I stumbled across this recently, and it is one of those nice curiosities that happen from time to time. The initial interest was sparked by the fact that two of the contributors to the monument are Mgr O’Bryen, and the then Rev. Manuel Bidwell. Almost thirty years later Manuel, by then the rather grand sounding Bishop of Miletopolis, married the O’Bryen great-grandparents [his first cousin (once removed) and Uncle Henry’s nephew.]
The two churchmen were at either end of their church careers, and at least a generation apart in age. Henry was fifty nine at the time, having spent almost twenty years as a papal diplomat, and would be dead eighteen months later. Manuel was only twenty two, and had just started studying in Rome at the French Seminary, and the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, having already gained a B.Sc. in Paris, and then studied Applied Science, at King’s College, London. He was ordained in Rome four years later in 1898, where the assistant priest at his first mass was Mgr, and later Cardinal, Merry del Val.
So the initial spark was the curiosity of a great great uncle, and a first cousin three times removed both having been connected together, but the more one looks at the list of donors to the memorial, the grander they become, and the more it shines alight at the still glittering peaks at the top of the church. I’ll come back to that in another post. But for now, a simple explanation of who Julian Watts-Russell was.
He was a Pontifical Zouave, who was killed in the battle of Mentana, Nov. 3, 1867. The Papal Zouaves were an infantry force formed for the defence of the Papal States in 1860. The battle of Mentana was “the last victory of the Church in arms,” [ a interesting choice of words from the Tablet in 1967] three years before the capture of Rome by the Italian army ending eleven hundred years of temporal papal rule. Julian Watts-Russell aged seventeen, was the youngest casualty of the battle, “one who may be called the last of the English martyrs” [ The Tablet 1894]
THE JULIAN WATTS-RUSSELL MONUMENT.
The monument is now finished, with the exception of the Mentana medal-cross, and will be placed in the English College Church during the coming week. By a singular coincidence, Captain Shee has recently come to Rome. He is a hero of Mentana, and received nine wounds in 1870, and is one of those who buried the body of Julian Watts-Russell after his death, and exhumed it when brought to Rome. In connection with present events, it may be well to record the inscription on Julian’s tomb in the Campo Verano :
HEIC AD MARTYRUM CRYPTAS
DORMIT IN PACE
JULIANUS WATTS-RUSSELL MICHAELIS F.
ANGLUS CLARO GENERE
PRO PETRI SEDE STRENUE DIMICANS
IN ACIE AD NOMENTUM OCCUBUIT
III. NON. NOVEMB. AN. MDCCCLXVII.
AN. N. XVII. MENS. X.
ADOLESCENS CHRISTI MILES
VIVE IN DEO.
The above text was found on p.17, 7th April 1894 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
” The Julian Watts-Russell monument is now completed. The expenses have been defrayed by the contributions of the following persons, chiefly members of the English-speaking colony in Rome : His Grace the Archbishop of Trebizond [the Hon. and Rt. Rev. Mgr. Stonor,], Monsignori Merry del Val, Stanley, Giles, and O’Bryen ; the Very Rev. Joseph Bannin, S.M., the Rev. John L. Prior, D.D. (Vice-Rector of the English College), the Rev. Michael Watts-Russell, C.P. ; the Rev. G. Phillips and the Rev. Dr. Preston, of Ushaw College ; the Rev. C. R. Lindsay, the Rev. Manuel Bidwell, the Rev. Students of the English College, Alderman Sir Stuart Knill, Mr. E. Granville Ward, Miss Watts-Russell, Mr. C. W. Worlledge, Dr. J. J. Eyre, Mr. C. Spedding, Mr. C. Astor Bristead, and Mr. W. Cagger.
The Mentana monument, which has been already described, has been erected upon a base of white Carrara marble and surmounted with a Mentana medal-cross in exact imitation of that which it replaces. The whole has been placed in the Church of St. Thomas, in the corner of the Gospel side of the altar, near the memorial slabs of distinguished modern English Catholics buried in the church. The inscription on the base succinctly recalls the history of the monument:
THIS MONUMENT ERECTED AT MENTANA IN 1868 OUTRAGED AND THROWN DOWN IN 1870 BROUGHT TO THIS CHURCH AND RESTORED IN 1894 COMMEMORATES THE FAITH AND COURAGE OF JULIAN WATTS-RUSSELL WHO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THE HOLY SEE NOVEMBER 3 1867.
The letters of the original inscription, which were badly damaged, have been restored and made legible even from a distance. The restoration of the monument has cost 300 francs, and it is proposed to apply the remainder of the money contributed to restoring his grave.”
The above text was found on p.17, 12th May 1894 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
THE JULIAN WATTS-RUSSELL MONUMENT.
The monument is now finished, with the exception of the Mentana medal-cross, and will be placed in the English College Church during the coming week. By a singular coincidence, Captain Shee has recently come to Rome. He is a hero of Mentana, and received nine wounds in 1870, and is one of those who buried the body of Julian Watts-Russell after his death, and exhumed it when brought to Rome. In connection with present events, it may be well to record the inscription on Julian’s tomb in the Campo Verano :
HEIC AD MARTYRUM CRYPTAS
DORMIT IN PACE
JULIANUS WATTS-RUSSELL MICHAELIS F.
ANGLUS CLARO GENERE
PRO PETRI SEDE STRENUE DIMICANS
IN ACIE AD NOMENTUM OCCUBUIT
III. NON. NOVEMB. AN. MDCCCLXVII.
AN. N. XVII. MENS. X.
ADOLESCENS CHRISTI MILES
VIVE IN DEO.
The above text was found on p.17, 7th April 1894 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
