The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-01-29
BY Rev. Godfrey p. Hunt, o. r. M.

(By N. C. w. c. News Service.)
The question of the Holy Places is
a peculiarly delicate and complicated
one. The present situation bears no
parallel with the Crusading period.
Then the Catholic Church was the sole
of Christianity, and
when the Holy City fell to the Chris
tan armies, the immediate effect was
to hand over the Holy Places to the
See of Rome. This was the one scope
of the Crusades.
Today it is different. The deliver
ance of the Holy Places was not the
primary end of the Palestine cam
paign, but, when this was achieved, it
found that Christianity within the
walls of Jerusalem, as in the whole of
Palestine, was divided in its al
legiance to the See of Rome and in it's
Moreover, although the Palestinian
was purely a British under
taking, yet, being part of the whole
ideal for which the World War was be-
ing fought, we find representatives of
the Allied Nations entered the Holy
City side by side with the victorious
troops of the British Empire, thereby
giving the world to understand that
the question of the Holy Places was an
not national one.
Holy Places and League.
That the question of the Holy Places
occupies the mind of the League of
Nations may be gathered from Article
IS Of the Treaty of Peace, which reads
as follows: '.The Mandatory under
takes to appoint, as soon as possible,
a special Commission to study and
regulate all questions and claims re-
lating to the different religious COM
munities. In the composition of this
Commission the religious interests
concerned will be taken into account
The Chairman of the Commission will
be appointed by the Council of the
League of Nations"
In virtue of the above Article of the
Treaty of Peace, which has been sign
ed by Turkey, but which lacks, how
ever, the ratification, not only of the
Turkish Parliament, but, SO far, also
of the Allied Nations, the question of
the Holy Places is to be formally and
thoroughly investigated by special
Commission. This plan of the Coun-
Gil of the League of Nations has the
of the Holy See, in as much
as. in this Commission, not only will
the interests of the Catholic Church be
represented, but also those
of the Franciscans, as the official
of the Holy Places.
+ A reasonable time will have to be
allowed to transpire, after the appoint
ment of the Commission, before any
thing like definite results and settle
ments may be looked for.
From what has been said, therefore,
it will be seen how erroneous have
been the statements made concerning
the restoration of the Cenacle to the
This, and all other ques-
tons of the Holy Places, will be decid-
ed only by the aforementioned Com
1t is well that this should be
distinctly understood if we wish to
have right perspective of the present
day conditions in Palestine. That
there is much disappointment cannot
be at all wondered at, but every other
country, outside of Palestine, has, un-
happily, its goodly share of worried
anxiety and unrewarded expectations.
The Wisest plan, therefore, is to pos
sess ones soul in patience during this
trying period of watchful waiting.
Gen. AIlenby's Protective Measures.
Following the masterful strategy of
General Allenby across the worlds
most ancient battle ground, and espe-
cially across the land held most in
reverence by every Christian, there
were very few traces of war wreck
age, and this is particularly true of the
places hallowed by the sacred me-
mories of Christ's Passion and Death,
out of which the Turkish armies and
their Allies were manoeuvred by the
superior ability of the British Com.
Chief. 1t is matter of his
torical record that this notable and
campaign, carried on ex-
clusively by British troops, has left
unsullied and untouched by shot or
shell every shrine and sanctuary, leav-
ing the Holy Land in the full posses
sion of those rich treasures, which
stand for the principles set up by the
1f nj r, fr1,
adhered to, will make better and
happier world. Moreover, it is not
generally known, that the spare mo-
ments of the day and night, which
were allowed this warrior-general in
his arduous campaign, we're given over
to the reading of the biblical narratives,
describing the places he was endeavor-
ing to take or had taken. And what
more edifying than the entry of this
victorious officer into the Holy City?
Mere, indeed, one finds parallel with
Heraclius, Godfrey of BouilIon, and so
many other sterling Christians.
y Holy sepuIcher Guardianship.
Blame has been attached to General
.Allenby for returning the keys of the
Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher to the
Turkish aporters. We have seen that
the question Of the Holy Places is not
a British one alone; therefore, under
the circumstances, all that the Gen.
eral could do was to respect the status
quo. awaiting the decision of the prop
erly appointed Commission. While
this state of things continues the two