Charles Bonaparte, the father of Napoleon, died at the age of about
forty years, of an ulcer in the stomach, on the 24th of February, 1785.
His celebrated son fell a victim to the same disease. During Napoleon's
grandeur, the community of Montpellier expressed a desire to erect a
monument to the memory of Charles Bonaparte. His answer was both
sensible and in good taste. "Had I lost my father yesterday," he said,
"it would be natural to pay his memory some mark of respect consistent
with my present situation. But it is twenty years since the event, and
it is one in which the public can take no concern. Let us leave the dead
in peace."
The subject of our narrative was born, according to the best accounts,
and his own belief, upon the 15th day of August, 1769, at his father's
house in Ajaccio, forming one side of a court which leads out of the Rue
Charles.[3] We read with interest, that his mother's good constitution,
and bold character of mind, having induced her to attend mass upon the
day of his birth, (being the Festival of the Assumption,) she was
obliged to return home immediately, and as there was no time to prepare
a bed or bedroom, she was delivered of the future victor upon a
temporary couch prepared for her accommodation, and covered with an
ancient piece of tapestry, representing the heroes of the Iliad. The
infant was christened by the name of Napoleon, an obscure saint, who had
dropped to leeward, and fallen altogether out of the calendar, so that
his namesake never knew which day he was to celebrate as the festival of
his patron. When questioned, on this subject by the bishop who
confirmed him, he answered smartly, that there were a great many saints,
and only three hundred and sixty-five days to divide amongst them. The
politeness of the pope promoted the patron in order to compliment the
god-child, and Saint Napoleon des Ursins was accommodated with a
festival. To render this compliment, which no one but a pope could have
paid, still more flattering, the feast of Saint Napoleon was fixed for
the fifteenth August, the birthday of the emperor, and the day on which
he signed the Concordat. So that Napoleon had the rare honour of
promoting his patron saint.
[3] Benson's "Sketches of Corsica," p. 4.