The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-31

of the Son of God riding forth to war,
and of the good soldiers of Jesus
Christ"
Purpose of War.
For clarity of vision it is difficult
to rival the old medieval masters.
Listen to Averroes from whom Saint
Thomas of Aquin borrowed so many
ideas: There is one side of the
moral character of war in special har-
mony with the Mahommedan and
Christian type-I refer to the spirit of
sacrifice which is inherent in the very
idea of the individual encountering
death for the sake of the body to
which he belongs. There is media
torial function which pervades the
whole dispensation of Gods natural
suffer for each other, and one member
of the human body (society) has to
bear the burden and participate in
the grief of another. And it is this
serious and sacred function which
consecrates war. Without it what
would war be but carnage? With it
war displays in spite of it's terrible
features solemn morality. The de,
votion of the individual to the COM
munity stands before us i'll a form
which strikes us with admiration. He
vanishes like a drop of water i'll the
earth, yet he does not murmur. 1t
is his function. 1t is his appointment.
1t is an end to which he was ordained.
The member is bound to the body.
The unit exists for the good of the
whole. War is thus elevated and re-
deemed by the spirit of sacrifice and
we agree with the Roman orator:
Dulce ct decorum est pro patria
mori-death for our Fatherland is ever
welcome and seemly."
War and Progress.
How well those old masters under
stood human nature. Listen to
Balmes: rs war an accident of So
ciety or something rooted in it?'
Imagination earnestly stretches for
ward to an epoch when war will
cease; and first it has been said that
the progress of society will put an
end to war But in the first place
human nature consists of such varied
contents that it is very difficult to
say that any one principle, such as
what we call progress, can control 1t.
Old feeling starts up again, when it
was thought obsolete, and there is
much that is wild and irregular in
man, howsoever we may think we
have subjugated and tanned him
There is an outburst when we least
expect it. Canst thou draw out Levia.
THAN with hook? Wilt thou take
him as a servant forever? Therefore
the pretension of any one principle
like material progress to control en-
tirely this being, to make covenant
with him and take him as a servant
| forever is on the face of it an alb
surdity. If progress stops war on one
side, it makes it on another, and wal
is it's chief instrument, SO long as
nations exist with rival claims and
aspirations; so long as human nature
with its frailty and passion remains
what it is, wars will not only be FIRE
quent but likewise terrible. in proper
ton to the Improvement of weapons
and growth of rivalry
The Nation and the Individual.
There is one point which. as i
seems to me, both medieval and mod
ern philosophers overlook in relation
to war. In war the mass moves, ad
vances. wins, fills up its gaps; {
remorseless identity carries it through
all; the great unit moves on withou
pause to it's goal. So it is with thu
nation itself: before it is the glorifiet
whole; behind it the streNn AM
scattered fragments. The nation