HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD

New Zealand Tablet, 18 November 1920, Page 33

HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD

TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES ABROAD. (From our Wellington Correspondent). . In addresses to the congregation at the Sacred Heart Basilica, on recent Sunday evenings, his Grace Archbishop Redwood has been giving interesting accounts of his travels and experiences abroad'. His Grace left the Dominion on January 13 last, journeying to England by way of America. En route to San Francisco he narrowly escaped the disastrous hurricane which ravaged the island of Tahiti,* the steamer by which he was travelling receiving the news by wireless shortly after her departure from that touching-place. Arriving in San Francisco, he found the country suffering under the worst winter for generations, and was on account of the extreme cold obliged to rearrange his plans; he accordingly went to New Orleans, but oven there the climatic conditions were extremely severe, and his Grace had the misfortune to encounter a blizzard, the temperature being as Tow as 26 degrees F. After a sojourn in America of about a month, the Archbishop journeyed via Washington and New York and crossed the Atlantic to the British Isles. He spent a short time in London, and at the beginning of April went to France and proceeded across the Continent to Rome, where, in the month of May, ho took part in the canonisation of Blessed Joan of Arc,, and the beatification of the Venerable Oliver Plunket; he was also granted a private audience with his Holiness the Pope. Returning to France, Archbishop Redwood spent some time renewing acquaintances of the days of his student’s life, and inspecting the battlefields of the late war. He returned home bv way of the Panama Canal. Personal Observations and Experiences. Interviewed by a representative of the Xnr Zealand Times his Grace discoursed interestingly upon his impressions and observations abroad. The ceremonies conducted in the Eternal City his Grace described as wonderful. The scene in St. Peter’s Cathedral was a most impressive one, the solemnity being attended by 75,000 people. His Holiness the Pope (Benedict XV.) officiated, being assisted by 45 cardinals and 400 bishops, who were gathered together from all parts of the world. In addition to the many thousands of citizens of Rome who attended the ceremony, there were 7000 Frenchmen, including many representatives of th?' Government of France and of various important departments, including tho army and navy. The Pope, remarked his Grace, had questioned him, in the course of the interview, upon the work of his see, and displayed great interest in New Zealand. When not engaged in speaking his Holiness wore a certain sadness of countenance ; nor was he as strong physically as Pope Leo XIII. or Pope Pius X., but he was an extremely intellectual man and a great diplomatist. France’s Recovery. Continuing, Archbishop Redwood told of what he had seen in France. he harvest this year, lie said, promised to be a magnificent one. The people, as indeed were those all over Europe, were still living upon the dark brown bread which had become common during the war, but the new crops promised to restore to them the better quality of bread they enjoyed years ago. Wheat, barley, oats, and other grain, were flourishing abundantly, large tracts of country being under full cultivation, and even on several of the late battlefields ho had seen splendid crops growing. The past season had been a perfect one. “It will be a great boon,” remarked the Archbishop, ‘■for the people of France to secure such a fine harvest, as they have frequently of late been obliged to buv outside their own country. It will help a great deal, too, in the financial condition of the country.” Battlefields in France. During his stay in France, the Archbishop spent a week in visiting the battlefields of the Aisne and Marne, particularly in the vicinities of Rheims and Verdun. He was fortunate in having as a guide a Frenchman who had been a chaplain with the forces during the war, and who had seen extensive service. There could be no conception, he said, of the scenes of desolation he had witnessed in these shell-torn areas. Nature, however, was now covering the fields with flowers and vegetation. The net-work of shell craters was not now noticeable, but here and there one encountered large, deep shell-holes filled with wafer. . the valley of the Somme he saw a. large cemetery where hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders were buried. A large monument had been erected in their memory, and the graves, each marked by a cross, were,, being carefully and well tended. The corpses recovered from the surrounding battlefields were Being removed to

this main burial ground. As far as possible the bodies were being identified, and the name, regiment, and other particulars were being inscribed on the headstone. In other places he saw as many as 9000 or 10,000 bodies buried in the large military cemeteries so commonly found in the Somme region. The graves of soldiers of the Allied forces were distinguished by a white cross, while those of the Central Powers were marked by a black cross. In some cases Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Germans were buried all together, in which case the color of the cross indicated plainly for which cause the deceased soldier had fought. Usually, however, the Germans were buried in cemeteries prepared by their iown Government. The Ameiican cemetery near Soissons was admirably arranged and splendidly tended. Exhumation and removal of the bodies was still proceeding, remarked his Grace; the remains of a soldier who had been dead for over two years w ere exhumed before his eyes, identified by means of the identification disc, and carried away for burial at one of tho special grounds. Near the Marne, where much of the heavv fighting took place, a memorial park was to be laid out'at a spot chosen by Marshal loch, on an eminence commanding a view of several of the most famous battlefields in France, i lore it was proposed to erect a huge monument that would permanently commemorate the sacrifices made for their country by those who had so heroically given their lives.