"Viva La Papa!!!"

Wednesday, April 3, 2007

So it was Papal Audience Wednesday. Every Wednesday, Pope Benny holds an audience where he blesses the masses at St Peter's and pretty much has a pep rally. And helps out the local religious kitsch tinks in the process. By blessing pretty much anything and everything in the Square, he's also blessing rosaries and stuff, so the tinks outside the gates love Wednesdays because all the wannabe good Catholics go out and buy plastic rosaries that would be valued for two dollars anywhere else and pay somewhere around ten Euro for them.

Anyway, we had to be up early so we got a good seat for the audience, so the day began almost at daybreak. Again.

Now the neatest thing about the Vatican is the army of Swiss Guards. I'm pretty much convinced that these guys are the coolest thing since sliced bread. I mean, look at their outfits!! They were red and yellow and blue costumes with big helmets that have red feathers on top. You really have to be a man's man to pull that one off. Apparently, they were designed by Michelangelo when he was having a spat with one of the Popes. I think Michelangelo got the last laugh in that one, don't you?

The Swiss Guards (henceforth to be referred to as SG's because I have issues spelling "Guards" without a lot of thought) must speak a lot of languages. We were about ten feet from two of them and I heard them speak at least four different languages when people approached them and asked them questions. Because they're so nifty, I'm going to copy/paste some information about them from Wikipedia, which I've refrained from doing for the whole of my Roman holiday.

The Corps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard or Swiss Guard (Ger: Schweizergarde, Ital. Guardia Svizzera Pontificia, Lat. Pontificia Cohors Helvetica, or Cohors Pedestris Helvetiorum a Sacra Custodia Pontificis) as part of the Military of the Vatican City is an exception to the Swiss rulings of 1874 and 1927. It is a small force responsible for the security of the Apostolic Palace, the entrances to the Vatican City and the safety of the Pope. Its official language is German.

The history of the Swiss Guards has its origins in the 15th century. Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) already made a previous alliance with the Swiss Confederation and built barracks in Via Pellegrino after foreseeing the possibility of recruiting Swiss mercenaries. The pact was renewed by Innocent VIII (1484-1492) in order to use them against the Duke of Milan. Alexander VI (1492-1503) later actually used the Swiss mercenaries during their alliance with the King of France. During the time of the Borgias, however, the Italian wars began in which the Swiss mercenaries were a fixture in the front lines among the warring factions, sometimes for France and sometimes for the Holy See or the Holy Roman Empire. The mercenaries enlisted when they heard King Charles VIII of France was going to raise a war against Naples. Among the participants in the war against Naples was Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who was well acquainted with the Swiss having been Bishop of Lausanne years earlier. The expedition failed in part thanks to new alliances made by Alexander VI against the French. When Cardinal della Rovere became pope, Julius II in 1505 asked the Swiss Diet to provide him with a constant corps of 200 Swiss mercenaries. In September 1505, the first contingent of 150 soldiers started their march towards Rome, under the command of Kaspar von Silenen, and entered the Vatican on January 22, 1506, today given as the official date of the Guard's foundation. "The Swiss see the sad situation of the Church of God, Mother of Christianity, and realize how grave and dangerous it is that any tyrant, avid for wealth, can assault with impunity, the common Mother of Christianity," declared Ulrich Zwingli, a Swiss Catholic who later became a Protestant reformer. Pope Julius II later granted them the title "Defenders of the Church's freedom"^[1].

The force has varied greatly in size over the years and has even been disbanded. Its first, and most significant, hostile engagement was on May 6, 1527 when 147 of the 189 Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during the Sack of Rome in order to allow Clement VII to escape through the Passetto di Borgo, escorted by the other 40 guards. The last stand battlefield is located on the left side of St Peter's Basilica, close to the Campo Santo Teutonico (German Graveyard).

The Swiss Guard has served the popes since the 1500s as the papal army. Ceremonially, they shared duties in the Papal household with the Palatine Guard and Noble Guard, both of which were disbanded in 1970 under Paul VI. Today the Papal Swiss Guard have taken over the ceremonial roles of the former Vatican units, serving now as the army of the sovereign state of the Vatican. At the end of 2005, there were 134 members of the Swiss Guard. This number consisted of a Commandant (bearing the rank of "oberst" or Colonel), a chaplain, three officers, one sergeant major ("feldwebel"), 30 NCOs, and 99 "halberdiers", the rank equivalent to private (so called because of their traditional Halberd).

