year’s War hadn’t started yet. But European warlords were either supporting the Holy Roman Empire, fighting it, or simply at war with their neighbors.

And Julius II had both feet planted firmly in the middle of that mess. Small wonder he wanted a bodyguard.

Fast-forward to 1527. Clement VII was Pope.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, sent some muscle down to lean on Clement VII. Or was plagued with mutinous soldiers who besmirched his fair name. Take your pick.

Either way, an armed force was inside Rome: looting, pillaging, and not being at all polite. This was the eighth “Sack of Rome”, and — so far — the last.

This was in the spring of 1527. There was massive property damage, and an appallingly large number of people were killed, but I’m focusing on what happened in the general vicinity of St. Peter’s Square.3

And Unpaid Troops

Jost de Negker's 'Das hailig römisch reich mit sampt seinen gelidern' 'The Holy Roman Empire including its members', watercolor over woodcut print on paper. (1510) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission
Jost de Negker’s “The Holy Roman Empire including its members”. (1510)

I’ve talked about the Holy Roman Empire before and probably will again. Today I’ll quote what Voltaire said, about two and a quarter centuries after the 1527 sack of Rome, and (pretty much) leave it at that.

“Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.
“This body which called itself and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”
(“Essai sur l’histoire générale et sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations“, Chapter 70; Voltaire (1756) via Wikiquote)

The soldiers who had been looting, pillaging, and committing human rights violations in Rome were mostly Landsknecht. Probably.

Landsknecht were mercenaries, mostly German, and — from the late 1400s to the early 1600s — formed the bulk of Holy Roman Empire’s army. Some of them said they were Catholic, some said they were Protestant.

1566 propaganda print, celebrating faith-based vandalism.Let’s see. What else? The Reformation was in progress, and had been for a decade.

It inspired allegedly-holy zeal and made for generations of propaganda. We’ll be cleaning up the mess for centuries.

I figure that Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had reasons for sending muscle to Rome. Apparently what he had in mind was leaning on Pope Clement VII, who’d been insufficiently cooperative.

Versions of events I’ve found say that the emperor hadn’t said ‘sack Rome’, and that Martin Luther didn’t approve, either.

So, what happened?

Apparently, it boiled down to a labor dispute.

Georg von Frundsberg, who’d been leading the imperial troops, hadn’t paid them for entirely too long. Mainly because funds had run out.

His troops, therefore, insisted on plundering Rome as an alternative. They eventually ran out of Romans to kill or ransom, buildings to pillage and/or burn, and food. That, plague, and troops who weren’t on the guest list, stopped the party in February of 1528.4

I think the emperor’s game plan probably didn’t included a lethal frat party that lasted about eight months. From a public relations perspective, at that time, it wasn’t a good look for the Holy Roman Emperor.

May 6, 1527: Death and Honor —

Google Maps: part of Vatican City, centered on Teutonic_Cemetery. (2023) Imagery by Airbus, Maxar Technologies.
Vatican City, centered on Teutonic Cemetery (Camposanto Teutonico), south of St. Peter’s.

When I started ferreting out information about what happened on May 6, 1527, I figured the “secret passage” the Swiss Guard used to evacuate Pope Clement VII would really be something like a back door or service entrance.

Turns out, it really was a “secret” passage. Or at least one that was somewhat screened from view.

Remembering the Rearguard: 147 Against 20,000

StPetersBasilica.info's photo-map of St. Peter's Square and Castel Sant'Angelo, with The Passetto marked in Red. Image from Google Earth, used w/o permission.
St. Peter’s Square, left; Castel Sant’Angelo, right. The Passetto marked in Red. (StPetersBasilica.info)

The Passetto (“small passage”) is a corridor at the top of an old fortification wall between St. Peter’s Square and the Castel Sant’Angelo.

If there’s a detailed account of what happened in and near St. Peter’s Square on May 6, 1527, I haven’t found it.

What I have gathered is that, as around 20,000 of Holy Emperor Charles V’s troops approached St. Peter’s Basilica, 42 men of the Swiss Guard hustled Pope Clement VII up to the Passetto and over to Castel Sant’Angelo.

