Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-06-04
'CLERGY PROVIDES MANY HEROES 0f
 EUR0PE'S WAR
Priests, Protestant Minis ters and Rabbis Working
 in Trenches.

l OOilC dIlu d1c at Iuc 1lOuL.
 It required special intervention to produce for priests even the ".priv' ilege" of going to the front. Prior tc May, 1913, no chaplains were provided for the army. The minister of wal in case of war two Catholic priests, 2 be attached to each group of stretcher- bearers of an army corps, and two Catholic chaplains to each division which had no stretcher- bearers.
 Thus about 100 priests and half as authorized to accompany the army When war began, Count Albert de Nun, since deceased, obtained from the minister of war authorization for priests to enlist as chaplains with the approval of their bishops up to the number of 25O in addition. Count Paul Pourtles obtained the same favor for 80 more Protestant pastors, while 16 additional rabbis were named.
 Many Killed in Action.
 The number of priests who have given their lives on the field of battle has not yet been counted, for besides the chaplains there are several thou sand priests incorporated in the auxili- ary services, or who volunteered for active service. A great many deaths, however, have been reported among the chaplains under heroic circum- stances. The rabbi, Abraham Bloch, | was fatally wounded at Saint-Die by 9 fragment of shell at the moment when he rendered a crucifix to a | wounded soldier who had taken him for Catholic priest. The Abbe Villier, chaplain of the civil hospital at Arras, was killed by shell while seeking to save his patients during a lombard ment of Arras. Chaplain Dubreuil l died at the extreme point of positions conquered by the Zouaves with whom he went to the assault.
 Three chaplains gave up their lives during the battle of Champagne; the Abbe Thinot struck by shell while digging out men buried by the ex- plosion of a mine; the Abbe Perrot and the Abbe Pouch, who fell. the former while looking after a fallen soldier and the latter while giving first aid to general of brigade wounded on the field of battle
 A chaplain from the region of Yer dun gives the following graphic re- cital of an experiences:
 "We celebrated Easter under the shrapnel, within 300 yards of the Ger ma ntrenches, and the Credo was sa- luted by fusilade. Our trenches had been converted into green bowers with flowers and ivy garlands. On Good Friday IA stations had been marked with crosses in the communicating l trench for the solemn procession. At half past two, just as l had confessed my last penitent, bullet hit him in the neck. The blood spurted out just as the last words of dissolution were uttered. l gave him first aid, and then he turned his brave eyes toward me and murmured: You have cared for the body, now look after the soul. l offered up prayer that went with his departing soul, while the blood | flowed upon my cross and cassock It was in that condition that 1 pro- ceeded on the road to the cross, and at the twelfth station l offered the pure vermillion blood of that brave son of France to Christ, and with all my heart I said: Our Lord, that blood was generously shed.'"
 Bishop Gets War Cross.
 Bishop Ruch, as chaplain of a sec tion of stretcher- bearers of the th corps, was decorated with the Leggion of Honor and the war cross on the field of battle. and cited in orders as follows: "Charles Ruch. bishop effaced himself in spite of his eminent dignity and gave proofs in a modest post of untiring activity and devotion notably in the latest combats. visit ing the first line trenches. seeking fol wounded on the line of fire, and watching at fight in exposed field hospitals. His calm courage has ac- quired for him the affection of every one"
 In a little sector taken from the Germans, where there was a church riddled by shells, the chaplain of the victorious regiment decided to say mass while shells were screeching to right and left A proiectile crashed through the only window remaining intact, smashed the altar and threw the chaplain and his assistants to the floor. Fragments of the shell struck the priest in the head, while another broke his right arm at the elbow and another at the wrist
 For the chaplain as we'll as for the combatant, heroism is the small i change of every day existence at the 1 front. His place Is wherever there is fighting. He often falls under the shells and bullets, and frequently reaps the same reward for gallant con- duct as that of the fighting soldier. The Abbe Henrocque, simple priest at the beginning of the war; is now a knight of the Legion of Honor. He lifted men as they fell under a heavy shelling, with suffocating gas projec- tiles, dressed their wounds and car ried them to shelter He was wounded in the head and arm by shell that exploded three yards away; he stop ped only to wipe the blood from his eyes: an instant later a heavy pro- | iectile upheaved section of the French trenches and buried two off cers and six men; Abbe Henrocque, while crying for help; dug until he had saved one officer and four of the soldiers.