Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-02-24


all of you repeated the VOW
And the other day / happened be-
fore the altar of tiny church on
the Dalmatian coast. Who had re-
opened the little church on the arid
coast? / was the first one to arrive.
1t was empty and desolate, Not
even the pictures of Carpaccio were
there. The St. George wasn't there
nor his horse The St. Jerome and
his lion were equally absent The
pictures of the apostles sleeping ii
the garden had gone. Only solitude
was there and the anguish of Christ
The solitude and the prayer of your
betrayed soul.
| Deserted and Forgotten.
at is very small, this Dalmatiar
oratory, almost wooden shed, lone
some in its desolation. Everything
of value had been taken from it ant
| it had been shut for fear of aeria
raids. 1t had been deserted and for.
gotten. But the other day, empty
and desolate as it was, it appeared
to me as a powerful human frame
wherein lives a spirit without limit
Between the altar and the door thC
martyrdom of Dalmatia loomeC
high as loom the invisible powers
In the middle there stood a prayer
stool with an open prayer book ii
front of it. / read 'Reniscers, Dom
inc, Delicta Nostra 1t Delicta Hor
um.' Remember, o Lord, our sin!
and their sins.
Suddenly a poor muddy, cold
looking private came In and remain
ed standing with uncovered heat
near the door. A long scar marreC
his forehead and you could not SCI
his arms. He was like so many
had seen on the Carso dying o
thiJst-like those I had seen on TIN
mountains and in the trenches, knet
deep in the sticky mud-like thos,
| had seen in the church Of DobeTde
: asleep near the altar where, mex
, to the sacred vessels, the helmet
and the shoes of the dead lay in
heap. Who had sent him2 Til,
eucaristic sacrifice was just begin
ming. But of all the service | re
tanned, only these words which ar
symbolic of Italy's reno Sc: "Met
culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
(My fault, my fault, my grievou
fault.) The patriarch officiating nj
tered the words in such loud voic
that they resounded in the present
in the past and in the future.
No Sacred Vessels.
. "And in that small church OF tn
Dalmatians, asjn all other churches
/, Quilted by the roar of battle, AM
changed to nothing more than
poor shelter for wounded, the altar
for you and me, no more sacred YES
sells nor candles nor flowers. Fo
you and me only the shoes and hel
NETS of the dead decorated it, tn
} helmets battered, rusty, gray Xix
: ashes, with the lining clotted wit
3 blood-the shoes which had re
manned for days and nights in TIL
] mud, in the dust and among rocks
Y and the laces of which had to b
e cut in order to extract them iron
~ the frozen feet at the edge of tn
!, grave-the garments which ma
once covered the head and the fee
of the living who had gone for
ward to die.
"And as on that altar, so it is o.
t all the affairs in Dalmatia, the over
t towering weight of the bloody sac
: rifce
e so now before those affairs / re
o peat my vow Of September IS. An
d the same vow is repeated by al
e those who have fought for pledg
which today we have conquere
with the vslor Of our men. / my
self and my fellow soldiers hav
, fought for that pledge which mus
remain ours as a protection fror
: the Austrians and from that min
: ture of southern Slavs Jugo-Slavs
!. who under color of a new libert
: and camouflaged by bastard nam
(. hardly succeeds in hiding their Of
: enmity and hatred.
Fought For Victory.
I'VE all fought because we be
lieye in victory. We fought to wi
n the war All the war. During tn
Il dark days of Caporetto (the retres
If to the Piave), we did not los
: heart We said Italy has won |
$, victories over the enemy. Her ut
e victory is won over her own sell
! And her last victory was the viz
q tory of victories.
i 1T was the Roman wedge smash
d ing into the enemy's strength
. was the collapse of a formidable Il
% lit was the final knockout to a
Il empire whose roots were deep
Z the blacklist ignominy.
1T was then that Italy, still
lr arms, should have said to her con
Z petitors, This is my sacrifice. Wi
l. you weigh it? This is my victor.
rs Will you measure il? My sacrihC
Z, and my victory are above yol
measurements and surpass the pa
a of London. I don't care whetht
Y; this pact is valid today or not.
e. is nv right for which / have fougl
t alone and suffered alone. N
s border line to the east is marke
Sc by the Velebite mountains and b
the Dinariche Alps, a continuatio
of the Julian Alps. All that str
of land which was Italian in orig
. and essence, is mine. The ancieI
il persecution of the old tyrants ar
h the falsihcations of the now col
r quered usurpers 0ugo-Slavs) coul