The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-08-10

When some Pastor comes to write
the history of the actual Pontificate,
he will find the dominant note of the
reign of the Fifteenth is the exercise
of charity in its most sublime form,
says Roman correspondent. EXhor-
tations to states to peace, personal
intervention for remittal of death
sentence and the mitigation of punish
ment, eXpiatory functions, continual
and world wide prayer for the end
of the world tragedy, an open hand,
which, like the widows cruise, is never
empty and never overlooking, and tire
less work for the interest of innocent
victims of the war-all go to show
the depth and the breadth and the
grandeur of the glorious reign of
Pope Benedict XIV.
In no manner has the Holy Father
shown himself more s0licitous for poor
war victims than by the establish
ment of the prisoners bureau of the
Vatican. Secular journals have done
little to let the world know of this
tivity of Pope Benedict Not a few
of them have joined that conspiracy
of silence by which, as far as they can
the philanthropic efforts of the Sow
ereign POntiff are concealed. For this
reason then the Roman letter of this
week is devoted exclusively to this
subject, a subject worthy Of the ira
ditions Of the Holy See.
Origin of the Bureau.
Soon after the great battles of 1914,
petitions came from many quarters
asking the Holy Father to discover
the whereabouts of prisoners Of war.
A few weeks later the number grew so
large Pope Benedict conceived the
idea Of instituting a special bureau,
the business of which was to be the
reception of APPLICATIONS for informa-
ton as to the whereabouts of miss
ing soldiers, and the discovery of the
addresses of these. A moments re-
Election vii show the Vatican to be,
not only the best, but probably the
only center for the success of such a
work on the large scale demanded by
the magnitude of the world war.
At that time Mr.. Bellamy Storer,
late ambassador of the U. S. at vi
emma, lived lat Rome. To this gentle
man His Holiness now did the honor
Of confiding the work which lay so
near his heart. Twice weekly Mr.
Storer repaired to the Vatican to re-
ceive from the SECRETARY Of State such
letters as had come from missing sol
diers' relatives. These he brought to
his villa whence he wrote to Bishops
and associations to various parts of
Europe for information as to the
mems whereabouts. This gentleman
continued his good work from Jan. II
to April IS, 1915.
On Jan. Is, 1915, Benedict XIV insti-
tuted at PaderbOrn an Office which
should work in connection with that
of the Vatican. Soon afterwards His
Holiness conceived the idea Of estab-
fishing another at Lyons, but owing
to the difficulties raised by the French
government this plan did not succeed,
and another center had to be chosen
for the tracing of German prisoners.
The Holy Father then chose Swift
zerland, and, thanks to the courtesy
of the Swiss government, and to the
zeal of the Bishop of Geneva and Lau-
same, an office was soon in working
order at Fribourg, Switzerland. Thus
His Holiness had now three Offices to
dry tears, namely that of Rome, Pad
erborn, Fribourg.
On April Is, 1915, Mr.. Bellamy
Storer returned to American and his
place was taken by the Very Rev.
Dominick Reuter-, President of the
Penitentiaries of the Patriarchal Ba-
silica of st. Peter, and late General
of the Conventual Friars Minor, an