The exhumation of Julian Watts-Russell 16th May 1894

Julian Watts-Russell was a Pontifical Zouave, who was killed in the battle of Mentana, Nov. 3, 1867. “A monument had been erected to Julian Watts-Russell on the site of his death, and his heart had been buried there.” In 1894,  the Rev. Mr. Lindsay who had just arrived in Rome, to study at the Academia Ecclesiastica,  prior to his ordination the following year, ” found the monument in the cellar of the principal café of the little village” of Mentana.  “By his generous care it was brought from Mentana to Rome on Friday, February 23,”..it will be erected in the Church of St. Thomas, adjoining the [English] College.

It wasn’t entirely clear why Father Lindsay was searching for any traces of Julian, but there seemed to be some sort of family connection. It turn out that  Claud Lindsay is a sort of first cousin. He and Julian Watts-Russell share an uncle in Charles Towry-Law, though by different wives. By 16th May 1894, the monument has been found, restored, and installed in the church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Rome.  Someone seems to have visited his grave in the Campo Verano cemetery in Rome and found it rather damaged, so the decision was made to exhume the body, and rebury the remains of “one who may be called the last of the English martyrs “, 

Campo Verano cemetery, Rome – General view

“The exhumation of the body of Julian Watts-Russell took place between 6.15 and 8.15 on the morning of Wednesday, May 16. There were present : Mgr. Merry del Val, Mgr. le Duc de Stacpoole, the Rev. Torquato Armellini, S. J. (Julian’s confessor), the Rev John Prior, D.D. (Vice-Rector of the English College), the Rev Arthur Hinsley, a former student of Ushaw College (the alma-mater of Julian Watts-Russell) the Rev. Claud R. Lindsay (representing Julian’s brother and sister) Dr. Eyre and Count de Raymond (a relative of Julian, and whose mother, the Countess de Raymond was intimate with him and present when the coffin was last opened). The remains were found buried in a concrete vault and in two coffins, the outer one wooden, the inner one of zinc, both of which had been injured by rain &c., owing to the defective manner in which the vault was closed. The zinc coffin was brought to the surface, and the remains transferred to a zinc casket. A crown of roses which had been placed on his head had decayed, except with regard to the general form and primary fibres, but had remained as a crown upon the skull, while the flesh had disappeared beneath it. The head thus resembled that of the relics of so many Roman martyrs to whose life also Julian’s had borne so deep a resemblance. After a portion of the burial service had been performed and the casket blessed by a capuchin friar of San Lorenzo, the remains were re-interred in the vault. The ceremony was very satisfactory to all present, and the remains are now secured from further injury. the work was superintended by Signor Caviliere Tricchi, Official director of the Cemetery, who deserves every praise for his courtesy, and respect to the remains of Julian. The work of the grave will be concluded in twenty days, and it is intended to keep it in a good state of repair henceforward. For this purpose further subscriptions have been contributed by the following persons: Lady Herbert of Lea (who is paying her annual visit to the Eternal City), Mrs George Vaughan, Mr W. Osborne Christmas, Mgr. le Duc de Stacpoole, the Rev Thomas Belton, C.R.L., the Rev G.B.Tatum, M.A., the Rev. Claud R. Lindsay, the Rev. Arthur Hinsley, Mrs Meynell, and an anonymous priest from New York. The total so far collected is about £42, [A modern day equivalent of £30,000]  and it is intended to apply what remains to the present restoration of the grave. The Rev. Mr. Lindsay is anxious that the sum should be increased to sufficiency by the contributions of former Zouaves, and will be thankful for any offerings sent to him at San Silvestro in Capite. Should any money remain over after the restoration of the grave, it will be devoted to keeping it in a permanently good condition. The inscription on the coffin which was soldered on to the side of the new casket, was as follows;

JULIAN WATTS RUSSELL

PONTIFICAL ZOUAVE, 2ND COMP., 1ST BAT.,

DIED AT MENTANA 3RD NOVEMBER, 1867,

AGED 17 YEARS 10 MONTHS.

