Letter of September 9, 2005

500th Anniversary of the Swiss Guard
The Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling, Bishop of Lansing
The Vatican Swiss Guard is 500 years old.  It began with a letter from Pope Julius II, dated June 21, 1505.  He was pope from 1503 until his death in 1513.  He asked the Swiss to provide troops to protect him and Rome.

Tragically, the pope's concern for the safety of the pope and the welfare of Rome became a horrible reality when Rome was sacked on May 6, 1527.

The Swiss sent 150 mercenaries at the end of 1506.  They arrived in Rome on January 21-22, 1507.  Pope Julius blessed the new Swiss Guard in conjunction with blessing and laying the cornerstone of the new basilica of St. Peter.

The church will mark these historic beginnings with celebrations on September 24-25, 2006, the date when the guard left Switzerland.  Their arrival in Rome on January 21-22 will be observed in 2007.

The swearing in of new recruits is annually on May 6.  Since the Sack of Rome, the church and the guard has commemorated the heroism of 147 guards who died defending the pope.

On May 6 this year, our new holy father presided as 31 recruits joined the Swiss Guard.  Here is some of his message:

"I address a very cordial greeting to all of you and welcome you to the pope's house!"

From the very first hour of my pontificate, you, the Swiss Guards, have been faithful and available to me.  You accompany the Successor of Peter "step by step" and effectively guarantee his protection, so that, free from concern for his own safety, he can carry out his service for salvation of men and women and the good of peoples.

Dear friends, I am really extraordinarily glad that the traditional swearing-in ceremony of the recruits just a few days after the beginning of my Pontificate gives me an opportunity to address word of recogonition, gratitude and encouragement to you all.

Dear Swiss Guards, the reason for enlisting is very different for each one of you: a taste for adventure, channeled by your wish to do something really different, to the noble desire to serve the church and the pope and thereby deepen your faith by coming to Rome.  Whatever the reason for your decision, what matters now, here in the Vatican, is to live the spirit of it that can create a true spiritual bond among you.

This spirit of the Swiss Guard is nourished by the glorious, almost five-centuries-old tradition of the life of a small army with great ideals.  The ideals that give life to this spirit, without which the Swiss Guard could never be equal to so important a missio, are the following:  a sound Catholic fatih, a Christian approach to life that is convinved and convincing, unshakeable fidelity and deep love for the Church and for the Vicar of Christ, awareness and perseverance in both the small and important tasks of daily service, courage and humility, empathy and humaneness.

Dear Swiss Guards, the collaboration you offer to the Successor of Peter, pastor of the universal church, requires the high professionalism of modern security sercvices, but at the same time has an authentic and significant ecclesial dimension.  In the person of the pope, you serve the whole church; you make available to her your youthful enthusiasm, vitality and inner freshness.

As I look at you, dear friends, I remember what I said during the inauguration of my pontificate:  "The church is alive . . . and the church is young.  She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future".

Dear gurads, you can and must be examples and lively witnesses of this.  It will be the way of living the vocation of Christians, committed to reflecting in everyday behavior, the greatness of the new life received in Baptism.

Dear Swiss Guards!  As I entrust you, your families, your friends and all those who have come to Rome for the swearing-in ceremony, to the intercession of Mary, the holy virgin and mother of God, and to your patron saints, Martin and Sebastian, as well as to the great patron of your beautiful homeland that lies at the heart of Europe, Brother Nicholas of Flue, I wholeheartedly impart my apostolic blessing to you all."