|
Christoph Graf
Colonel Christoph Graf (born 5 September 1961) is the 35th and current Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, appointed by Pope Francis on 7 February 2015, replacing Col. Daniel Anrig. Biography Graf was born in Pfaffnau Pfaffnau is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. In the municipality two different parts are existing, the village Pfaffnau and the Former Monastery of St. Urban. History Pfaffnau is first mentioned ..., in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. He joined the Swiss Guard in 1987. In August 1999 he was promoted to sergeant, and later in 2000 he was promoted to sergeant-major, a position in which he remained until April 2009 when he was promoted to second captain. In October 2010, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and vice commander of the guard, where he acted as a chief of staff and first adviser to the commander. In late 2014, it was announced that Anrig would leave the position of commander after seven y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pfaffnau
Pfaffnau is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. In the municipality two different parts are existing, the village Pfaffnau and the Former Monastery of St. Urban. History Pfaffnau is first mentioned in 924 as ''Fafanhaa/Fafana''. In 1173 it was mentioned as ''Phafena''. Geography Pfaffnau has an area of . Of this area, or 64.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 24.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.3% and transportation infrastructure mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome, which has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Catholic Church and the sovereign city-state known as the Vatican City. According to Catholic tradition it was founded in the first century by Saints Peter and Paul and, by virtue of Petrine and papal primacy, is the focal point of full communion for Catholic Christians around the world. As a sovereign entity, the Holy See is headquartered in, operates from, and exercises "exclusive dominion" over the independent Vatican City State enclave in Rome, of which the pope is sovereign. The Holy See is administered by the Roman Curia (Latin for "Roman Court"), which is the central government of the Catholic Church. The Roman Curia includes various dicasteries, comparable to ministries and ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontifical Swiss Guard
The Pontifical Swiss Guard (also Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard; la, Pontificia Cohors Helvetica; it, Guardia Svizzera Pontificia; german: Päpstliche Schweizergarde; french: Garde suisse pontificale; rm, Guardia svizra papala) is an armed force and honour guard unit maintained by the Holy See that protects the Pope and the Apostolic Palace within the territory of the Vatican City. Established in 1506 under Pope Julius II, the Pontifical Swiss Guard is among the oldest military units in continuous operation. The dress uniform is of blue, red, orange and yellow with a distinctly Renaissance appearance. The Swiss Guard are equipped with traditional weapons, such as the halberd, as well as with modern firearms. Since the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981, a much stronger emphasis has been placed on the Guard's non-ceremonial roles, and has seen enhanced training in unarmed combat and small arms. Recruits to the guards must be unmarried Swiss Cath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service. The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank. Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain. History and origins By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to Raymond Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. Francis is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since Gregory III, a Syrian who reigned in the 8th century. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness, he was inspired to join the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Anrig
Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig (born 10 July 1972) was the thirty fourth Commandant of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 August 2008, He replaced Elmar Mäder who had served as Commandant of the Swiss Guard since 2002. He was succeeded by Christoph Graf as his term ended on 31 January 2015 and was not extended by Pope Francis. Anrig was born in Walenstadt (Canton of St. Gallen), Switzerland. He is married and has four children. Anrig served as halberdier in the Swiss Guard between 1992 and 1994. He graduated in civil and ecclesiastical law from the University of Fribourg in 1999. Anrig held the rank of a captain in the Swiss Army. He was head of criminal police in the canton of Glarus, from 2002 to 2006 when he became commanding general of the police body of the canton of Glarus. Since July 2015 Anrig has also been head of a section of the Zürich Airport corps of Kantonspolizei Zürich The Kantonspolizei Zürich (literal translation: "Canto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is List of cities in Switzerland, the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transportation, culture, and media in the region. The city's urban area consists of 19 municipalities and towns with an overall population of about 220,000 people. Owing to its location on the shores of Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee) and its outflow, the river Reuss (river), Reuss, within sight of the mounts Pilatus (mountain), Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne has long been a destination for tourists. One of the city's landm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Commanders Of The Pontifical Swiss Guard
, flag = BandieraGuardiaSvizzeraGraf-PapaFrancesco.png , flagcaption = Flag of the Pontifical Swiss Guard with commander Christoph Graf's emblem , image = Christoph Graf.jpg , incumbent = Christoph Graf , incumbentsince = 7 February 2015 , member_of = The Pontifical Swiss Guard , reports_to = The Pope , residence = Vatican City , formation = 22 January 1506 ( years ago) , first = Kaspar von Silenen , deputy = Philippe Morard The Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard is the head of the Pontifical Swiss Guard. In total, there have been 35 commanders of the Swiss Guard serving 51 popes, with interruptions during 1527–1548 following the Sack of Rome, in 1564/5, in 1704–1712 and in 1798/9 following the French invasion. 24 out of 35 commanders were citizens of the city of Lucerne (not counting the incumbent, Christoph Graf, who is from Pfaffnau in the canton of Lucerne). During 1652–1847 the office became quasi-heritable, with ten commanders members of the Pfyffer von Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1961 Births
Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (Koivulahti air disaster): Douglas DC-3C OH-LCC of Finnish airline Aero crashes near Kvevlax (Koivulahti), on approach to Vaasa Airport in Finland, killing all 25 on board, due to pilot error: an investigation finds that the captain and first officer were both exhausted for lack of sleep, and had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol at the time of the crash. It remains the deadliest air disaster to occur in the country. * January 5 ** Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ** After the 1960 military coup, General Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey (25th gove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Willisau District
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ..., ownership of property, or legal obligation, legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commanders Of The Swiss Guard
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. Commander is also a generic term for an officer commanding any armed forces unit, for example "platoon commander", "brigade commander" and "squadron commander". In the police, terms such as "borough commander" and "incident commander" are used. Commander as a naval and air force rank Commander is a rank used in navies but is very rarely used as a rank in armies. The title, originally "master and commander", originated in the 18th century to describe naval officers who commanded ships of war too large to be commanded by a lieutenant but too small to warrant the assignment of a post-captain and (before about 1770) a sailing master; the commanding officer served as his own master. In practice, these were usually unrated sloops-of-war of no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_1938.jpg "Click for more on -> People From Willisau District")
