The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-05-06
FOR GOD AND FRANCE


soldiers:, the set faces of a nation Of
nuns.
In the third group were the civil
ians: husbands and wives, elderly
men and women and their children.
These were rich and poor-the man
in frock coat with gloves and cane,
the Workingman in billoWy blouse and
bulging trousers-both come up out
of the city and it's atmosphere of high
prices and diminishing trade. And
these, the eXcitable, imaginative,
gesticulating Parisians of another day,
these, too, bore the placid look of the
soldier and widow which might have
been stolidity of resignation, but
which was certainly neither.
French Religious at Heart.
AS the great crowd poured into the
long Cathedral the worshipers filled
UP it's vast caverns and overflowed
in huddled kneeling groups outside the
iron railings near the altar, where the
tiptoeing tourist, book in hand, was
wont to peer. Against the ivory of
the altar the candles fiickered dimly.
A shaft of dingy rose light rested on
the statue of Jeanne dare. The
ritual was in progress. The voice of
the celebrant, in youthless treble,
quivered upward and lost itself in the
ancient roof. The wooden pipes of
the organ rumbled a response. Through
the rose windows daylight waned, the
clouds thickened, the rain began to
fall, and two thousand kneeling
figures sank into the shadows as the
long ceremony proceeded; and then
at the end two bright incandescent
globes flashed suddenly among the
candles. The celebrant opened the
book, and across it's pages shone in
the brighter light a single strip of
crimson ribbon: the only color in this
sombre scene. The brass pipes, over
the great Judgment door, back of the
congregation, burst forth in the
thunders of Gloria Patri," not jubi-
liant now, almost defiant, but not that:
resolute rather-resolute for God and
France.
phere. The ritual was not unfamiliar
to me, but it was strange to me now
in that this undeniable atmosphere
had made me forget the ritual. / have
confirmed the presence of this atmos-
phere by many other visits to serv-
ices in France, Protestant and Cath
olic alike.
France has been called atheistic in
recent years. She is, in fact, Catholic.
There are 100000 French Protestants.
There is not one probably who would
deny this atmosphere. Nor does the
politician, always cautious, rarely
allowing himself to be quoted. For
he too believes in the atmosphere and
thinks France is in spiritual parturi-
tion. His view has an added interest
when the political troubles of the
Catholic Church in France are con-
sdered. No attempt to describe
these difficulties could satisfy either
side to the controversy. On the his
torical side they center around the
Concordat and its organic articles, an
arrangement of Napoleon Bonaparte
with Pope Plus VII. BY it the state
took over a portion of the control of
the Church in France. Previous to
this development atheism had ap-
peared in France, in Voltaire and his
kind. The mob gave the philosophers
preachment grotesque expression dur
ing the excesses of the Terror, setting
up in Notre Dame Goddess of Rea-
son represented by a ballet dancer
In the restoration of the Church in
France at the time of the Concordat
the Catholic clergy became public
functionaries and were paid as other
officials. AS part Of the Government
the Church and it's interests were
championed by the parliamentary
Right, the extreme wing of which are
| the monarchists, and it's opposition
was found in the Left, the extreme
wing of which are the revolutionary
| Socialists. The anti-clericals, not all
| irreligious men by any means, consti-
| tuted the Left, began many years ago
a long series of legislative restrictions
| upon the Catholic Church. The high
clergy were excluded from the Supe-
rior Council of Public instruction.
Jesuits were expelled. The mortmain
| property of monastic orders, which
paid no Inheritance tax, was made
liable to excise. The Roman Catholic
catechism was barred from the public
schools. Catholic theological students
were deprived of exemption from
military service. Crucifixes over the
entrances Of cemeteries, in schools,
and in courthouses were ordered to
be removed. Many Catholic orders
were excluded. In time state differ
ences with the Pope, in the matter OF
authority over Bishops, followed, and
in 1905 the Concordat was abrogated,
the bill separating the Church from
the state becoming law The divorce
is absolute. Pope Plus X, at the time
of the passage of the law, condemned
it as insulting to Cod The feel
ings engendered by this conflict have
probably lessened in ten years, but
in some they still rankle deep. Knowl-
edge of the conflict is prerequisite to
an understanding of the present
spiritual state of the republic. In the
view Of many of those who see in
France profound religious revival,
!. the war, it's unexpectedness, the
;, ferocity of the German attack, struck
deep into the primitive emotions of