RESQUIESCAT IN PACE.

MISSING

The above text was found on p.17,26th 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 .

Julian Watts-Russell: An Interview with Father Armellini, S.J. March 1894

Julian Watts-Russell was a Pontifical Zouave, who was killed in the battle of Mentana, Nov. 3, 1867. “A monument had been erected to Julian Watts-Russell on the site of his death, and his heart had been buried there.” In 1894,  the Rev. Mr. Lindsay who had just arrived in Rome, to study at the Academia Ecclesiastica,  prior to his ordination the following year, ” found the monument in the cellar of the principal café of the little village” of Mentana.  “By his generous care it was brought from Mentana to Rome on Friday, February 23,”..it will be erected in the Church of St. Thomas, adjoining the [English] College.

It’s not entirely clear why Father Lindsay was searching for any traces of Julian, but there seems to be some sort of family connection. By this point, there are rather dubious references being made to him as “one who may be called the last of the English martyrs “, The Tablet 3rd March 1894, and what almost seems to be a campaign to have him regarded as such.  English martyrs were fashionable in Rome at the time, the Pope had beatified John Fisher and Thomas More eight years earlier, along with a further fifty two English martyrs. Another nine were to follow in 1895.

This is the second of two articles published about Julian Watts-Russell on St Patrick’s Day 1894, and is an interview with his spiritual confessor.

Palazzo Borromea, Rome

No sort of difficulty attaches to a visit to Father Armellini, S.J.  [According to a note in the article, he was the postulator of the cause of the English Martyrs.]  He lives in the Via del Seminario at the Palazzo Borromea, become, after many phases of transformation, the Gregorian University, and known, by autonomasy, as the Roman College. It is only a question of finding the room of the particular Father you want among the many who live there, and of making the porter sure of your integrity. Thus the supernumerary porters are dispensed from running on multitudinous errands. The house is the residence of the Roman Provincial [of Jesuits], the teaching fathers forming only a nucleus of the’ community.

Father Armellini was at home, and at once most graciously acceded to my request for an interview, and spontaneously gave me a most interesting account of all that he remembered about Julian Watts-Russell.

“You had more to do with Julian Watts-Russell during his stay in Italy, than any other priest, not excepting even Father Cardella, who, for the rest, may be considered more in the light of a friend than as his spiritual father?”

“Yes,” he said, ” I had to do with Julian and his brothers from the beginning. They were three and they came to live in. the College of Nobles,[ Another note added:  Many English youths of the best families have belonged to this College, and in particular, the memory of the late Bishop of Clifton is still fresh. The Church where they performed their spiritual exercises adjoins the College, and is dedicated to St. Malo the Briton, and is recorded from the days of Cencius Camerarius (A.D. 1192).]   in this very house, where they stayed something more than a year. I was their confessor both them and afterwards; and I retain the most gratifying remembrances of our relations.

” One day I was informed that two of the pious youths had determined to become Zouaves in the Papal Army. The, third, as you all know, became a Passionist Father.”

” But your connection with them did not end here ?”

” No, I continued to see both the young soldiers frequently afterwards. When the time of war came, they were both stationed in the barracks, which were then, as now, in the Castle of St. Angelo. providing against a possible revolt, which might have been feared from the Garibaldian emissaries, but which did not actually take place, General Kanzler had divided the city into five quarters, and forbidden all intercommunication effectually securing his regulation by placing troops on the bridges and other points of vantage.

Santa Maria in Transpontina

This regulation prevented Julian from coming to make his last confession to me, as he had intended to do. He told his brother that he went instead to the neighbouring Carmelite Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina. I may add that his brother, being then unwell, was not called into active service for the battle of Mentana. It is, therefore, regrettable, from my point of view, that I had not an opportunity of bidding him a solemn farewell. My personal recollections after this are less directly concerned with Julian. But I may tell you that it was noticed at the time that his death was caused by a shot in the eye, and it was also remembered that an English member of the Garibaldian army—a newspaper correspondent, I believe—was a crack shot and delighted in shooting his victims in the eye. He shot from the window of a house in Mentana, and thus had the advantage of resting his gun upon the window-sill. [An interesting piece of spin, ]  In any case Julian’s suffering must have been of short duration, as he died at the end of the battle and in close proximity to the village.

