Théodore Wibaux

Not to be confused with Théodore Wibaux.

Théodore Wibaux
Born	(1849-02-13)13 February 1849 Roubaix, France
Died	Jersey, United Kingdom
Allegiance	Papal States Second French Empire
Years of service	1866–1871
Battles/wars	See list: Unification of Italy Battle of Mentana Franco-Prussian War Battle of Châteaudun Battle of Loigny
Awards	Cross of Mentana

Théodore Wibaux SJ (13 February 1849 – 10 June 1882) was a French Roman Catholic priest who served in the Papal Zouaves.

Biography

Théodore Wibaux was born in Roubaix into a family of thirteen children. His father was the manager of a spinning mill. His upbringing was devout. Every evening, the Wibaux children would gather in the hallway in front of the statue of Our Lady, known to them as the Virgin of the Stairs, for prayer. He studied at the Institute of Roubaix, then as a boarder at Marcq. He became a member of the Saint-Vincent de Paul Conference and ran an oratory on Sunday afternoons.

In 1865, the government of Napoleon III decided to withdraw its troops from the Papal States, giving in to the demands of the Kingdom of Piedmont, which wanted to annex it into an unified Italy. All that remained was for Pius IX to call in the Zouaves and volunteer troops from France, Belgium, Holland and other countries. Theodore felt called to battle, but his father, at first worried and then proud of his son' s resolution, asked him to wait another year to prepare himself morally and physically.

Théodore Wibaux entered Rome on 8 December 1866, the day of the Immaculate Conception. About thirty French, Belgian, Dutch and German volunteers accompanied him. He made his first expedition, on 15 May 1867, to Corneto, against some forty Garibaldians who wanted to cross the border with rifles. They were put to flight unharmed.

In the summer, cholera struck the Albano region. The Garibaldians' tactic was to multiply the attacks in the countryside, in order to mass the Papal troops on the borders and thus clear Rome, so as to be able to take the city later on. Battles followed one another in the province of Viterbo. Remaining in Rome, in the garrison, Théodore had a front-row seat when the revolt broke out on 22 October. The Serristori barracks, undermined by the Piedmontese, exploded, killing around twenty people. At the same time, Garibaldi took Monte Rotondo, defended by 300 Zouaves. Théodore and about fifteen men were busy defending a bastion near the Porte Saint-Pancrace. They had no artillery.

On 30 October 1867, the long-awaited French troops entered Rome. Garibaldi immediately retaliated at Mentana. On 2 November, a column of 5,000 men, zouaves, Swiss carabinieri and legionnaires, under the command of General de Polhès, headed for Mentana. The battle would be horrific. The Garibaldians were routed. Lieutenant-colonel de Charette's action was decisive. On their return to Rome on 6 November, the papal troops were given a triumphant welcome.

Wibaux had the honour of a private audience with Pope Pius IX on 3 January 1868. It lasted a quarter of an hour, during which he received the blessing for his family and the decoration of Knight of the Immaculate Conception. He also received the title of Roman citizen.

After two years of commitment, he was granted a few days' leave to return to his family. But events were to change rapidly on his return. In July 1870, the war between France and Prussia caused the last French troops to be recalled from Rome. In September, 70,000 Piedmontese invaded Rome. The Zouaves returned to France aboard the Orinoco, leaving the Pope a prisoner within the walls of the Vatican.

Théodore's battalion marched to Châteaudun, arriving on 11 November. He was incorporated, as a sergeant-major, into the Legion of the Volunteers of the West. He took part in the fighting at Brou against the Prussians, under the orders of General de Sonis; then in the battle of Patay, — where the General and the Zouaves were to be immortalised under the folds of the Sacred Heart banner — as well as at the battle of Loigny on 2 December 1870.

In the early days of 1871, Charette was appointed brigadier general and Théodore second lieutenant. On 13 August, the three battalions that made up the Volunteers of the West attended the chaplain-in-chief's military mass for the last time. After mass, they moved into squares, and General de Charette announced the official dismissal of the regiment. The Zouaves no longer existed. A few days later, the Third Republic was declared.

In the same year he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Saint-Acheul. He was then sent to Boulogne as a teacher at the Collège Notre-Dame. With 35 children aged 11, he led his pupils as if they were on a battlefield. He followed his pupils right up to the third year. It was a source of great joy when Pius IX sent Wibaux an engraving with a special blessing for his pupils and a whole sentence in the Pontiff's handwriting.

In 1880, the laws of the Third Republic dispersed the Jesuits, who had to go into exile in Jersey. Wibaux then became an ardent advocate of the consecration of families to the Sacred Heart, in the pages of the Messager du Sacré-Coeur. When he reached the age of 33, he told his superior: "I will die this year!" At the end of May, an illness of the bowels set in, and he died on June 10 before his ordination.

In his will, he declared: "I make the sacrifice of my life to the Sacred Heart, I offer it for France, the Church, the Company, the canonisation of Pius IX, the regiment, Charette, the reigning Pope and for all my loved ones."

References

• Bittard des Portes, René (1894). Histoire des zouaves pontificaux. Paris: Bloud et Barral.
• Du Coëtlosquet, Charles (1887). Theodore Wibaux, Pontifical Zouave and Jesuit. London: Catholic Truth Society.
• Dumolin, Louis (1902). "Théodore Wibaux, zouave pontifical et Jésuite (1849-1882)," Les contemporains, 11e année, No. 527, pp. 1–16.
• Gruaz, Laurent (2020). Les officiers français des zouaves pontificaux: histoire et devenir entre XIXe et XXe siècles. Paris: Honoré Champion.
• L'Épinois, Henri de (1887). "Histoire Contemporaine," Le Monde, No. No. 80, pp. 1–2.
• Leroy, Henri-Joseph (1886). "Variétés," L'Univers, No. 6617, p. 4.
• Nouaille-Degorce, Patrick (2005). Les volontaires de l'ouest: Histoire et souvenir, de la guerre de 1870-1871 à nos jours. ANRT: Atelier national de reproduction des thèses.
• Schreiber, Ellis (1886). "A Pontifical Zouave," The Month, Vol. LVI, No. 262, pp. 477–97.

External links

• Works by Théodore Wibaux at Gallica