The latter started out as Hadrian’s tomb and that’s yet another topic.

Make that probably 42. One source said 40, but that might have been a rounded number or a typo.

The rest of the Swiss Guard, (probably) 147 in number, stayed behind. They took positions in or near the Teutonic Cemetery and the steps of St. Peters.

Their orders may have been to cover the pope’s retreat. Or maybe their job was keeping imperial troops out of St. Peter’s. Maybe both.

My guess is that they were a rearguard. St. Peter’s is a magnificent, massive structure: but it’s designed to let people in, not keep them out. Expecting 147 men to hold off 20,000 at a public venue does not strike me as reasonable.

All 147 fought valiantly, and were killed.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s troops treated St. Peter’s pretty much the way they’d treated the rest of Rome.

Pope Clement VII stayed at the Castel Sant’Angelo for a while, then escaped and/or paid his way out. Maybe there’s truth to both versions of the story.

Today’s Swiss Guard hold their induction ceremony on May 6, honoring the day in 1527 when they saved a pope’s life.5

May 6, 1527, may have been what’s been called “their darkest hour”. But I think it is arguably also their finest. And I hope that it remains so. That was not a pleasant time.

Reputations —

Google Maps Street View: 3 Piazza Papa Pio XII. (image capture September 2015)
St. Peter’s Square, left; the Passetto’s wall, right. (Google Maps Street View September 2015)

It’s now four years shy of five centuries after 147 men of the Swiss Guard fell in and near St Peter’s. Giving a coherent account of their stand against imperial troops is more than I can manage this week.

Finding descriptions of the pope whose life they saved, that was fairly easy. Bear in mind that my native language is English, and that search results seem to favor ‘what everybody knows’ resources.

I’ve read that Pope Clement VII was a Renaissance man whose ready acceptance of new ideas was a stark contrast to the narrow-minded reactionaries who followed him.

Cristiano Banti's 'Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition.' (1857)That fits my native culture’s ‘Galileo, champion of truth and science against the fell forces of ignorance, oppression, and superstition’ mythic narrative.

Oh, right. Galileo’s abrasive personality chafed already-frazzled nerves about 83 years after 1527: and, again, the situation wasn’t simple.

Seeing Pope Clement VII as last of the enlightened popes isn’t entirely wrong.

Every half-millennium or so, we — I’m an American, but just now I’m speaking as a Catholic — go through a rough patch.

Maybe we let problems pile up until something snaps. Maybe it’s a socio-cultural cycle that scholars haven’t defined yet. Either way, we hit one rough patch as the Roman Empire was crumbling, and another — a bad one — about a thousand years back.

The last one, that my culture calls the Renaissance, was complicated by Europe’s northern rulers using grass-roots movements — and that’s yet again another topic.6

I’m about as sure as I can be, that what we call the Counter-Reformation would have happened even if what we call the Reformation hadn’t. And that it would have been called something else.

I think we’re in another rough patch now. And, compared to ones we’ve been through — this one isn’t all that bad, actually. Compared to the others, that is. My opinion.

And Raphael

Raphael's 'The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament', fresco, in the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. (1509-1510)
Raphael’s “The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”, fresco in the Apostolic Palace. (1509-1510)

It’s late Friday as I write this. I spent more time than maybe I should have, trying to find and verify accounts of what happened on May 6, 1527. That may be good news, since this post isn’t as long-winded as it might have been.

On the other hand, I’ve got material that probably won’t fit into another post. Not for quite a while, anyway.

So I’ll drop excerpts from the Polish Wikipedia and two other sources, and wrap things up for this week.

First, about a Raphael fresco that escaped with no more than a little graffiti.