Castel SantAngelo, Rome

” When the news of the victory was brought me, I received a visit from a pious French gentleman, whose name I do not well remember at this moment, who wished me to break the news of Julian’s death to his brother. I was naturally reluctant, but finally ceded to his wish. We went together to the Castle of St. Angelo. When I broke the sad news, the youth burst into tears. I tried to comfort him, saying : ‘ Do not weep, your brother is most certainly a martyr.’ This he at once recognized and then smiled, and quickly added : ‘ Still, let us pray for his dear soul. We all knelt and said the “De Profundis” for the repose of the youthful martyr.”

“This was the most optimistic and yet the truest view of the case.”

“Yes, and it was the view taken by Julian’s most exemplary Christian father. He was at Marseilles when the news came, and he said, with the spirit of true Christian paternity, that if he had ten sons, he would be willing that they should all be thus gloriously sacrificed in so holy a cause.”

” And your general recollection of Julian ?”

“My general recollection is of a truly candid youth, marvellously energetic for the cause of God and the spiritual life, a mere youth, it is true, but endowed with a certain earnestness, which had for its object his own spiritual advancement, and which seemed to foretoken the great glory of his end. In this way he seemed old beyond his years, and his life seemed to be conformed to the manner of his death.” 

The above text was found on p.19, 17th March 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 .

FATHER TORQUATO ARMELLINI, S.J.

On September 3, Father Torquato Armellini, S.J., died at the Gregorian University, Rome, aged 78 years. He will be remembered by numerous visitors to Rome as one of the most popular of English .confessors. After the death of Father Boero in 1884, he became Postulator for the Canonisation of the English Martyrs. The energy and perseverance which he displayed in this post helped very materially to the passing of the various decrees, in virtue of which we can new salute so many of our Martyrs as Blessed and Venerable. About three years ago the infirmities of old age compelled him to resign this important office to its present holder, Father Camillo Beccari, S.J. R.I.P.

The above text was found on p.15, 14th September 1901 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 .

Julian Watts-Russell March 1894

Julian Watts-Russell was a Pontifical Zouave, who was killed in the battle of Mentana, Nov. 3, 1867. “A monument had been erected to Julian Watts-Russell on the site of his death, and his heart had been buried there.” In 1894,  the Rev. Mr. Lindsay who had just arrived in Rome, to study at the Academia Ecclesiastica,  prior to his ordination the following year, ” found the monument in the cellar of the principal café of the little village” of Mentana.  “By his generous care it was brought from Mentana to Rome on Friday, February 23,”..it will be erected in the Church of St. Thomas, adjoining the [English] College.

It’s not entirely clear why Father Lindsay was searching for any traces of Julian, but there seems to be some sort of family connection. By this point, there are rather dubious references being made to him as “one who may be called the last of the English martyrs “, The Tablet 3rd March 1894, and what almost seems to be a campaign to have him regarded as such.  English martyrs were fashionable in Rome at the time, the Pope had beatified John Fisher and Thomas More eight years earlier, along with a further fifty two English martyrs. Another nine were to follow in 1895.

