Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Today is the official start of celebrations to mark the 5th centenary of the presence in the Vatican of the Swiss Guards. On 22 January 1506, the first 150 Swiss soldiers passed Piazza del Popolo into the eternal City and raised their glorious standard led by Commandant Kaspar von Silenen from Canton Uri. Pope Julius II who had called insistently for their service welcomed them with his Blessing. Those were the first in a long series of young, strong and generous men who chose to come here to defend the Chair of Peter”. With these words Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Pope’s secretary of state and dean of the College of Cardinals, opened celebrations for the 5th centenary of the arrival of the Swiss Guards in the Vatican with a special Mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Swiss Guards and members of their families.
Taking inspiration form the opening hymn Cardinal Sodano said “let us glorify God on this day of celebration, praising and thanking Him for his continued presence in our midst”, and he urged the Swiss Guards to listen to the call for inward renewal expressed in the Sunday Mass readings: “This is a call which the Church repeats today to you dear Swiss Guards, because day after day we must purify our hearts and renew ourselves in our service of the Lord and fidelity to his holy Church. Your motto "acriter et fideliter", "tapfer und treu", “bold and true” is a daily reminder of this programme for life …may this fidelity be for ever your badge!”
Referring to the 5th centenary of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Cardinal Sodano invited those present to thank God for the gifts granted to Pope Julius II, “who ,among many other praiseworthy acts, called Swiss soldiers to Rome to be "defensores Ecclesiae libertatis", as that Pope himself described them”. The Pope of the Renaissance encouraged many works of art, including the Sistine Chapel and the building of a new St Peter’s Basilica. He was known also for his pastoral zeal. In fact Julius II worked hard to reform the Church within he was concerned for the good of the New World, discovered only a short while earlier by Christopher Colombus and created in 1511 at Santo Domingo the first diocese of Latin America. At the end of the homily the Cardinal urged the Swiss Guards to “love the Church of Christ ever more deeply”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 23/1/2006 - Righe 29; Parole 409)
