Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1891-07-23
WARRIOR Monks or hL.

France is indeed q Il 6f sar-
prises and paradoxes, wi Gun
life Owen in Harper Weekly.
Who in the world could ! dreamt
that the last decade Of thi rosaical,
matter-of-faci and con on place
nineteenth century wo1 seeAthe
revival of one OF the ul1 roman
tic features of the eleidd i nges, and
tina, too, by the most sk kical, Gym
ical and superficial peofle under
the sun 2. For il is members Of the
jeunesse dorec of France who have
formed the first contingent Of the
holy order known as the Warrior
Monks of the Sahara.
The latter are the modern en-
bodiment of the knights of Malta
and knights Templars of crusad-
ing days. The steel helmet is re-
placed by one made of cork, with
duly patented ventilating appara-
tus the visor instead of metal, is
of cloth, similar to those worn by
the Tuareg Arabs and, in lieu Of
the pennoned lance, there is a far
more deadly weapon in the shape
of a repeating rifle. The object in
view, however, is the same, name
ly, the delivery of slaves from bon
dage and the propagation Of Chris
tianity by means not of the gospel
alone. but of the gospel allied to
the sword.
Cardinal Lavigerie, to whom the
merit of this extraordinary revival
belongs, has lived long enough in
Africa to learn that the one is in
dispensable to the other--at any
rate among the turbulent and war
like races which inhabit the north
ern half Of the Dark Continent.
He has witnessed the marvellous
success of the Moslem proselytism,
which although attended by violence
and bloodshed, has impaired a GER
tain amount of civilization and en-
lightenment to nations stepped in
the very lowest depths Of pagan
barbarism.
After comparing the many mil
lions of converts to Mohammedan-
ism to the relatively few thousands
of converts to Christianity in Afri-
ca, and after a careful and pro-
found study of the problem-a
study for which his bredth Of mind
and liberality of view particularly
fitted him-he has come to the con-
clusiOn that the system of sending
out unarmed missionaries to preach
the gospel and nothing but the gos-
pei among the savages was all
wrong that both the heroism and
martyrdom of these pioneers of
Christianity were entirely wasted,
and that if any material good were
to be achieved it could only be done
by means of a radical change.
CROSS AND SWORD.
With this purpose in view he has
founded the order of the Warrior
Monks of the Sahara. Instead of
meekly bowling their heads to re-
ceive the martyrs crown, they will
seek to attract sympathy and good
will by developing the productive
ness of the oases, and by the crea-
tion of new ones, where they will
form stations for the relief of the
sick, for the offer of hospitality to
all comers and for the refuge and
protection of fugitive slaves.
Their aim win be to afford prac-
tical demonstration of the benefits
and advantages Of civilization, to
preach by example the elements
thereof, and. to thus prepare the
ground for conversion to Christian
ity. The latter, although the prin-
cipal object, is the last in order,
for Cardinal Lavigerie proposes that
instead of proselytism preparing
the ground for the seeds of civili-
zation, it is the elements of civiAi-
zation which are to prepare the
ground for the seeds of Christiani-
ty. Civilization will act as fore
runner instead of following in the
wake of the gospel.
The headquarters of the order
are at Biskra, on the Algerian bor-
ders of the great Sahara desert,
and were solemnly consecrated by
Cardinal Lavigerie the early part
of last month. The name Of the
spot is M'salla, which il the Arabic
designation for "place Of prayer. I"
The estate contains q plantation of
palms in full bearing, and is tray-