THE AWAKENING OF THE FAITH IN FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 21 January 1915, Page 13

THE AWAKENING OF THE FAITH IN FRANCE

PRIESTS AND .NUNS AT THE FRONT.

The Paris correspondent of . the London Times in affirming that * one result of the war has been a distinct religious revival in France/ adds, ‘ the so-called clerical peril has disappeared from the popular imagination in face of the real peril of ■ the German invasion.’ To the facts which I have already recounted of the volte face, these others must be added (writes Rev. Terence King, S.J., in America) . . . . ' ' * ~ An official order issued from the headquarters -of the French army has acknowledged the bravery and devotion to duty of Sister Julie and her assistants, who, when the Germans shelled Gerbevilier, did not take refuge in the cellars as did the other inhabitants of the place, but went up and down the streets gathering in the wounded. When the Prussian officer ordered her to leave, she refused and answered, * Mother Superior has put me here, and until she bids me go, I shall remain.’ And stay she did with her companions, all through the bombardment. She belongs to the Congregation of St. Charles. Not only has the army praised her in its report, but the Government has sent M. Mirman, Prefect of the Meurthe-Moselle Department, to thank her and her Sisters, in the name of France, for their heroism.

If the parish priest of Niort was agreeably surprised when he was invited to bless the sabres of the hussars, what must have been the joy and wonder of the cure of Laigle (Orne) when at 3 o’clock one morning, he was roused from sleep by the clamorous ringing of his door-bell. He opened his bedroom window, and peered down into the garden below. ‘ What is it, a sick call?’ he demanded. ‘No,’ came the astounding answer, ‘ perhaps Monsieur le cure doesn’t know that I am a priest, and that I should be very much pleased if he will allow me to say Mass in the church.’ ‘ Tiens ! I’ll be down in a minute.’ When the door was opened, and a light lit, the astonished cure saw a colonel. Behind him on the road was his regiment. ‘ And as he gazed his wonder grew,’ for immediately the colonel told him that he had heard

The Confessions of Two Hundred and Fifty of His Regiment,

and that was why he wanted to say Mass, as they all wished to receive Holy Communion. The church was quickly opened, the soldiers marched in, and the colonel -priest celebrated Mass. Along a road red with tho dawn they marched shortly afterwards to a field redder with blood. The Lord Jesus Whom they saw not when they took Him at the sanctuary rail, led many through the shadowy way of death unto the City, the light whereof is the Lamb, and the joy His" blessed face. Everywhere as the soldier-clerics arrive to take their place in the ranks they are cheered, Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, obbes, cures, seminarians

and novices ; they come literally from the four corners of the earth whither they had been banished. It-is queer that the enemies of France in times of peace should be welcomed back in time of war. And droll it is to see so many monks with guns in their hands. If writers of Protestant fiction against the priests were permitted to go to the field of the Aisne, they could gather excellent material for their pens. Truth once more would be stranger than fiction. So moving is the sight that the arch-enemy of the religious, Clemenceau, exclaims : ‘ What a surprise it will be to the Germans to see in our army the very monks we drove from the country. ' That these churchmen are as good soldiers as they are priests is testified to by all. Abbe Luchat, a sergeant in the bicycle corps, was killed on the field of battle after having been mentioned in dispatches of the previous day for conspicuous gallantry in action. Abbe Monbru and Abbe Grenier, both of them lieutenants, were killed leading their men in a charge; The Journal .Officiel has this to say of on© of these soldier priests:— -'

- v ;v Abbe Buscoz, adjutant of the 97th Infantry, has died a hero. He has just been made a second lieutenant on the field of battle for two acts of bravery. His last hours were admirable. He leaped forward at the head of his men, crying, ‘ I am a priest. I fear’ not death. En avant !’ A • ■ A soldier was overhead saying to a comrade in the trenches: ‘ I never did like those cures; a good-for-nothing lot I thought them. But, hang it all, I did them a wrong to so ill-judge them. I’ve seen the stuff they’re made of. They fight as well as the best of us; are ready for the posts of greatest danger; are eager to go on when we’re for quitting.’ At the barracks of Orleans an officer gave up to on© of his soldier-priests his own private room to be used by the latter for a chapel. Although the troopers get up at 5, and have to drill until 10, before they are free ,still they fast until that late hour in order to be able

To Go to Holy Communion

Many are the First Communions, some of the recipients being over thirty years of age. During the day the troopers make visits to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the room. In a restaurant some artists were gathered. They were giving a farewell supper to one of their profession, off to the war. His regiment would be one of the first to face the Germans. lie was serene, not noisily gay as was his wont. His chums chaffed him over his calmness, which they thought came from dwelling on the certainty of being killed. They misjudged the cause of his subdued demeanor. ‘ No, it isn’t that,’ he told them; ‘it's because I’ve been to confession, Mass, and Communion this morning.’ Not a. jeer, not even a look of raillery came from those men who had mocked at anything that touched religion. A dashing dragoon, on the gayest and fairest boulevard of Paris will stop, with a splendid salute, a chance-found priest and say: ‘ M’sleur Vahhe, I'd like to make my confession to you.’ ‘-Eh hint, mon brave, let’s go to the church.’ The cavalryman hasn't time. There and then as they walk along, (he sins of many years are told, and the absolution given. They reach a corner and are parting. ‘Will M’sieur Vahhe give me a medal?’ The medal was given. A week later the papers told of a dragoon, in whose dead hands a medal of the Blessed Virgin was found. Many another incident of the awakened faith of France is told. All are consoling. Let us pray that

the grace which has revived the practices of the Catholic religion will ever be co-operated with, so that the dawn of the now will wax to the full and shining day of the future. -■ The faith suffered much since the war of 1870. Only Cod knows now if victory will make good the prophetic words of Pius X., written when he beatified the Cure d’Ars, ‘ 1 beg of you to be convinced with me, that God will soon work wonders to show you that France is still the eldest daughter of the Church, and you will have the joy of seeing this in word and in work.’