CARDINAL MERCIER TO HIS PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2402, 6 March 1915, Page 9

CARDINAL MERCIER TO HIS PEOPLE

THE4SUPPRESSED PASTORAL

ThefnD tejt of the hwtono pastoral of Cardinal' -Meroier to the •people <)f Belgium is published below by arrangement with Miss E. L, Johnston, of tfitzherbert Terrace, Wellington.

My Very Dear Brethren,—l cannot tall Jrou how instant and how present the thought of you Has been to me throughout the months of suffering: and of mourning whioh we hare passed through. I had to leave you abruptly, on August 20 in order fid fulfil my last duty towards the beloved and venerated Pope whom we lave lost, and in order to discharge an obligation of the conscience from which I could not dispense myself in-the'elec-tion of the sucoessor of Pius the Tenth, the Pontiff who now, directs the Church •under the title, full of promise and of Ihope, of Benedict the Fifteenth.

It was in Some itself that I received the tidings—stroke after stroke—of ' the (partial destruction of ■ the ' Cathedral church! of Louvain, next of the burning 'of the Library and of the scientific installations of our great University and'of; the devastation of the city, and nest of the wholesale shooting or citizens, and tortures inflicted upon women and children, and upon unarmed and undefended men. And while I was. still under the shock of these calamities the telegraph 'brought us news of the bombardment\of our beautiful metropolitan churoh, of the Church of Notre Dame, au dela la Dyle, Aof the episcopal palace, and of a great j ®art of our dear olty'of Malinea.

Afar from my diocese, without means of 'communication with you, I was oomnelled to lock my grief within my own afflicted heart, and to carry it,. with the thought tof you. ivhioh never left me, to the foot . of the crucifix.. A FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH. I craved courage'and light, and sought ■them in such thoughts as these: A disaster has visited the world, and our. beloved little Belgium, : a nation so faithful in the great masa of her population to God, so upright in her patriotism, so noble in her King and Government, is the first sufferer. She-bleeds; her'sons, are stricken down, -within her fortresses and .upon her fields. in defence of her rights and of: her territory. Soon there will not be one' Belgian family not-in monrning. ■Why all this sorrow, Jny God? Lord, ■Lord, has Thou forsaken us? Then I looked. upon the crucifix. I looked upon 'Jesus, most gentle and humble Lamb of God, crushed, olothed' in' His blood as in a garment, and I thought I heard from His own mouth the words which the Psalmist uttered in His name: "0 God, ■my God, look upon me; why hast Thou forsaken me? Oh my God, I shall cry, and Thou wilt not heaT" (1). And forthwith the murmur died' upon my lips; and I remembered what our Divine Saviour said in His gospel: "The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant aboTe his lord" (2). The Christian is the servant of a God who became man in order to suffer and to die. To Tebel against pain, to revolt against ■ Providence, because it permit? grief and bereavement, .is to forget whence we came, the school in which we have been •the example that each of us carries graven in the name of a Christian, which ' «ach of us honours at his hearth, contemplates at the altar of his mayers, and of which he desires that his tomb, the place of his lest sleep, shall-bear the Sign. My dearest brethren, we 6liajl return by iaud by to the providential law of suffering, but you will agree that since it bns pleased a God-made-man who was. holr, annocent, without stain, to suffer and to 'die for us who are sinners, who are guilty, who are perhaps criminals, it ill becomes us to complain whatever we may ' be called upon,to endure. The/truth is that no disaster on earth, striking creatures only, is comparable with that which, our sins provoked, and whereof God Himself chose to be the blameless, victim.

Having, called, to. mind' ttts fundamental truth, I find it easier to summon you to face .what has befallen us, and to spent to you simply and. directly ,of what is your duty, and of what may be your hope. That,duty X shall express in two ;words: Patriotism and Endurance. ' PATRIOTISM. My dearest brethren, I desire to utter, 5u your name and my own, the gratitude of those whose age, vocation, and social ■conditions cause them to benefit by the heroism of others, without bearing in it any active part. , i

When, immediately on my return from (Rome, I went to Havre to greet our Belgian, French, and English wounded; when, later, at 'Malines, at Louvain, at 'Antwerp, it was given to me to take the hands of those brave men who oarried a bullet in then* flesh, a wound on their : foTehead, because they had marched to the attack of the enemy, or borne the shock of his onslaught, it was a word of gratitude to them that rose to my 3ips. "0 valiant friends," I said, "It iwaa for us, it was for each one of us, it Was for me, that you risked your lives and are now in ■ pain. I am moved .to tell you of my respect, of my thankfulness, to assure you that the whole nation knows how much she is in debt to you:" , For in truth oar soldiers are our saviours.

