Front matter (continued 5)
Reading edition
And the priests on the battle-field showed equal devotion. Those who were of military age fought in the trenches side by side with the "poilu," and prejudice rolled away with the smoke of gunfire. Some again were stretcher-bearers, while those above fifty became chaplains and celebrated Mass in little improvised churches behind the lines. The soldier-priest gave a singular example of Christian courage, an absolute fearlessness which electrified the soldiers who were fighting by his side. I was at Perpignan a few weeks after a priest, who had lost an eye in the trenches, was decorated with the Legion of Honour by the General commanding the district. Truly the blood of these servants of Christ, spilt on the battle-field (and many have been killed), is the seed of the Church, and from their self-sacrifice and heroism will spring a harvest of love and charity, if not actually a revival of religion in France. It is, perhaps, too much to expect a general return to the paths of practising Catholicism, but at least France, having passed through the agony of blood and tears, will have forged a spirit of splendid tolerance; for, as the greatest Healer and Physician came not to bring peace but a sword, the lasting peace that dwells in the heart of a nation is learnt from that supreme teacher, that incomparable healer, the sword.
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BY CHARLES DAWBARN
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