Sacco di Roma, Szczegóły; Wikipedii (Wikipedia, Polish)
Wikipedia”…Gwałtowność i okrucieństwo działań można częściowo wytłumaczyć zapałem protestanckich – głównie niemieckich – landsknechtów Frundsberga, aby zniszczyć centrum duchowe Kościoła katolickiego. Naprzeciw twierdzy, gdzie schronił się papież urządzano parodie procesji katolickich, podczas których żołnierze krzyczeli ‘Vivat Lutherus pontifex!’. Imię Lutra zostało wyryte mieczem na słynnym fresku Rafaela Dysputa o Najświętszym Sakramencie, a w innych miejscach wyryto teksty wychwalające cesarza Karola V. W zwięzły i dosadny sposób opisał te wydarzenia przeor klasztoru św. Augustyna: ‘Mali fuere Germani, pejores Itali, Hispani vero pessimi’ (Niemcy byli źli, Włosi jeszcze gorsi, a Hiszpanie najgorsi)….”

Sack of Rome, Details; Wikipedia, (trans. by Google Translate into English)
“…The violence and cruelty of the actions can be partly explained by the zeal of Frundsberg’s Protestant – mainly German – Landsknechts to destroy the spiritual center of the Catholic Church. Opposite the fortress, where the pope took refuge, parodies of Catholic processions were organized, during which soldiers shouted ‘Vivat Lutherus pontifex!’ Luther’s name was carved with a sword on Raphael’s famous fresco Disputation on the Blessed Sacrament, and in other places texts praising Emperor Charles V were engraved. These events were described in a concise and blunt way by the prior of the monastery of St. Augustine: ‘Mali fuere Germani, pejores Itali, Hispani vero pessimi’ (The Germans were bad, the Italians even worse, and the Spaniards the worst)….”
[emphasis mine]

Next, one of the few specific descriptions of shenanigans in Rome during the 1527 sack. One of the few in English, that is:

“The Mastery of Space in Early Modern Political Thought“, p. 60
Giovanni Botero, the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican and the fusion of the civitas and urbs in sixteenth-century Italy.
Joshua Favaloro (2017)
Dedicated to my Nonna Santa Maria Favaloro who taught herself to read and write.
(A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment [sic] of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History, University of Sydney.)

“…Over the next year, the city was violently plundered and its people murdered. In perhaps the lowest moment in papal history, Lutheran German Landsknecht soldiers taunted him from the outside. According to reports they ran around donning pontifical robes looted from the papal palace shouting: ‘Vivat Lutherus Pontifex!’… 239
[emphasis mine]

Footnotes
239 Charles L. Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), p.322

Third and last excerpt:

“…Forty-two Swiss Guards brought the Pope to safety, while the remaining 147 men took up position on St. Peter’s Square to protect St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican. Alone against the 20,000 attackers, the guards were completely overwhelmed and every single one was massacred. The next day, the rest of the city fell into the hands of the mercenaries and the months-long sack spiralled completely out of control. Without a leader and on the rampage, the mercenaries roamed the streets, pillaging, raping and murdering. The Vatican, churches and palaces were looted, noblemen were forced to pay huge ransoms, and citizens were tortured into handing over their valuables. Even the papal tombs in St. Peter’s Basilica were forced open.…”
(“The darkest day in the history of the Swiss Guard“, Thomas Weibel, Blog (English), Swiss National Museum (May 4, 2023) [emphasis mine]

Maybe someday I’ll find and verify more details. And, on a related note, talk about cartoons/sketches by Raphael that apparently still haven’t been returned to Vatican City.

A mixed bag, talking about Christmas, science, and living in a less-than-ideal world:

1 A little history, a little culture:

2 An organization, territories and a treaty:

3 History, mostly:

4 Details and a ‘dark day’:

5 Places and people:

6 Wrapping up this week’s post:

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Pope’s Christmas Message: “Urbi et Orbi”, December 25, 2023

Posted on December 27, 2023 by Brian H. Gill

“Urbi et orbi” is Latin for “to the city and to the world”. Or, rather “To the city and to the world” is English for “urbi et orbi”. Either way an “urbi et orbi” message is both for folks living in Rome and for everyone else.

There’s a plenary indulgence involved, too, and that’s another topic.

Pope Francis mentioned several current SNAFUs this particular “Urbi et Orbi” address, including but not limited to war in the eastern Mediterranean and Ukraine:

But mainly, he talked about what we’re celebrating during this season.

