The Catholic World, Vol. 20, October 1874‐March 1875Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 20, October 1874‐March 1875
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Our first visit, as a matter of course, was to “the Lion,” the pride and
glory of modern Lucerne! Turning off from the fussy, bustling quay,
leaving excitement and noise behind, we wandered through quiet, winding
streets that led to the former Zurich road, until, in a leafy recess
containing a large basin filled by trickling water, on which the sun
played through the foliage of the overhanging beech‐trees, this grand king
of animals lay right before us, hewn out of the perpendicular face of the
living rock. Overhead is carved the inscription, _Helvetiorum fidei ac
virtuti_.(32) This monument, erected in memory of the Swiss guards who
fell whilst defending Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette at Versailles, and
on the 2d and 3d of September, 1792, was designed by the great
Thorwaldsen, and executed by a Zurich sculptor, the expenses being
defrayed by subscriptions from all parts of Switzerland. The lion is
dying, the spear still in his side, a bundle of spears under him, but one
paw still firmly clasping the Bourbon shield. It is colossal; the whole
attitude full of strength, firmness, and sorrow—a sorrow inspiring such
sympathy that the longer one looks the more human it appears. Yet it is
not that hopelessly sad expression of his grand Chæronean prototype, which
once having had the good‐fortune to see on the spot, I never can forget.
But then what different events they commemorate! The Greek, the defeat of
an over‐glorious nation, crushed to despair; this of Lucerne, the loss,
but also the noble heroism, of a few of Switzerland’s sons only, who, if
they could be so faithful in the cause of strangers, what might not be
expected from them and their brethren in defence of their own hearths and
homes! And as we stood transfixed to the spot, unwilling to stir, it was
pleasant to hear from Herr H—— that foreign service of this sort has now
ceased. At least no body of Swiss serve abroad together, except as the
Pope’s guards, whose picturesque Michael‐Angelesque costumes must be
remembered by every one that visited Rome in its palmy days. Formerly, not
only did they serve as mercenaries in various countries, but there were
regular treaties in force between the Swiss government and foreign
sovereigns, authorizing the latter to recruit throughout the cantons.
These, however, have been swept away, and this “Lion” is now the only link
with those times. Close by is a chapel where, according to pious custom,
Mass is now and then said for the departed heroes, and the altar cloth of
which has been worked by the Duchesse d’Angoulême, one of Marie
Antoinette’s two children, protected and saved by those very soldiers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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