WAR SACRIFICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 97, 26 April 1935, Page 5

WAR SACRIFICES

OLD BOYS REMEMBER *

MASS AT ST. MARY'S

The old boys of St. Patrick's College | who made the supreme sacrifice during the war were fittingly 'remembered yesterday, when a Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at the church of St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street. Yesterday's Requiem, "coram Pontifice," was part of the college jubilee celebrations, and Anzac Day was taken advantage of as being a most appropriate occasion on which to pay tribute to ihe memory of those old boys who laid down their Hves in the cause of Empire. The church, which has, seating accommodation for 900 persons; was filled to overflowing. Students of the college, past and present, occupied every seat, and in addition, many relatives of deceased old boys were present, as well as many of the public, kneeling in the aisles and occupying all available space. Old boys and students assembled at the college, Cambridge Terrace, prior to the Mass, and -marched to the church, through the city. The St. Patrick's College Cadets, to the strength of 180, with their drum and trumpet

band, led the procession, and were followed by the Port Nicholson Band t which led 600 old boys. The Silverstream College cadets, also with their band, and 210 strong, followed. The old boys were marshalled by Lieut.Colonel R. L. Evatt. SOLDIER-PRIESTS. ' , It was fitting that the ministers of the Mass should have all been soldierpriests. They were men who had ministered to the old boys on the fields of battle, and in the Solemn Requiem they offered the sacrifice of the Mass for the repose of the souls of those who had formerly been under their care. The celebrant was Captain-Chaplain Moloney, S.M.; the deacon, CaptainChaplain Murphy, S.M.; and the subdeacon, Captain-Chaplain Daly. The Rev. F. L. Dignan, S.M., was master of ceremonies. The deacons of honour, attending his Grace Archbishop O'Shea, were the Very Rev. J. W. Dowling, S.M., M.A-, F.R.E.S. (Rector of Silverstream College), and the Very Rev. A: J. Cullen, S.M., B.Sc. (Rector of St. Patrick's College). All those present in the sanctuary were old boys of the college, and the altar boys were present students. Befitting to the occasion, the altar and sanctuary were draped in black, and a catafalque, placed outside the sanctuary rails, was draped with the college flag and the New Zealand ensign. Resting against the catafalque was a wreath which was later placed at the Citizens' War Memorial. It consisted of laurel leaves, into which was woven the blue and white ,of the college, colours. A choir of 80 boys from the Silverstream College, under the baton of the Rev. C. Feehly, S.M., sang the Requiem. "MONUMENT OF VALOUR/ The occasional sermon was preached by Chaplain-Major McDonald, S.M., who took as his, text Ecclesiaticus XLIV, 9: "And there are some of whom there is no memorial who perished as if they had not been .. . their glory shall not be forgotten, their bodies lie buried in peace. ... Their name liveth from generation to generation.", n "In the national museum of Athens, said the preacher, "is a slab of whitest Pentelic marble, which bears a remarkable inscription in Greek wrought 440 years before Christ,and reads: 'These by the Dardanelles laid down their glorious youth in battle and won renown from their land, so that their enemy groaned bearing away the harvest of war, and for themselves- they founded an imperishable monument of valour.' Though written 2000 years ago, these words might fittingly be placed over the graves .of the fine young Australians and New Zealanders who fell in the historic landing at Anzac Cove. For these it was who by their impetuosity, their eagerness to close with the enemy, absolute contempt of death, actually established the Anzac front li ne _the men who wrote the. initial war history of our southern lands in the red lettering of their life's blood. "Today—-Anzac Day—is primarily commemorative of that event. This year it falls within the jubilee week of a great Catholic educational institute. In the sanctuary this morning, as ministers of the, Requiem Mass, stand men, no longer in the garb of war, but in the sable vestments of the Church's, mourning-r-the soldier-priests, that.St. Patrick's College sent out'to the;;flelds of war. Then, as I look down'on this gathering, among the hundreds of returned men, I mark ..the faces'of war veterans who once were the i alumni or nurslings of that great .colleger-men who so splendidly1 upheld during four years,of fierce fighting the finest traditions of their school.: '■ • ' "From' the1 inspiring sight of the" men who tame out of "that grim and bloody conflicti'our thoughts turn naturally to. the old boys who 'felj. , For; them the altar is draped in "black.'' With rever-. ent pride we place"on;that imperishable altar; of the Catholic Church the, glorious scroll of well-nigh seventy names of Patricians whose .bodies, fell on the shell-ploughed: acres of France, the' sun-smitten wastes of the Sinai desert, and the brown barren hills of Judea. Time heals the deepest wounds. Iwouldnot arrest God's healing (hand in the beneficent flow of years, nor would I make bleed again the hearts that mourned' sons, brothers,- and husbands/ Yet, today, I want you, mothers and sisters' of the fallen in war, to lift your heads with the same pride that glowed when you heard the 'limber tread of their marching feet' as they went out to the war, eager to

strike for all things clean and tor all things braVe. "It was the proud privilege of the Catholic chaplain to go with them through all the horrors and wild adventure of that long drawn-out conflict. I speak to you as one who knew their life intimately. For three years through every engagement of a whole campaign I lived their life.... Sons and ■ brothers of the fallen, on. this Anzac morn, I salute your glorious dead. I bow { down in spirit before them, and I proclaim it my proudest privilege to have been their, chaplain-priest and comrade. I would take my confident stand behind the bayonets of those New Zealand boys rather than with any troops in the world. ' ' "But I 'am come to pray for them, not to praise'them. ' Their Catholic chaplains and their living- comrades join with you today in offering to God, for their brave souls,'the Requiem Mass—an'act of the most powerful and sublime intercession. ..." After the sermon had been preached, the solemn absolutions were given at the catafalque by the celebrant of the Mass. . . : , , . ... CEREMONY AT MEMORIAL. The old boys and' the present students then formed up outside, the church, and to the. strength of over 1000 marched via Lambton Quay to the Citizens' War Memorial. The cadets from both colleges were drawn up around the memorial,, and the old boys, who were an impressive muster, took a position facing the memorial. The ceremony was brief, but impressive. The wreath of laurel leaves was laid in the shrine'by the Rector of St. Patrick's. College (Father Cullen), assisted .by the Rector' of Silverstream (Father Bowling), after .which the "Last Post"' was sounded by the buglers of St. Patrick's College. The parade then moved off. '