“…in these days, it is a place of sorrow and silence, yet it was there that the long-awaited message was first proclaimed: ‘To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord’ (Lk 2:11). Those words spoken by the angel in the heavens above Bethlehem are also spoken to us. We are full of hope and trust as we realize that the Lord has been born for us; that the eternal Word of the Father, the infinite God, has made his home among us. He became flesh; he came ‘to dwell among us’ (Jn 1:14). This is the good news that changed the course of history!…”
(“‘Urbi et Orbi’ Message of His Holiness Pope Francis“, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (December 25, 2023)) [emphasis mine]

Pope Francis also reminded us that there’s no shortage of injustices that haven’t been sorted out yet.

“…May the Son of God, who became a lowly Child, inspire political authorities and all persons of good will in the Americas to devise suitable ways to resolve social and political conflicts, to combat forms of poverty that offend the dignity of persons, to reduce inequality and to address the troubling phenomenon of migration movements.

“From the manger, the Child Jesus asks us to be the voice of those who have no voice. The voice of the innocent children who have died for lack of bread and water; the voice of those who cannot find work or who have lost their jobs; the voice of those forced to flee their lands in search of a better future, risking their lives in grueling journeys and prey to unscrupulous traffickers….”
(“‘Urbi et Orbi’ Message of His Holiness Pope Francis“, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (December 25, 2023)) [emphasis mine]

I’ve got several options open for how I see what he said.

I could get upset: either because Pope Francis mentioned unresolved problems here in the Americas; or because I can’t, personally, end poverty, hunger and human cussedness.

That doesn’t strike me as reasonable.

Neither does letting myself get upset because the pope said that war is not good for people.

I think he’s right about that. And I think the situation isn’t nearly as simple as campus protestors seemed to feel, back in my youth. And that’s yet another topic.

More stuff that may or may not relate to this:

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Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Brian H. Gill
Brian H. Gill family creche/nativity scene. (January 2, 2021) Figures from CMG's father's father, stable made by PMG.
Our creche/nativity scene. (January 2, 2021)

Marian garden at Our Lady of the Angels, Sauk Centre MNWith rain and freezing rain in the forecast for today, I wanted something other than my favorite Christmas-season picture for that Christmas 2023 display in the upper right. So I selected part of a photo from 2021: this household’s Nativity scene.

It’s a “family” set: both because it’s the one we use, and because of its history. The figures were my wife’s father’s father’s, our son made the stable. The January 2, 2021, photo shows how the scene will look in a few days, after the shepherds have left and before the Magi arrive.

'Deck Us All With Boston Charlie', a partial rendition of Walt Kelly's Christmas song, in his 'Pogo' comic strip. (1948 or thereabouts)I’ve talked about the Christmas season before, and maybe I will again this year.

Then again, maybe not.

Either way: Merry Christmas!

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Spokes in Saturn’s Rings, View With Hubble Space Telescope

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Brian H. Gill

That’s a one minute, four second, video with music and no narration.

Cool, though. So was this three-minute (their estimate) read from NASA:

And that’s all the writing I’m doing today: Christmas Eve, December 24, 2023.

Aside from wishing you a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

And adding a fraction of the usual links:

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Happy Lille Julaften and Fourth Sunday in Advent

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Brian H. Gill
Screenshot: A Catholic Citizen in America. (December 23, 2023)
All four candles are lit for the fourth Sunday in Advent. Tomorrow’s Christmas Day.

Happy Lille Julaften! It’s still December 23, here in central Minnesota: Lille Julaften, Little Christmas Eve, as my Scandinavian relatives put it, back in the day.

A Catholic Citizen in America is on UTC time, where it’s already Christmas Eve.

And the fourth Sunday in Advent, so those four candles in the upper right hand corner won’t stay lit long. I spent part of Saturday afternoon setting up a no-snow Christmas picture for that spot: and that’s a brief topic for another day.

The forecast says I’ll get rained on tomorrow morning. Not me, personally. Just that there’ll be rain when I go to Mass. Good news, it’ll have been above freezing all night, so streets and sidewalk won’t be skating rinks.

That’s about it, apart from wishing you a Merry Christmas, happy holiday, not-so-wintry winter solstice, and prevenient Happy New Year! (“Prevenient” is a word! 😉 Look it up!)

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