This is one of two articles published about Julian Watts-Russell on St Patrick’s Day 1894

JULIAN WATTS-RUSSELL. Father Giuseppe Franco, S.J., in a book condemned and prohibited by the Government  (I Crociati di S. Pietro, Rome 1869) gives the following interesting details about Julian Watts-Russell, which I communicate because they are, likely to be inaccessible in England. After the battle of Nerola, a Zouave station was placed by General de Charetto in a little chapel of St. Antony which had been lately ruined by the Garibaldians. At evening the corpse of a pontifical soldier was brought in, and his comrades celebrated his obsequies as best they could in the absence of a priest, and Julian Watts-Russell acted as priest (fece da sacerdote) reciting the De Profundis and other prayers, and then sought a lamp which he placed, according to the pious Catholic custom, at the foot of the corpse. The soldiers then took some needed rest, sleeping upon the ground as best they could. Just then Captain Thomalé entered and said, “Boys, I have not come to give you commands, but I have need of 12 men of goodwill, to maintain a difficult position.” Julian was the first to spring to his feet, and a picket formed from the exhausted soldiers at once marched to take up the desired position (p. 163-4, vol.ii)

HIS MONUMENT IN THE CHURCH OF ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY.

In the same work (vol. iii., p. 524)  Father Franco describes the monument which stood at Mentana as having on top a Greek cross of marble in the form of the Mentana medal. I learn from private letters written at the time that this cross was ruined on September 18, 1870, but that the column with the inscription was left standing till November 3, 1870, when it was thrown down. Fortunately the Vandals did not know that his heart was there, so that it was thus saved from profanation. On the same night Signor Pietro Santucci removed the heart previously to its transmission to England and he also placed the column on a part of his own property. It is now proposed to restore the cross in its original form, and place it on the column in the Church of St. Thomas. The sculptor, Ugolini, is engaged, and the monument will be set up in a very short time. 

The above text was found on p.17, 17th March 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 discovery of the Julian Watts Russell monument – March 1894

Julian Watts-Russell 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]

” Towards the end of January, a visitor to Mentana, while examining the Vigna Santucci, the site of the first success of the Papal troops, discovered a photograph of Julian Watts-Russell, the youthful hero of the Pontifical army, who fell just at the close of the battle. The photograph, which was a striking and very pleasing representation of Julian, had come into the possession of the Santucci family, who still occupy the historic Vigna, shortly after the battle.

Vigna Santucci, Mentana, Italy

The story of the gift is as follows : Julian Watts-Russell was buried separately from the other Zouaves who bad fallen in the battle, because it was thought that his family would wish to embalm the body. The anticipation was correct. The body was afterwards exhumed, embalmed, and removed to England for burial. As this had been, made possible by the care which Signor Pietro Santucci displayed about the first burial, the indebted father presented him with the portrait of his son. A present representative of the family Santucci permitted the visitor to take the photograph with him to Rome, but Signor Filippo Santucci, son of Signor Pietro Santucci, stipulated that copies should be taken of it and that he should receive one of them. The copies were excellently made by the Rev. Thomas Dunn, of San Silvestro in Capite. On February 15, the Rev. Claud R. Lindsay also from San Silvestro in Capite, took one of the copies to Signor Filippo Santucci at Mentana, who in return for the Rev. Mr. Lindsay’s kindness, guided him over the sites connected with the beginning of the historic battle. Those who have read The O’Clery’s book, ” The Making of Italy,”  will remember his detailed description of the fight at and about the Romitorio, or Hermitage. While examining its ruined chapel the Rev. Mr. Lindsay was so fortunate as to find the memorial slab of the heroic soldier De Vaux, who fell there. A monument had been similarly erected to Julian Watts-Russell on the site of his death, and his heart had been buried there. Quite contrary to expectation, Signor Filippo Santucci assured the Rev. Mr. Lindsay that the monument which had stood there had only been thrown down, and not ruined by the Garibaldians, after the capture of Porta Pia, and that by the care of his family the heart had been sent to the Watts-Russell family in England. An agreeable proof of the former statement was afforded just afterwards when the Rev. Mr. Lindsay found the monument in the cellar of the principal café of the little village. By his generous care it was brought from Mentana to Rome on Friday, February 23, and the consent of Mgr. Giles, Rector of the English College, was readily obtained, so that it will be erected in the Church of St. Thomas, adjoining the College. The expenses of the erection are being defrayed by a subscription among the English Catholic residents in Rome. And so one who may be called the last of the English martyrs will be vividly commemorated in the Church which is par excellence the Roman shrine of the martyrs of England.On the face of the stone is the inscription :

QUI MORI PUGNANDO

PRO SEDE PETRI

GIULIO WATTS-RUSSELL

ZUAVO PONTIFICIO

GIOVANETTO INGLESE

D’ANNI 17 E 10 MESI

IL PIU GIOVANE

CADUTO NEL CAMPO DELLA VITTORIA

E IL PIU D’APPRESSO A MANTANA.

