ograph paper still existing, and written in the handwriting of his
youth, thrice gives the date of his birth as August fifteenth, 1769.
If the substitution occurred, it must have been in early infancy.
Besides, we know why Napoleon at marriage sought to appear older than
he was, and Joseph's contract was written when the misstatement in it
was valuable as making him appear thoroughly French.

Among other absurd efforts to besmirch Napoleon's character is the
oft-repeated insinuation that he fixed his birthday on the greatest
high festival of the Roman Church, that of the Assumption of the
Virgin Mary, in order to assure its perpetual celebration! In sober
fact the researches of indefatigable antiquaries have brought to light
not only the documentary evidence referred to, but likewise the
circumstance that Napoleon, in one paper spelled Lapulion, was a not
uncommon Corsican name borne by several distinguished men, and that in
the early generation of the Buonaparte family the boys had been named
Joseph, Napoleon, and Lucien as they followed one another into the
world. In the eighteenth century spelling was scarcely more fixed than
in the sixteenth. Nor in the walk of life to which the Buonapartes
belonged was the fixity of names as rigid then as it later became.
There were three Maria-Annas in the family first and last, one of whom
was afterward called Elisa.

As to the form of the name Napoleon, there is a curious though
unimportant confusion. We have already seen the forms Nabulione,
Nabulion, Napoleone, Napoleon. Contemporary documents give also the
form Napoloeone, and his marriage certificate uses Napolione. On the
Vendome Column stands Napolio. Imp., which might be read either
Napolioni Imperatori or Napolio Imperatori. In either case we have
indications of a new form, Napolion or Napolius. The latter, which was
more probably intended, would seem to be an attempt to recall
Neopolus, a recognized saint's name. The absence of the name Napoleon
from the calendar of the Latin Church was considered a serious
reproach to its bearer by those who hated him, and their incessant
taunts stung him. In youth his constant retort was that there were
many saints and only three hundred and sixty-five days in the year. In
after years he had the matter remedied, and the French Catholics for a
time celebrated a St. Napoleon's day with proper ceremonies, among
which was the singing of a hymn composed to celebrate the power and
virtues