The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-01
FATHER COLBERT, OF ST. JAMES
CHURCH, BECOMES CHAP
LAIN IN ARMY
WAS WITH FOURTEENTH MINI
Career at Chickamauga Marked by
Devotion to Duty That Made
Him Beloved by
Soldiers.

experience. w men the call IOr VOlun-
teers to serve in the war against Spain
was issued, he was one of the first to
offer his services to the government
They were accepted. and he was made
chaplain of the Fourteenth Minnesota
volunteers with which regiment he re-
manned until it was mustered out of the
service. Returning to civil life he took
up the work he had left, but the fascina-
ton of army life, it seems, held him in
too firm a grasp to be shaken off and he
again proffered his services to the presi-
| dent. They have been accepted, and the
soldiers in the Orient will soon have
among them a chaplain who knows not
fatigue or hunger or thirst when his
illustrations are needed.
OF the work done by Father Colbert
during the sojourn of the Fourteenth at
Chickamauga park there are men in
almost every state of the Union who can
speak For semes time after he reached
the great rendezvous, he was the only
| Catholic clergyman there and his
services were in demand from far and
near He soon came to be one of the
most familiar figures in the park and
| there was not soldier, no matter how
rough and profane, who did not recog-
nize the familiar face and form of the
chaplain long before the insignia of his
rank could be ascertained. At all hours
| of the night and day, through the bla2-
| ing heat and the pouring rain he made
his way from camp to camp, exhorting
the living, ministering to the sick con-
| soling the dying and saying the last sad
words over the dead. Other chaplains
| there were who were the idols of the
regiments to which they were attached,
! but there was not one whose friends
and admirers were to be found in every
camp in the entire army corps
AS an example ofthe influence that was
! welded by Father Colbert among the
| soldiers, it is only necessary to recall
to memory the scene that could be wit
messed every Saturday night and Sunday
morning in front of his tent AS soon
as the dress parade that closed the days
work for the troops had taken place, a
! stream Of blue uniformed men began TO
| converge in every direction toward the
little tent. There, from early twilight
! until the gray dawn was breaking over
the Eastern hills, he heard the confess
| Sions of those who stood in need of his
ministratons A few brief hours of rest.
and he was stirring once more. Again
| through the woods came the soldiers
this ti1na for the early service in front
of the tent. There from an improvised
and rudely constructed altar, the beau
tiful service of the church of Rome was
conducted and always with the greatest
Solemnity. 1t was Shorn of course OF
doubly attractive when it is given in the
churches, but the vast audience that
filled the area in front of the tent with
devOU worshipers probably did not miss
the music, the lights, and the ether ac-
cessories on which they had been ac-
customed to look at home 1t was
enough for them to hear the words of
the prayer reverently spoken the i'm
pressive lessons that were read, and the
sermon, full of fatherly counsel and
| wise admonition, that fell from the lips
| of the plain, -unassuming priest before
| them. Oftentimes, the crowds were so
| great that it was impossible fer all to
crowd into the space allotted for the
| service and it was then repeated.
The early service over, Father Col
bert's next duty was toward his own reg
| iment, and this service was as conscien-
| tiously gone through with as those that
| preceded it had been. Although there
were but few Catholics in the regiment,
| the boys who had been brought I'D in
| other creeds never failed to be present
| The service on these occasions was al
ways confined to the reading of a script
ure lesson, the usual prayers and a
| short, forceful sermon.
HIS UNIQUE ALTAR.
BY the time this service was over. the
| fathers horse, bridled and saddled, was
standing in front of his tent, and mo-
| ment later he was mounted and hurrying
away to another part of the park where
others were awaiting him. All day long
and until far into the night he was
| busy with his ministrations With the
| men of the First New Hampshire ne
| was particularly a favorite and their
| hands constructed for his use what was
| probably one of the most unique affairs
ever erected in America. 1t was built
| of Ia
ground in the vicinity of the camp was
| thickly strewn, and was complete in ev-
| cry detail. The roof was a great tree.
| through the boughS of which the golden
sunlight Streamed and WoVe moSaics of
| quaint and ever varying patterns on the
brown earth beneath. The light stream
! Ing in through the colored windows of
some old cathedral was not more weirdlv
! beautiful, and the solemnity of the st.
| Peters itself was not more impressive
| Standing on the outskirts Of the crowd
where a full view could be had of the
gray altar, the play of the SUM ght and
| shadow upon the vast crowd-oftentimes
numbering as many as 1000 men-and the
| blaCk-rCbed figure of the priest as he
| moved about in the discharge of his
| functions, one looked upon a picture
| worthy the brush of a Rembrandt, and
one which can never be effaced from
| memory.
| Later in the year, other clergymen OF
the Catholic faith were sent to the park
and while their assistance diminished to
a considerable extent the work that was
pressing on Father Colberts shoulders
and which he was too loyal to even
attempt to throw off until other han Is
could be found to sustain the burden
he remained until the last, the best
loved priest that was to be found ir
that great camp. That he will duplicate
this record in his new field can not he
| doubted.
It has been known for some time thai
| Father Colbert'S name has been under
consideration by the president for ar
appointment in the Philippines. but with
this knowledge has been coupled, the un.
certainty of attainment that attaches te
| positions of this character. The dispatch
es yesterday state that his appointment
has been made and it is probable that
he will be on his way to our new PCS
sessions as soon as he can arrange his
| private affairs.
Personally Father Colbert is the pos
SCISSOR of all those qualities that go tc
make a man loved and lovable He is
unassuming but dignified is the possessol
| OF rare scholastic attachments, loves tc
| tell good story and enjoys one equally
well when it is related by another Ii
MS ministerial capacity he commands tht
respect of every one he meets and his
sincere and unaffected piety and unob
trusive manner win the respect of Low,
Of every one. BY the soldiers who rass
ed the summer at Chickamauga he Wi!
always be remembered with gratitude
| ana as one on whom no call was ever
made in vain. In the new field to which
he goes he will find wider onnor+,,p;+ie <