A' first time, -at Liege, they saved France: a second time, in Flanders,', they arrested the advance of the enemy 'upon Calais. France and England know it; and Belgium stands before them both, and before the entire world, as a nation of heroes. Never before in my whole life did I feel so proud to be a Belgian" as when, on the' platforms of French stations, and halting a while in Paris, and visiting London, I was witness of the enthusiastic admiration our Allies feel for. the heroism of our Army. Our King is, in the esteem of all, at the very ■summit 'of the moral scale; he is doubtless the only man who does not recognise that faot, as, simple as the simplest of his soldiers, ho stands in. the trenohes and puts new courage, by the serenity of his face, into the hearts of those of whom he requires that they shall not doubt of their country. The ifoTcmost duty of every Belgian citizen at this hour is grAtitnde to the Army.

If any man had rescued yon from shipwreok or from a fire, you would assuredly hold yourselves bound to him by s 'debt of everlasting thankfulness. But it is not one man, it is two hundred and fifty thousand men who fought, who suffered, who fell for von so that you mifrht be free, so' that Belgium might keep her independence, her dynasty, her patriotic unitv; so that after the vicissitudes of battle ehe> might rise nobler, purer, more erect, and moreglorious than before.

Privy daily, mv 'brethren, for these two hundred and fiftv thousand. a-n<l far their -leaders to victory; pray for onr brethren in arras; pray for the fallen; pray for those who are still eneawt; pray- for the recruits who are making rcnrly for the fi?ht to. come.

Tn your name I send them the meeting of our'fraternal sympathy and our assurance thf\t. not only do we pray for tho success of their arms and for the eter--71-il welfare of their souls,' but that we also accept for their sake all the distress, whether phvsical or -moral, that (falls to out own share in the oppression that hourly besots us. and all that the future mav have in. store for us, in humiliation for, n. time .in anxiety, and in .sorrow. Tn the day of final Victory we .shall all be in honour: it is Just, that to<],iv we should all be in grief.

To judge bv cerfain rumours that have (reached me. T father'that from districts that have had least to suffer some bitter words , have arisen towards our God, words which, if spoken with cold calculation, would be not far from blasphemous. ...

Oh, all too easily do .T understand hmv ratur.il instinct -rebels Hio evils that have fallen upon Catholic Belgium: tho spontaneous tliou"ht of. mankind is ever that.virtue should have its .instantaneous crown, and inipsfico its immediate Tetribntion; But the ways of God are pot.our ways, the Scripture tells us. Providence gives free way, for a time measured by Divine wisdom, to human nations and the conflict of desires. Gijd. being eternal, is' patient. The last word i<; the word of mercy, a.nd it -belongs to those who believe in love. "Why are thou lid, 0 mv soul ?. and why do=t thou disquiet me? "Quare trisH* r* anime. rt qnare eonturbas jner" "Rope in God.