Building on their training in their traditional service in the Swiss military, members wear a long sword (officers a rapier or straight sabre) and receive instruction in the ceremonial use of their halberd on a four-sided pole which is held on their right during marches, drill, and regular formations in their official duties around the Vatican. The halberd includes a loose metal ring just below the halberd blade which adds a loud clink when an individual or formation comes to attention. Other weapons and regalia carried by higher ranking non-halberdiers include: a command baton, a partisan, a flamberge (a wavy two-handed sword), and breastplate with shoulder guards. Headwear is typically a black beret for daily duties, while a black or silver morion helmet with red, white, yellow and black, and purple ostrich feather is worn for ceremonial duties, the former for guard duty or drill; the latter for high ceremonial occasions such as the annual swearing in ceremony or reception of foreign heads of state. The Guard also engages in yearly rifle competition and receives self-defense instruction, as well as basic instruction on defensive bodyguard tactics not dissimilar to those used in the protection of many heads of state. ^[2]

The guards must be Catholic, unmarried males with Swiss citizenship who have completed basic training with the Swiss military and can obtain certificates of good conduct. New recruits must have a professional diploma or high school degree and must be between 19 and 30 years of age and at least 174 cm (5'9") tall^[3].

Qualified candidates must apply to serve. If accepted, new guards are sworn in every May 6 in the San Damaso Courtyard (Italian: Cortile di San Damaso) in the Vatican. (May 6 is the anniversary of the Sack of Rome.) The chaplain of the guard reads aloud the oath in the language of the guard (mostly German, some French, a little Italian):

(German version) "Ich schwöre, treu, redlich und ehrenhaft zu dienen dem regierenden Papst [name] und seinen rechtmäßigen Nachfolgern, und mich mit ganzer Kraft für sie einzusetzen, bereit, wenn es erheischt sein sollte, selbst mein Leben für sie hinzugeben. Ich übernehme dieselbe Verpflichtung gegenüber dem Heiligen Kollegium der Kardinäle während der Sedisvakanz des Apostolischen Stuhls. Ich verspreche überdies dem Herrn Kommandanten und meinen übrigen Vorgesetzten Achtung, Treue und Gehorsam. Ich schwöre, alles das zu beobachten, was die Ehre meines Standes von mir verlangt."

(English translation) "I swear to faithfully, honestly and honorably serve the reigning Pope [name of Pope] and his legitimate successors, and to dedicate myself to them with all my strength, ready to sacrifice, should it become necessary, even my own life for them. I likewise assume this promise toward the members of the Sacred College of Cardinals during the period of the Sede Vacante of the Apostolic See. Furthermore, I pledge to the Commandant and to my other superiors respect, fidelity, and obedience. I swear to abide by all the requirements attendant to the dignity of my rank."

When his name is called, each new guard approaches the Swiss Guard's flag, grasping the banner in his left hand. He raises his right hand with his thumb, index, and middle finger extended along three axes, a gesture that symbolizes the Holy Trinity, and speaks:

"Ich, [Name des Rekruten], schwöre, alles das, was mir soeben vorgelesen wurde, gewissenhaft und treu zu halten, so wahr mir Gott und seine Heiligen helfen."

"I, [name of the new guard], swear to diligently and faithfully abide by all this which has just been read to me; may The Almighty and His Saints be my witnesses."

The term of service is between two and 25 years. The official dress uniform is of blue, red, orange and yellow with a distinctly Renaissance appearance. A repeated historical misconception is that the dress uniform was designed by Michelangelo. In fact, guard commander, Commandant Jules Repond (1910-1921) created the present uniforms in 1914. While the uniforms of the Swiss Guard bearing Pope Julius II on a litter (painted by Raphael) is often cited as inspiration for the Swiss Guard uniform, the actual uniforms worn by those soldiers are of the style which appears by today's standards as a large skirt, a common style in uniforms during the Renaissance. A very clear expression of the modern Swiss Guard uniform can be seen in a 1577 fresco by Jacob Coppi of the Empress Eudoxia conversing with Pope Sixtus III. It is clearly the precursor of today's recognizable three-colored uniform with boot covers, white gloves, a high or ruff collar, and either a black beret or a black morion (silver for high occasions). Sergeants wear a black top with crimson leggings, while other officers wear an all-crimson uniform. The regular duty uniform is more functional, consisting of a simpler solid blue version of the more colorful tri-color grand gala uniform, worn with a simple brown belt, a flat white collar and a black beret. For new recruits and rifle practice, a simple light blue overall with a brown belt may be worn. During cold or inclement weather, a dark blue cape is worn over the regular uniform. The original colors (blue and yellow) were issued by Pope Julius II taking his family (Della Rovere) colors, Pope Leo X added the red to reflect his family's Medici colors.

