The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-04-07
ON THE FIRING LINE THEY GIVE
EXAMPLES OF HEROlSM WHICH
BETTER THEIR PREACHING
CHAPLAlNS, STRETCHER-BEAR-
ER AND COMBATANTS BRAVE
AS THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS
UNDER COLORS.

An exchange gives us the following
account of the French clergy during
the present great war:
No apology is needed for returning
to the splendid example shown by
the clergy of France on the battle
field. Though they are there. under
the compulsion of a law which is in
direct antagOnism with the canons
and the spirit Of their calling, they
have literally made virtue of ne
cessity, and given the world a specta-
Gle which is as glorious as it is in
spring. How readily, in this dark
hour of their countrys peril, they
have left their peaceful parishes,
and hurried from their exile at the
ends of the earth to join the COlors,
either as chaplains, suetcher- bearers,
or cOmbatants, is already a familiar
story. And once in the firing line
they have in their own persons given
examples of heroism and self-sacrifice
which have even bettered their
preaching. The warrior prelate of
the Middle Ages is a far-off figure
associated with romance, but these
sCldierpriests of today are a reality
which has astonished the world with
a soldierly bravery as incontestable
as their priestly piety
That one dedicated TO the minis
try of the Prince of Peace should
show himself as brave as the brav-
est of soldiers has naturally struck
the Imagination as a new type of
hero, the tale of whose deeds never
pals. AS the Journal de Geneve
months ago remarked: The ma
ti0n's annals will consecrate and i'm
mortalize this type. What regi-
ments the Church of France has
given to the armies of the republic,
and what men, As q wounded man
told me yesterday, For sheer cour-
age there is nothing like these
cures One would say they had the
devil in their bod 90 atsT3i tt&
writer added God in the heart, the
explanation would have been com
plete for their attitude in this long
stand face to face with death. That
they are working and fighting for
France, for the salvation of her
people-that is the thought that in
spires them to such deeds as are be-
ing officially recorded day by day.
No hardship is too great, no danger
too awful, where France or the souls
of their comrades are concerned. In
the words of Cardinal Lucon, Arch
bishop of Rheims their parish is now
the regiment, the trench, and the hos
pital: if they fall there, their COM
rades fall there too, and so it is but
fitting that the phalanX Of priests also
should give its blood for the father
land.
Mountains of Glory.
To illustrate this by examples be-
comes easier than ever, for day
after day the clergy Of France are
rolling up a mountain of glory
which cannot be hid What could
be more whole-hearted than the per-
sistence with which the young
Jesuit, Pere de Gironde, who left the
college for the Colors on the day
of his ordination, insisted time after
time on being sent back to the firing
line? His reason was the example
that a priest could give" He fell
gloriously at Ypres whilst assisting
a wounded comrade. A similar spirit
was shown by Brother Ambrose
Soude. a Dominican, who, in letter
written a few days before he was
killed, said: Our soul will perhaps
he the only one in the world to know
the gully where we fell. But what
matter, if our soul, taking with it
before God the pure ideal OF France,
obtains pardon for her sons?' Or
lake again such words as these, writ
ten by the Able CASTOR Million, cap
tain in the Ninetieth Infantry Regi-
ment, in the midst of the racking
struggle on Wort-Homme in Holy
Week, 1916: "Wednesday: thought
on these words of Joffre: Our victory
will be the fruit of individual sacri
fees Sacrifice is the great law OF
which Jesus has given us the exam
nle. Sacrifice even unto
death. Maundy Thursday:
If o my God, Thou wouldst have
NV blood. offer it in union with the
blood of my Saviour. Holy Saturday
Jesus dead in the tomb, and | too il
nv tomblike shelter, with deatl
threatening at any moment. shell