Bless Him always; Is He not thy Saviour and thy God? "Spera in Deo quoniam adhuo conEtebor llli, ealutara vultus mei et Deus meus" (3).. When holy Job, whom God presented as an example of constancy to the generations to come, had been stricken, blow upon blow, by Satan, with the loss of his children, of his goods, of his health, his enemies approached him with incitations to rebellion; his wife urged upon him a blasphemy and a ourse. "Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? Curse God, and die" (4). But the man of God- was unshaken in his confidence. "And he said to her: Thou ha 3 spoken like one of the foolish. women: if we have-received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil ? "Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit: sicut Domino plaouit ita factum est. Sit nomen. Domini benedictum" (5). And experience proved that saintly one to be right. It pleased the Lord to recompense, even here below, His faithful servant. "The Lord %avo Job twice as such as he had before. And for his sake God pardoned his friends" (8). WHAT BELGIUM HAS SUFFERED. Better than any other man, perhaps, do I know what bur unhappy oountry has undergone. Nor will any Belgian,' I trust, doubt of what I suffer in my dou), as a citizen, and as a Bishop, in sympathy with . ail this sorrow. These four last months have seemed to me agelong, By thousands have our brave ones been_ mown down; wives, mothers, are weeping for those they shall never see again; hearths are desolate; dire poverty spreads, anguish 'increases. At Malines, at _ Antwerp, the people of two great cities have been given over, the one for six hours, the other for thirty-four hours, of a continuous bombardment, to the throes of ■ death. I have traversed the £r?iier part of the districts most terribly devastated in my' diocese (7); and the ruins I' beheld, aud the ashes were more dreadful than T, prepared by the saddest of forebodings, oould have imagined. Other parts of my diocese, which I have not yet had time to visit (8), have in like manner been laid waste. Churohes, schools, . , asylums, hospitals, convents in great numbers, are in ruin*. Entire villages have all but disappeared. At Werchter-Wackerzeel, for instance, out of three hundrrf and eighty homes, a hundred and thirty remain; at Tremeloo two-thirds of the village are overthrown; at Bueken, out of , a hundred houses, twenty are standing; at Schaffen one hundred and eighty-nine houses out of two hundred are destroyed—eleven, still stand. At Louvain the third part of the buildings are down; one thousand and 6ev-enty-four dwellings have disappeared; on the town land 'and 'in the suburbs, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three houses have been burnt.

In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, - the magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former splendour. The ancient college of St. Ives, the art schools, the consular, and commercial schools of the University, the old markets, our rich library with its collections, its unique and unpublished manuscripts its archives, its gallery of great, portraits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, professors .dating from the time of its foundation, which preserved for masters and'students alike a noble tradition and were an incitement in their studies—all this accumulation of intellectual, of- historic, and of artistic riches, the fruit of the labours of five oenturies—all is in the dust. ■ Many a parish has lost its' pastor. There is soundine in my ears the sorrowful voice of an old man of whom I asked whether he had had Mass on Sunday in ;his battered church." "It is two months," he eaid, "since we had a church." The parish priest and the curate had been interned in a concentration oamp. , ,

Thousands oi; Belgian, citizens have in like manner l>een deported to the prisons of Germany, to Munsterlagen, to Cello, to Magdeburg. At Munsterlagen alone three thousand ono hundred civil prisoners were numbered. History will tell'of the physical and moral torments of their long martyrdom. Hundreds of innocent men were shot I possess no complete necrology; but I know that there were ninety-one shot at Aerschot, and that there, under pain of death, their fellow citizens, were compelled to dig their graves. In the Louvain group of communes one hundred and seventysix persons, men and women, old men and sucklings, rioh and poor, in health and sickness, were shot or burnt.

In my diocese alone I know that thirteen priests or religious' were put to death (9). One of these, the parish' priest of Gelrode, suffered, I believe, a veritable martyrdom. I made.a pilgrimage to his grave, and, amid the little flock which so lately he had been feeding with the zeal of an apostle, there did I pray to him that from the height of Heaven he would guard his parish, his diocese, his country.

We can neither number our dead nor compute the measure of our ruins. And what would it be if we turned our sad steps towards Liege. Namur, Audenne, Dinant, Tamines, Charleroi, and elsewhere? (10). '