After the May 13, 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehmet Ali Agca, a much stronger emphasis has been made on the Swiss Guards' functional, non-ceremonial roles. This has included extended training in unarmed combat and with issue SIG P 75 pistols (a.k.a. P220) and Heckler & Koch submachine-guns.

Alrighty, now that I've had my SG fix, we can continue on with the rest of the Papal Audience. So the Pope got to ride around in his Pope-mobile, and because we got lucky, we were only about ten feet from him. It was kind of cool. Not quite as cool as the SG's, but cool. When Pope Benny got up, he had messages for different groups of people based on their languages. There was a lot of repetition again, but it was pretty awesome to hear all these different languages -- Italian, German, Portugese, Spanish, Swahili, etc. He said hello to IES, a Lutheran Diocese (oh, the irony), and the kids from UNIV. I'm not quite sure what UNIV is, but they had about half a million people in the Square. I think it might have to do with World Youth Day or something, but I'm not sure, and honestly, I'm not interested enough to actually research it. The Audience lasted a good long while, somewhere around two hours or so. That seems to be the norm for this sort of Catholic stuff. One of the most commonly heard phrases during those two hours was "Viva la Papa!!" which was shouted by the Hispanic contingents in the Square. They got really emotional when the Pope was being driven around before the Audience. Either way, I was still convinced I wasn't converting any time soon.

As we were leaving the Square, we walked down the street and noticed a tink picking up his stand and hoofing it down the street. Then we looked around the corner and saw a police car getting ready to turn. It was one of those hilarious instances you probably had to be there to enjoy.

After our stint being Catholic, we went to Piazza dell Popolo where there are two churches that look like they're almost mirror-images. Inside the one were sculptures of feminine virtues. I think I lack them all, but that's ok because Matt likes me anyway. :-)

From Piazza dell Popolo, we found our way to the Spanish Steps, which were kind of disappointing. All week, we had seen paintings and pictures with flowers and a severe lack of people, but when we got there, the situation was reversed. It was crazy crowded and there were absolutely no flowers. But we had mozzarella and tomato sandwiches for a snack (they don't exactly qualify as lunch) and people watched for a bit. In one street leading off of the Piazza Spagna, there is all this posh shopping and there was a ginormous LV bag where a store was being built. We also had a Roman gladiator who was directing traffic while the police stood on the corner and watched. That situation gets an *eyebrow.*

Since we didn't have much to do for the rest of the day, we headed for the Piazza Navona and had a gelato binge. Literally. I got a cone with cinnamon and caramel first. The cinnamon was really pretty amazing. It's high on the list of favorites. Then once we finished that cone, we walked about a hundred feet down the street and got another one. This one was chocolate and coconut. I had that in honor of Mom, who really likes that combination of flavors.

After we had our gelato fill, at least for a few hours, we walked back to the Piazza Navona and shopped the water color paintings. There was one guy that had paintings of window scenes. Now I absolutely fell in love with the windows in Rome. So many of them had flowers around them or curtains fluttering in the breeze. It turns out the man's name is Diago and we had bought gelato from his brother (he was the chocolate/coconut stop). He agreed to give me a deal on three paintings, and I promised to come back the next day after I hit up an ATM.

Then we walked very slowly to the Pantheon for dinner. But we were still there ridiculously early. Most Italians don't eat until after eight or nine, and we were trying to fit in as much as possible. I think we managed to put off eating until seven or so that night, but we ran out of windows to shop, or else we might have manged a bit longer. For dinner that night, I had pizza, bruschetta, and a glass of white wine. Again, it was really good, but I ate the pizza in the "barbaric" American fashion with my hands instead of suffering through cutting bite-sized pieces. It's just not worth the effort.

After dinner, I had another gelato stop -- this one was lemon and strawberry. Again, it was really good, and the guy behind the counter remembered us. You know you eat a lot of gelato when they start to recognize you. I thought it was awesome, but as usual, Meghan thought completely differently.

When we got back to CFab, we had a new roommate. Stephan had moved on and Olaf was staying just for the night. He was a middle-aged German.