The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-11-07
Cardinals Residence,
40S North Charles Street,
Ra1timoro Md

4OS North Charles Street,
Baltimore, Md.
My Dear Mrs. Jolly:
was delighted to hear of the beau
tiful memorial which the Ladies' Aux
ilipy of the Ancient Order of Hiber-
mans proposes to erect in honor of
THE Nun of the Battlefield" Count
less memorials proclaim in city and
village the bravery and the sacrifices
of patriotic soldiers who fell in de-
Tense of their country's rights and
welfare. So far no monument pro-
claims the courage and devotion of
those noble women who conquered
first their own tender natures, and
then followed in the cruel wake of
war. They lessened, in some degree,
the horrors of war. They comforted
the dying, assisted the wounded and
the crippled. cared for the sick and
convalescent, comforted their fami-
lies, and in this way shed on ten thou
sand beloved homes a solitary ray Of
consolation. Their bright deeds of
Christian charity have long been a
commonplace of history, song and fic-
tion. BY the lips of many thousand
veterans they have won for the Cath
Olic religion the praise and recogni-
tion of grateful hearts in every Sec
tion of the United States, regardless
of creed or race or sectional strife.
Without noise or contention our Cath
Olfc Sisters took up the only work
left to women on the grim fields of
war. and moved like angels of mercy
amid distressing scenes of carnage
and DEATH superior to victory or de-
feat, to the rights or the wrongs of
the dread hour, thoughtful only of
common humanity and of the image
of our Redecmer. Jesus, stamped in
delbly on every broken and palpitat-
ing frame
AS the memory of each cruel war
grows weaker. and the blessings of
peace become denrcr to men, The hor-
rOrs OF armed conflict grow DINNER
and are eventually forgotten by gen.
Grafton which has never experienced
them. But the glorious virtues of pity
and resignation, of consolation and
forgiveness, of self-denal and devo-
tiOn, the constant assertion of the
rights and duties of the charity of
Jesus Christ among His followers;
the indirect but powerful lessons of
peace and concord and fraternal
unity which radated from the figures
of Gods lovely messengers, on the
battlefield and in the hospital, can
never be forgotten, as long as graft.
tude beats in the human heart and as
Christian brotherhood still lives and
urges us to realize one day the ideal
OF world and society wherein
peace shall reign supreme, and men
shall no longer appeal to the dread
arbitrament Of the sword.
l do not doubt that the monument
you propose to erect on some noble
national site will reflect in eloquent
and artistic symbolism the merits,
natural and supernatural of our no.
BILE Catholic Sisters, who, in times of
war, honored their holy religion and
their dear communities by virtue of
the highest and rarest order, and at
the same time served their country
with patriotic zeal as unique and
useful as It was rare and exa1ted
May our Blessed Mother, Mary I'm
maculate, look with favor upon your
holy project, and by her intercession
bring to happy ending an enterprise
destined at once to reflect honor on
the Catholic religion, on our common
humanity and on all womankind.
Very sincerely yours in Xto.,
j. CARDINAL GIBBONS.