Gloria, Thanks for the links. In my previous searching, all I'd ever found was specifically "Swiss Guard". While this line has a few stray Catholics who married in, they were pretty much Lutheran, so I doubt that he converted, though that would make sense. Since this service seemed to fulfill the typical required military service (that my great-grandfather had to serve), I thought perhaps the French government didn't care if they were Catholic or not. The Palatine and Noble Guards both sound like definite possibilities for this great-granduncle. I'll have to do more research on this to see what else I can find out. Thanks for your help. Christine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gloria Ishida" <gfb-ishida@gol.com> To: <alsace-lorraine@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 10:13 PM Subject: Re: [A-L] Swiss Guard Christine, Swiss Guards have to be Catholic. Maybe he converted. You may be right about not being a Swiss Guard per se. See http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=110403 or if you can't bring this up do advanced google and put in "Swiss Guards" and as exact words "not Swiss" and you should catch it. It comes up as "Papal Guards". I do find the questions and information on A-L so interesting regarding history as well as one's own genealogy! Gloria On 1 23, 2008, at 11:24 AM, Christine Bauman wrote: > I'm curious about this, too, because my great-grandfather's younger > brother > (b. 1841) was (according to family lore given to us by the branch still > residing in Alsace) "sent to Rome to be an honor guard of the Pope. > He had > to walk to Rome himself over the Alps. He had duty there for 8 years > before > becoming ill. He was chosen because he was big, good looking and > strong and > 'had good teeth'. " No matter that the family was Lutheran . . . > > I'm presuming he also had to walk back to Dehlingen, where he died in > 1871. > I'm guessing that he was there roughly starting in 1862. Everything > else > I've seen has said the Swiss Guard had to be Swiss citizens, but it's > an odd > story to "make up," and it would seem there should be some nugget of > truth > to it, if a similar story (well, without the getting ill) was heard in > another family. True, my version doesn't specifically mention the > "Swiss > Guard", but was there any other honor guard at the Vatican? Did the > various > countries have to send a certain number of men out of respect? We > (like > many others in Alsace, I presume) have ancestors who trace back to > Switzerland at some point, so was that sufficient? We've always > wondered > about the story, so I find it interesting that someone else has a > similar > one. > > Christine

The Papal States had an army. During 1848 and the final take over by the new Kingdom of Italy in 1870, they had accepted Catholic volunteers from all over Europe and the fledgling U.S. One group were a regiment of Papal Zouves. Ed Surkosky