There is a new Benedictine in the Vatican! Father Kolumban Reichlin,O.S.B., 50, was appointed chaplain of The Pontifical Swiss Guard by Pope Francis on Sept. 1 and will take up his new position in October.
The Swiss Guard was established by Pope Julius II in 1506 and is charged with serving and protecting the pope. I don’t know how things stand in the Vaticantoday, or even St. Peter’s, but in my day no one entered without proper dress. These colorful, well dressed gentlemen made sure of it.
Members of the world’s smallest but oldest standing army are responsible for Vatican security together with the Vatican gendarmes. (Yes, they are really Swiss).
Father Kolumban entered the Order of St. Benedict in 1991 at Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland. He studied for the priesthood at the Einsiedeln seminary and at Saint Meinrad in St. Meinrad, Indiana, which is affiliated with the Swiss abbey.
He has also studied history and liturgy in Bern, Freiburg, and Rome. In his monastery, he was responsible for pilgrimages and was also a part of liturgy commissions.
From 2009 to 2020, the he was provost of the Provostry of St. Gerold in Austria, a church and monastery founded in the High Middle Ages, which has belonged to the Benedictine Monastery of Einsiedeln since the 13th century.
The Pontifical Swiss Guard has its own oratory inside Vatican City where members regularly attend Mass, and ceremonies such as weddings and baptisms sometimes take place.
The Church of Saints Martin and Sebastian of the Swiss was built in 1568 by Pope Pius V to be the Swiss Guard’s private chapel. It is located just behind the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square on the north side, next to the Swiss Guard barracks and the ApostolicPalace.
(photo of Father Kolumban- Joachim Schwald)
