The Martyrs of Castelfidardo

The story of the Martyrs of Castelfidardo is one of faith, heroism, and sacrifice. During the 1860s, the Papal States were under attack by a revolutionary movement to unite Italy under the banner of anti-clericalism. This attack was pushed by Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont and Italian secret societies.  On September 11th, 1860 the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont invaded the Papal States, hellbent on seizing the patrimony of St. Peter, which stood for over 1000 years. The largest battle fought in defense of the Church during this war was at the Battle of Castelfidardo on September 18th, 1860.  The compilation of stores in this book are about the soldiers who were martyred while answering the call to defend Bl. Pope Pius IX and the Holy See from the enemies of the Church. Written using letters and accounts from witnesses, the book was originally published in French by Anatole-Henri-Philippe, Marquis de Ségur in 1861, and in English in 1883.  The editor has combined, for the first time, illustrations from the French version with the English translation. 

When writing The Pope’s Legion, I had the joy of reading The Martyrs of Castelfidardo in French. At the time I was so inspired by it that I deeply wished I could bring out an English edition—and I am so very grateful for this one. In the letters of these gallant men, you will see the same devout Catholic spirit—fiercely militant yet tender—that animated Bl. Karl, the Carlists, the Vendee, and so many more. Well did these men label their effort “the Ninth Crusade.” —Charles Coulombe, author of The Pope's Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force that Defended the Vatican

Modernity and its revolutionary political upheavals have always and everywhere produced the exact opposite of what they claim to provide: the triumph of the irrational will over Reason; the victory of the strong over the weak; the tyranny of a drab materialist uniformity over a true freedom and diversity of the whole man, soul as well as body. Anyone seriously studying the Italian "Risorgimento" knows that this "progressive" movement represented one of the worst of the frauds that "enlightened" naturalism has ever perpetrated, completed, as it was, through a series of injustices that have reduced Italy to a caricature of its former glorious state. The reprint of the present work provides a set of poignant, personal examples of self-sacrificing Catholic efforts to block what every thinking man ought to have recognized as an emerging nightmare. They teach us what is expected of us today, as we prepare for the perhaps final battle for Christ against the dismal death march of His enemies. —Dr. John C. Rao, author of Removing the Blindfold: 19th-Century Catholics and the Myth of Modern Freedom