And on the other side :

LA SUA VITA

COMPENDIASI NEL SUO MOTTO

ANIMA MIA, ANIMA MIA

AMA DIO E TIRA VIA.

It seems morally certain that this simple and beautiful inscription was written by his devoted friend and spiritual father, Father Cardella, S.J “

The above text was found on p.17, 3rd March 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 article above provoked the following letter two weeks later

JULIAN WATTS-RUSSELL’S MONUMENT.

SIR, Many thanks are due to your Roman Correspondent for having noticed at such length in The Tablet, of March 3, the recent discovery of the monument which was erected to Julian Watts-Russell at Mentana in 1868. In that account, however, some inaccuracies occur which are doubtless in consequence of your correspondent having been somewhat hurriedly furnished with the details.

In the first place the photograph of Julian lately found at Mentana was not sent to Signor Pietro Santucci in connection with any service rendered by him relative to the first interment of the body at Monte Rotondo. Signor Santucci was in no way concerned with that. The photograph was a gift of gratitude in consequence of Signor Pietro Santucci having with much courage rescued Julian’s heart from being profaned by the Garibaldians at the time of the destruction of the monument in 1870. The presence of the heart there at all is explained by the fact that it was removed from the body in the process of embalming and buried at Mentana on the spot where the youth fell, by the wish of his father, who erected over it the monument in question.

Secondly, Julian’s body was never taken to England, but having been conveyed to the English College, where the last funeral rites were performed, it was ultimately buried in the Campo Nerano [here in Rome, where it now reposes. It was the heart that was sent to England, after the outrage to the monument of 1870. The work of erecting the monument in the English College Church is now being undertaken, and it is hoped that it will be completed before Easter.

All thanks are due to Signor Filippo Santucci, to whom we are in reality indebted for the discovery and possession of the monument. Without entering into the reasons which induced him to keep its existence concealed for so long, it is the fact that he has permitted it to be transferred to the site it is now going for the future to occupy, without imposing any conditions, and this solely out of respect and reverence for the memory of one who so nobly shed his blood in defence of the rights of the Holy See.

Mention ought not to be omitted of the fact that Julian Watts-Russell received his early education at Ushaw College. His Alma Mater is justly proud of him, and regards him as one of her greatest glories.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant.

CLAUD R. LINDSAY. S. Silvestro in Capite, Rome.

The above text was found on p. 21, 17th March 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 .

Father Lindsay is another one of those peculiar English papal courtiers, or possibly Irish, or possibly Scottish. His paternal grandfather was the 24th Earl of Crawford, with four subsidiary titles, three Scottish and one English. Hie maternal grandfather was the 4th Earl of Wicklow, an Irish title. He is certainly aristocratic, rich, he left the equivalent of £ 2m. when he died in 1918. His sister-in-law was Cardinal Vaughan’s niece.

The Catholic Who’s Who adds the following:  ” Mgr Claud Reginald Lindsay,  — born 1861, son of the Hon. Colin and Lady Frances Lindsay; educated at Beaumont, Stonyhurst, and Academia Ecclesiastica, Rome; ordained 1895; named Private Chamberlain by Leo XIII 1898; attached to San Silvestro in Capite, Rome. Died on 23 July 1918 at age 56.”

He certainly seems to have taken his time getting ordained. He was thirty four when it happened, but he’s fast-tracked into the Papal court in only two years. In the curiously small world way, he is a contemporary of both Ernest, and Rex O’Bryen at Stonyhurst, albeit four, and six years older than them.