DE COURTEN, RAFFAËLE GIUSEPPE. - Pontifical general, b. 21 Jan. 1809 at Sierre in Valais, d. at Florence in 1904. On 6 May 1832, with the rank of lieutenant, he entered the service of the Holy See in the foreign regiments caused to be constituted by Gregory XVI in the wake of the political disturbances of the previous year.
As major adjutant of the 2nd Swiss Regiment, under the orders of General Latour and of Durando, he distinguished himself particularly in the defense of Monte Berico, so much as to earn the brevet of captain. A brigadier general on 7 Aug. 1860, he actively cooperated in the reorganization of the pontifical army.
Returning from the imprisonment he suffered in the Kingdom of Sardinia, after a brief stay in Switzerland he received command of the 1st subdivision, distinguishing himself further in the arduous and successful work of repressing the brigandage that had by then infested southern Lazio for too long (1864-67), in the checks inflicted on the Garibaldians in the area of Viterbo and Frosinone in the autumn of 1867, and still more by personally leading his soldiers in the assault on the field of Mentana on 3 Nov. With no less vigor and firmness he presided on 20 Sept. 1870 over the defense committee of Rome, and the following day he shared in the imprisonment of the troops. His attachment to his adopted homeland led him to spend his last years in Florence, though not without vigorously protesting, in a forceful letter of 28 June 1889, made public by the Roman newspapers La Fedeltà and La Voce della Verità, against grave assertions and inaccuracies of General R. Cadorna regarding men and matters pertaining to the disbanded pontifical army.
Bibliography8 worksRapporto del gen. De Lamoricière ecc., in Giornale di Roma, suppl. to no. 259 of 1860, parts 1 and 2; E. Kanzler, Rapporto alla S. di N. S.
BIBL.: Rapporto del gen. De Lamoricière ecc., in Giornale di Roma, suppl. to no. 259 of 1860, parts 1 and 2; E. Kanzler, Rapporto alla S. di N. S. papa Pio IX sulla invasione dello Stato Pontificio nell'autunno 1867, Rome 1868; J. A. Vigevano, La fine dell'esercito pontificio, ibid. 1920; id., La Campagna delle Marche e dell'Umbria, ibid. 1923, pp. 181 ff., 415 ff.; P. Dalla Torre, L'Anno di Mentana, Turin 1938, pp. 69, 93 ff., 137 ff., 225 ff.; id., Materiali per una storia dell'esercito pontificio, in Rass. stor. del Risorg., 28 (1941), pp. 33-34 of the offprint; and moreover the excellent article by P. Schiarini, in Diz. d. Risorg. Naz., II, pp. 865-66. For the text of the aforementioned letter and also in general for other facts, cf.: A. M. Bonetti, La « Liberazione di Roma » del gen. R. Cadorna. Osservazioni e critiche, Siena 1889, p. 264 ff.; id., Venticinque anni di Roma capitale d'Italia, II, Rome 1896, p. 156 ff.
Dalla, Torre Paolo. “De Courten, raffaële giuseppe.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, col. 1279. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/de-courten-raffaele-giuseppe.
MLA
Dalla, Torre Paolo. “De Courten, raffaële giuseppe.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 1279. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/de-courten-raffaele-giuseppe.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec4_de_courten_raffaele_giuseppe,
author = {Dalla, Torre Paolo},
title = {De Courten, raffaële giuseppe},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IV},
pages = {1279},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/de-courten-raffaele-giuseppe}
}
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