And there where lives were not taken, and there where the stones of buildings were not thrown dowii, vhat anguish unrevealed! Families, hitherto living at ease, now in bitter want; all commerce at an end. all careers rained; industry , at a standstill thousands upon thousands of working men without employment; working women, shop girls, humble servant pirls : without the means of earning their bread; and poor souls forlorn on the bed of sickness and fever, crying, "0 Lord, how long, how long?" THE SECRET OF GOD. There is nothing to reply." The reply" remains the secret of God. Tes, dearest brethren, it is the secret of God. He is the master of events and the .sovereign director of the human multitude. Domini est terra et plenitudo (5) Psalm xlii,;s. (4) Job ii. 9. (5) Job ii,.10; i, 21. (6) Job xlil, 8,10. ■ (7) Duffel, liierre, Berlaer, Saint Rombaut, Koninga-Hoyckt, Morteel, Waelhem, Ifuysen, W&vre-Sainte-Oaterine, Wavre Notre-Dame, Sempst, Weerde, Eppeghen, Hofotode, . Elewyt, Eymenam, Boort-lfaei> beck, Wespelaer, Haecht, Wechiter-Wackcr-zeel, Rotselaer, Tremeloo; Louvai'n and its suburban environs, Blauwput, Kessel-Loo, BoTen-lioo, Linden, Herent, Thildonck. Bueken, Ttolst, Aerßchot, Weeemael, Hersspit, Diest, Schaffen, Molenatede, Eillaer, Gelrode. (6) Hockendover, Eoosbeck, Bautersem, Budingen, NeeTlinder, Ottignies, Mousty, Wavre, Beyghem, Oapelle-au-Bois, Humbeek, Nieuwonrode. Liezele, Londerzeel. Heyndonck, Mariekerke, Wcert, Blaesvclt. (?) Their brothers in religion or in the priesthood will wish to know their names. Here they areDupierreux, of the Society of Jesus; Brothers Sebastian and Allard, of the Congregation of the Josephibes; Brother Can elide, of the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy; Father Maximin, I Capuchin, and Father Vincent, Conventual; l.ombaorts, pariah priest at Boven-Loo; Goris, pariah priest at Autgaerden; Carolte, professor at the Episcopal College of Louvain; Da Clerck, iparieh priest at Bueken; Dergent, parish priest at Gelrode; 'Wouters eau, parifh priest at Pont-Brnle. We have reason to believe that the parish priest of Herent, Vaji Bladel, an old man of 6evcntyone was also killed; until now, however, his body has not been found. (10) I have said that thirteen ecclesiastics had been shot within the diocese of Molmes. There were, to my own actnal personal knowledge, more than thirty in tlie dioceses of Namur. Tournai, and LiegeSchlogel, parish prieeit- of Hastiere; Gille, parish priest of CSouvin; Pierct, curate at Etaille; Alexandre, curate at Mussy-la-Ville; Mnrechal. seminarist at Maissin; tho Father Gillet. Benedictine of Maredsous; the Kevereiul Father Nicolas, Premonstratensian of the Abbey of Lcffe; two Brothers of the same Abbey; ono Brother of the Congregation of Oblates; Poskin, parish priest of Surice; Itollet parish _ priest of Lcs Alloux; Georges, parish priest of Tintigny; Glouden, parish priest of Latour; Zeuden, retired parish priest at Latour; Jacques, a Priest; Druet, parish priest of Acoz; t'ollart, parish priest of Jioselles; Labeye. parish priest of Blegny-Trembleu; Thielen, parish priest of Haccourt; a.nssen, parish priest of ITeuro le Komain; Chabot, ipa-rish priest of Forot; Dossogne. parish priest of Hoekay; Rensonnct, curate of Olme; Bilande, chaplain of' the institute of deafDoca, a> priest, anil othgrß^

ejus; orbis terrarum et universi qui habitant in eo.' The first relalion between the creature and his Creator is that of absolute dependence. The very being of the creature is dependent; dependent are his nature, his faculties, his aots, his works. At every passing _ moment that dependence is renewed, is incessantly reasserted, inasmuch as, without tho will of tho Almighty, existence of the first single instant would vanish before tho next. Adoration, which is the recognition of the sovereignty of God, is not, therefore, a fugitive act; it is the permanent state of a being conscious of his own origin. On every page of the Scriptures Jehovah affirms Hi 9 sovereign dominion. The whole economy of the Old Law, the. whole history of the Chosen People, have the same end—to maintain Jehovah upon His throne and to cast idols down. '1 am the first and the last. I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God beside me. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. Woe to him that gainsayeth his Maker, a 6herd of the earthen pots. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it. What art thou making, and thy work is without hands? Tell ye, and. come, and consult together. A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me,"

