DE COURTEN, VITTORIO. — Papal officer, brother of General Count Raffaele de Courten, born at Sion (Valais) in 1810, died there on 25 Nov. 1887.
He entered the service of the Holy See in the foreign infantry in 1832, and as a lieutenant he distinguished himself greatly during the campaign of 1848, especially on 10 June at Vicenza. Promoted major on 21 June 1855 and lieutenant colonel in the 2nd Foreign Regiment on 7 Aug. 1860, he took part in the defence of Perugia, obtaining honourable terms for the surrender of that garrison. Retired in 1861, he volunteered in 1867 as a private in the foreign carabinieri battalion, fighting in several places and taking command of the battalion in the field at Mentana (3 Nov.) after Major Castella had been wounded.