South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-01-06
BRAVE SISTERSOF
ST. CHARLES SAVE
RELIGIOUS WATERS
City of GerbeviIIer, Ravaged
and ShOt-tOrn by Germans.
Becomes Object of Curiosity
to inhabitants.

NANCY, France, Jan. 6.-After the
Germans and the battle the camera
and the moving picture, Gerbeviller
has become. like other cities of the
past, regular show place. It's few
remaining inhabitants, reinforced by
people Of greater distinction from the
outside world, have provided the ma
tertal for living" pictures against the
dead background Of its crumbling
walls
Practically everyone who now
comes to Lorraine is taken to see it.
and TO moralize over its destruction
! Pres't Poincare, during his visit to
Nancy, was duly introduced TO its
ruins and to the quiet sister of the
Order Of ST Charles of Nancy, who
cared for the wounded all through
the dangerous times of its lombard
ments by French and Germans, the
running fight in the streets, and the
/ horrors of the wholesale acts of in
/ cendiarism which brought all but a
| handful of its houses crashing to the
\ ground.
Now she is one of the few women in
\ France who wears the Cross of the
/ Legion of Honor The president Dor
rOwed the decoration from one of his
suite and pinned it upon her black
robe with his own hands
on the day that the German sol
! diers came into the town some of
them began the work of pillage in
the church at one of it. while the
few dozen Chasseurs of the defend
i ing force were still keeping up the
/ fight in the streets on the farther side
of the river The Germans tried,
amongst other things, to break open
the sanctuary above the altar, in
which is kept the Pyx. containing the
consecrated waters, by firing several
shots at the lock. After a time they
gave up the attempt and moved on
in search Of other games.
Saves Pyx from Sanctuary.
men, while the bullets were still
ng Soeur Julie succeeded where
L Y had failed. knowing that they
v a. ld be sure to come back, and, de-
termined to save the sacred elements
from their sacrilegiOus hands. she
picked up a bayonct which had been
left lying on the floor of the nave,
! door of the sanctuary. The PyX she
found lying on its side, pierced with
bullet holes, with its contents scat
tered around it. No one but a priest
had the right to touch them, the
Soeur Julie, though a religieuse, was
not a priest. But she collected the
waters, and, placing them in the sa-
cred vessel, carried it to the house.
and put It, for safety among the bat
ties and tins and dishes of her hos
pital buffet.
Then she began 70 have new fears.
| When the fighting was over the Ger
mans would be sure TO search all the
houses for food, and her precautions
would all be in vain. So, with a full
sense of the enOrmity Of her offense,
as there was no priest within reach,
she followed the example of King
David with the shewbread, and COM
municated the consecrated waters to
herself. Afterwards a priest did come
to the hospital to help with the
wounded, and assured her when she
confessed her misdemeanors, that
both in the church and the hospital
she had done perfectly right.
Another hospital superior, Soeur
Marie Rosnet, is worthy of special
honor for the way in which she stood
up to the German authorities in Cler-
monte Argonne, and actually sue
ceeded in getting a company of Ger
man sappers to have the houses which
had been set on fire by German sol
diers
Before the divorce between church
and state garrison chaplains bearing
regular equipm. mt of the army. When
the state refused to recognize them
any longer as functionaries. all priests
became at once liable with the rest
OF their class (the laymen, that is to
say of their own year, to ordinary
military service. Consequently in the
present war, priests of military age,
either as men on the active list, reser
visits or territorials are now serving
with the colors. Some are actually
at the front, though as far as posi-
BILE they are utilized in less advanced
positions.
AumOniers Aga Appointed.
But, with the war, another class
of soldier priest has again came into
I being. Once more Umoniers, or mill
tary chaplains have been appointed
to the troops Except that they wear
a kept and a cavalry cloak bearing
the gallons proper to their rank, there
is nothing to distinguish them from
ordinary clerics. The do not, that
is to say. wear the uniform OF an ordi-
by the state and the army as ccnsti-
ftutional functionaries as regular mill
tary chaplains, liable only for cleri-
cal work. They are therefore a visible
and outward sign Of the partial clos
ing of the breach between Church and
state. which is part Of the great ma
tional movement towards real fra
ternity and liberty brought about by
the war.
To a certain extent it is possible