CATHOLIC SOLDIERS’ EDIFYING EXAMPLE.

New Zealand Tablet, 6 March 1919, Page 23

CATHOLIC SOLDIERS’ EDIFYING EXAMPLE.

As a result of seeing the consolation given to Catholic soldiers by receiving the last Sacraments fifty Protestant soldiers were converted on their deathbeds by Rev. Arthur F. Florack, a United States Army chaplain at a New Jersey camp during the recent epidemic of influenza. Father Florack was curate at St. Andrew’s Church, Rochester, before he volunteered for army service. So many soldiers had contracted ’ the disease at the camp that the hospital facilities proved inadequate. The sick were cared for in a large room which afforded little privacy. This did not deter the Catholics from making their confessions. The effect on the Protestants near by was astonishing. One after the other, realising that he was near death, called for a priest. “What can I do for you?” Father Florack asked. . “Anything at all to prepare me for death,” answered the boys. Those who had not been baptised received the Sacrament of Baptism, while those who had been made a general confession a new experience to them, but one gladly undertaken. The soldiers eagerly sought the consolation of the Church, and thus prepared themselves for a happy death. -