SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 24 January 1918, Page 18

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL. Deep sympathy is felt with the Denbigh family who have received the news of the death of their youngest son from wounds received on the Western Front. The Hon. Henry Fielding was only, in his twenty-third year, and was educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, and .Trinity College, Cambridge. First attached to King Edward's Horse he proceeded to France in 1915, but was some : months later selected for staff work in Egypt as A.D.C. At this time there was no fighting in Egypt and tho gallant young officer, desirous to get back to the fighting line,. obtained a transfer to the Coalstream Guards and again saw service on the Western Front, which has ended in his heroic death. This is the second son of the Earl and Countess of Denbigh to . give his life for the great cause, Lieut.-Commander the Hon. Hugh Fielding being killed in the battle of Jutland. The heir to the Earldom, Viscount Fielding, D. 5.0., is a Lieut.-Col. now fighting in France, and Lord Denbigh himself has seen a good deal of active service since 1914. Out of one hundred and twenty seminarians of the diocese of Bergamo, Italy, who have been called to the colors, ninety have fallen in battle. These young men were especially brilliant and hardy. The Church has lost in them devoted and efficient priests, who would in the ordinary course -of things have been ordained within the next three or four years.

GERMANY'S CATHOLIC CHANCELLOR. The appointment of Count von Hertling as German Chancellor is remarkable in many respects. « It is, of course, an appointment interesting to the Catholics in this country since the new Chancellor is the first Catholic hailing from the Catholic Kingdom of Bavaria to fill Bismarck's shoes (states the Glasgow Observer). The appointment offers some satisfaction to the Allies, since it may be taken to mark the definite defeat of the German Jingoes, who would have preferred Bulow or Tirpitz, or some irreconcilable Never-Endian of their type. *"" Although Count von Hertling is also a reactionary, he is not a Prussian, and is a Parliamentarian of great experience and repute. The Manchester GuardiuK, discussing his appointment, says: "As Prime Minister of Bavaria he has a specially intimate relation with Vienna and the Vatican, both of them centres of 'peace by understanding.' As chief of the Bavarian Centre Party he is head of that section of the Clericals which, while nominally part of the Reichstag majority, is critical of the famous Reichstag peace resolution. In -short, he is admirably qualified to conduct German affairs during a period of transition and to allow the Kaiser the luxury of committing himself neither to one group nor to the other." i It is fairly clear that if Germany should -come to desire the securing of a "peace by understanding," von Hertling would be quite a competent statesman to secure discussion of such proposals. It is suggested that as' a former leader of the Centre Party in the Reichstag he may have influence with it. But the Centre Party is committed to the Reichstag resolution, which is virtually in favor of a negotiated peace.

,- FRANCE'S HEROIC NUNS. In one of the most vivid and most human of all recent war books the author tells of .this glorious incident witnessed by the London ; Irish .on their way back from the trenches in an unspecified corne? of France — >....: T '"*£"[ '; '*;'.' /A

pv;-At ■ the other: end •of the village stood “ a ruined con* vent, from . which .the nuns had not yet departed. . They educated the village children. ;" The little ones went I to school daily, their books and respirators under their arms. The classroom was in the cellar of the convent. as the men passed ’ the convent they saw a nun, dressed in blue homespun, ‘ white frontlet, and black veil, standing at the door throwing crumbs to the doves, which fluttered about her feet.. In one hand she held a rosary ; no doubt ,she was saying her prayers. There was France personified; France great and fearless, a martyr unsubdued ! . The sight was a tonic to the men. Unable to resist the impulse, they ■ gave vent to a rousing cheer, A look of perplexity overspread the woman’s face. She gazed at the soldiers for a moment, then throwing the crumbs to the birds, she retreated hurriedly into the convent. \ ‘ . 7 ..,,

A CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN IN MESOPOTAMIA. ■ The Rev. Father Frederick Whittaker, C.F., writes from Nasiriyah to his Grace the Archbishop of Madras: —Monsignor,—l hasten *to thank your Grace for the letter sent from Madras, September 22 last, and safely received last week. I read it in church this morning to my Catholic soldiers and blessed them in your Grace's name. Ido my best to get all to church as far as military duties allow and do all I can with their commanding officers. I know every one of the camp followers here, most of them domestics, and I regret to say they are seldom free to go to church; however, I do my best for them. No Catholic here has any excuse whatever for not being as well looked after and cared for as in his own parish, for our little church here is like a little parish church. It is only military duties that can ever hinder regular attendance ; this cannot be neglected. All the Sacraments are at their disposal, and as I tell them, I can hear their confessions at any time and not necessarily in. church. I go amongst them and am daily at the hospital to visit "my boys."

HIGH MASS IN ROME FOR THE BRITISH DEAD In the Church of St. Silvestro in Capite on November 16, a Solemn Requiem was sung by the Most Rev. Archbishop Cerretti, Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, for the repose of the British dead by sea and by land during tho war.

Among those present were Count de Salis, British Envoy to the Holy See, and Mr. Gaisford, First Secretary of the Legation ; the Right Rev. Algernon Stanley, Titular-Bishop of Emmaus p the Right Rev. Mgr. Mackintosh, Rector of the Scots College; the Right Rev. Mgr. John Prior, Auditor of the Sacred Tribunal of the Rota; the Right Rev, Mgr. James Kennedy, Scotland, -who attended in the uniform of LieutenantColonel as retired military chaplain; Very Rev. Mgr. John Cruise (Canada), official of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation ; the Very Rev. Patrick White, P.S.M., Rector of St. Silvestro in Capite; the Rev. Dr. Clapperton, Vice-Rector, Scots College; the Rev. Dr. Redmond, Vice-Rector English College; and a large number of other representative ecclesiastics and laymen. His Eminence Cardinal Gasquet, with his secretary, the Rev. Father Langdon, 0.5.8., attended in a side chapel. The Absolutions were imparted by his Eminence Cardinal Sbaretti, who is Cardinal-Titular of St. Silvestro in Capite.

Solemn Requiems have been held in the French and in the Belgian national churches for those fallen in the war of French and Belgian nationality. And the parish priests of Rome have celebrated a Solemn Requiem for the Italian dead. : ■

; s <; A CHAPLAIN'S GALLANTRY. The Commander of - the j Second Army records in routine .Orders his x appreciation of the gallantry of the Rev. C. Lacroix, Catholic Chaplain, N.Z.E.F., on the occasion of a collision between a French passenger train

travelling from Boulogne ') to )' St. OmerJ: arid ; a J freight train, on x October 15 (writes the London correspondent of the Press, under date November : 30). \ : ' v k-v The force of the impact^wrecked the three foremost carriages, overturned both engines on the wreckage,; and telescoped the middle of the train. Father Lacroix, who was travelling by the passenger train, escaped injury, although his carriage was much damaged, and at once set to work by the few lights available to free the injured, 30 of whom were removed and attended to by Sister Black and an unknown Canadian medical officer. . By this time the fore part of the train was in flames, and three of the party, leaving the rescue work, endeavored to prevent the fire from spreading by breaking down the burning coaches.. At 11 p.m. a French engine removed the rear, undamaged part of the train, and returning an hour later was coupled, by the direction of the party, to the shattered part, with the object of moving it sufficiently to enable the rescue of the remainder of the injured before the fire reached them. In this way the killed and injured were all removed. The Rev. C. Lacroix, S.M., came from Grey mouth. He arrived in England early this year, and after doing duty for a while at Sling, he crossed to France a month or two ago. v