Urbain de Quelen and the Battle of Montelibretti

En pel amzer Quelen

Frontispiece from Two Years
in the Pontifical Zouaves

Urbain de Quelen, was from Brittany, France and joined the Papal Zouaves in 1861. The Quelen family has crusader lineage.

In 1249 a Quelen was killed by the side of Robert I, Count of Artois, brother of St. Louis IX, at the battle of Massoura. In 1270, another Quelen died before reaching Tunis with St. Louis IX himself. The Quelen family motto is, "There are always Quelens.”

Having enlisted in the Pontifical Zouaves, Urbain de Quelen obtained his promotion as a Sub-Lieutenant in the summer of 1866 due to an act of bravery. Coming to the aid of a gendarme under attack by two bandits, Quelen killed one and wounded the other, but received a severe wound himself.

While recovering from the wound, he got a bad case of cholera which compelled him to send in his resignation from the Zouaves. However, when the Red shirts invaded in 1867, despite still suffering from his injuries, he rejoined the Papal Zouaves to defend the Papal States from the nationalist intentions of the Italians. Quelen fought to the bitter end on October 13th, 1867 in the Battle of Montelibretti. The town of Montelibretti is in the Lazio region of Italy and only 46 km north of Rome.

The battle witnessed heroism not only from Quelen, but many other Zouaves. As such, it does not do them justice to paraphrase the battle so I will include an account of the battle from the book Two Years in the Pontifical Zouaves (1871) by Joseph Powell.[1]

“Monte Libretti is a fortified village with gates.—(Its natural position flanked on either side by ravines is a strong one.) Some two hundred yards from the gate is a wide and deep ditch, crossed by a stone bridge. It was guarded, and the ninety Zouaves commanded by Lieutenants Guillemin and de Quelen received the enemy's fire at this point and carried the bridge in an instant. They took here ten prisoners, and rapidly ascending the slope towards the gate received the fire of three hundred Garibaldians concealed amongst the vines to the right and left of the road. Charging them with the bayonet, the Zouaves dislodged them and entered the village, but the fire in the streets from the windows was too hot, and they had to retreat to the gate, where an obstinate fight took place. The Garibaldian Major Faseri and his aide-de-camp animated their men, who vastly out numbered the Pontificals; both of them were wounded and dismounted.

“The brave Zouave, Lieutenant Arthur Guillemin, was one of the first killed at the gate of Monte Libretti. Sergeant de la Bergassiere received a bullet in his arm, another bullet carried off his kepi, which he replaced by the red and green kepi of the fallen Garibaldian Major. A Zouave from Marseilles had a wound in the head, a bullet in each 'arm, and lost two fingers of the right hand. He had slain several of the enemy before he retired from the front. In the hospital he said next day, 'I don't understand these Garibaldians. At the first ball they drop. I have had four, and here I am.' An English corporal named Collingridge performed prodigies of valour. He was killed after being seen with his back to the wall defending himself desperately against six Garibaldians. His brother joined the Zouaves the week before. A Belgian corporal (Mercier, from Namur) is named as having distinguished himself extraordinarily. He is among the wounded. A Roman bugler, called Mimi by his comrades, had one hand shattered by a ball; he continued throughout to sound the charge, holding his bugle in the other hand. Sergeant Major Bach, a German Swiss, was particularly conspicuous. He was bathed in blood, but it was the blood of the enemy. He himself did not receive a scratch.

“The Dutchman De Yonghe, a gigantic Hercules, was slain after killing fourteen Garibaldians. Bareheaded, and with his uniform torn to ribbons, he was seen dealing fearful blows with the butt-end of his musket, until, breathless with fatigue, though unwounded, he fell upon his knees and was pierced by a dozen bayonets. Two other Dutch Zouaves, brothers, were also slain. The Sous-Lieutenant de Quelen fought till the last, in worthy emulation of his friend and brother officer Guillemin. He was killed at the end of the action. The fight began at half-past five p.m., and at eight p.m. the Zouaves still held their ground in front of the gate. The night was beautifully calm, and a full moon lit the scene of so much valour.

“At eight p.m., the Garibaldians inside the village closed the gate, leaving a number of their comrades outside who were slain by the Zouaves under command of Sergeant-Major Bach, who kept his ground until four a.m. next day, when, just as he was about to retreat upon Monte Maggiore with his prisoners and wounded, the inhabitants opened the gate, announcing that the Garibaldians had retreated through the opposite gate making for Nerola.”

The accounts of the number of the opposing forces in the engagement of Monte Libretti, do not all agree in every particular, but all concur in stating that the Garibaldians were in immensely superior strength to the Zouaves; the numbers I have seen stated in two different quarters, represent the Garibaldians to have had 1200 men, while the Zouaves had only ninety men, or one small company.

It will have been noticed from the foregoing narration, that although the ninety Zouaves did not succeed at once in dislodging twelve hundred Garibaldians from a strong position, yet it was certainly a victory gained by the Zouaves, as, the Garibaldians having stolen off under cover of the night, the field of battle and the position both remained in the possession of the Pontifical troops. This engagement and victory, having thus been won against such fearful odds as thirteen to one, is worthy of being ranked by the side of the most glorious achievements recorded in history, for although the engagement may not have been so very important in its immediate results,—on account of the small number of men engaged on both sides,—yet it is not always on account of its results that an achievement is immortalised—witness the devotion to death of Leonidas, and three hundred Spartans, at the pass of Thermopylæ—but it is heroism and valour which cause a brilliant action to shine with lustre, and to adorn, in vivid colouring, the page of history.

On reading the authentic accounts given above, who could deny that the Zouaves displayed the greatest heroism, both their commanding officers, one after the other, falling at the head of their company, others, like De Yonghe and Collingridge, fighting like lions, till they fell literally exhausted with fatigue?

Pray for the repose of the soul of Urbain de Quelen and all of the other Papal Zouave hero's who gave their lives at Montelibretti in defense of Pope Pius IX and the Catholic Church.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Pray for us!

By Brendan Cassell (Papal Zouave History @PapalZouaveUS)

[1] Two Years in the Pontifical Zouaves: A Narrative of Travel, Residence and Experience in the Roman States by Joseph Powell, R. Washbourne, 1871, pp. 6-9.