Ah, did the proud reason of mankind dream that it could dismiss our God? Did it smile in irony when, through Christ and through His Church, He pronounced the 'solemn words of expiation and of repentance ? Vain of fugitive successes, 0 light-minded man, full of pleasure and of health, hast thou imagined that thou couldst suffice even to thyself? Then was God 'set aside in oblivion, then was He misunderstood, then was He blasphemed, with acclamation, and by those whose authority, whose influence, whose power hod charged them with the duty or oausing His great laws and His great order to be' revered and obeyed. Anarchy then spread among the lower ranks of mankind, and many sincere consciences were troubled by the evil example. How long, 0 Lord, they wondered, how long wilt Thou suffer the pride of this ..iniquity ? Or wilt Thou finally justify the lmpiou9 opinion that Thou carest no more for the work of Thy hands? A shock from a thunderbolt,ana, behold, all human foresight is set at nought. Europe trembles upon the brink of destruction. _ _ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Many are the thoughts that throng the breast of man to-day. and the chief of them all is this; God reveals Himself as the Master. The nations that mjde thp attack, and the nations that arc warring in self-defence, alike confes3 themselves to be in the hands of Him without whom nothing 'is made, nothing is done. Men long unaccustomed to prayer are turning again to God. Within the Army,- within the civil world, in public, and within the individual conscience, there is prayer. Nor is that prayer today a word learnt by rote, uttered lightl.v'by the lip; it surges from the troubled heart, it takes the form, at the feet of God, of the very sacrifice of life. The being of man is a whole offering to' God. This is worship, this is the fulfilment of the . primal moral and religious law: the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve. And even those who murmur, and whose oourage i 9 n&t sufficient for submission to the hand that Binites us and stives us, even those implicitly acknowledge God to be the Master, for if they blaspheme Him, they blaspheme Him for His delay in. closing with their desires. But as for us, my brethren, we will adore Him in the integrity of our eoulb. Not yet do we see, in all its magnificence, the revelation of His wisdom, but our faith trusts Him with it all. Before His justice we are humble, and in His Mercy hopeful. With holy Tobi.ia we know that because we have sinned He has chastised us, but because Ho is merciful He will 6ave us.

SOMETHING TO EXPIATE. ' It would, perhaps, be ciuel to dwell upon our guilt now, when we are paying so well and so nobly what we owe. But shall we not confess that we have indeed something to expiate? He who has received much, from him shall much be required. Now, dare we say. that the moral and religious standard of . our people has risen as its economic prosperity has risen ? The observance of Sunday rest, the Sunday Mass, the reverence for marriage, the restraints of modesty—what had you made of tlfese? What, even within Christian families, had become of the simplicity practised by. our fathers, what of the spirit of penanoe, what of respect for authority,? And we, too, wo priests, we Telifious, I, the Bishop, we whose great mission' it is to present in our lives yet more than in our speech, the Gospel of Christ, have wei earned the right to speak to our people the word spoken by the apostle to the natkus: "Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ"? We labour, indeed, we pray indeed, but it is all too little. We should be, by the very duty .of our state, the public expiatora for the sins of the world. But which was the thing dominant in . our lives-expia-tion, or our comfort and well-being as oitizens? Alas! we have all had times in which we, too, fell under God's reproach to His people after the escape from, Egypt: 'The beloved grew fat and kicked ; they have provoked me with that which was no god, and I will provoke them with that which is no people." Nevertheless, He will save us; for He wills not that our adversaries should boast that they, and not the Eternal, did these things. "See ye that.l alone am, and there is no other God beside jne. I will kill, and I will .make to live, I will i/trike and I will heal." • ■■■ God will save Belgium, my brethren; you cannot .doubt it. Nay, rather, He is saving her. PATRIOTISM IN ACTION. Across the smoke of conflagration, across the steam of blood, have you not glimpses, do you not perceive signs, of His love for us? Is there a patriot among us who does not know that Belgium has grown, great? Nay, which, of us would have the heart to cancel this last page of our national history ? ' Which of us does not 1 exult in the. brightness of the" glory of 'this shattered- , nation P. When in her throes she'brings forth heroes, our Mother Country gives her own energy to the > blood of those sons of her?. Let us acknowledge that we needed a lesson in patriotism. There were Belgians, and many such, who wasted their time and their talents in 1 futile quarrels of class with class, of race with race, of passion with personal passion. Yet, when, on the second of 'August, a mighty foreign Power, confident in its. own strength and defiant of the faith of treaties, dared to threaten us in our independence, then did all Belgians, without difference or party, or of condition, or of origin, Ti6e up as one' man, closeranged about their own King and their own Government, and. cried to the invader: "Thou shalt not go through!"

At onte, instantly, we were conscious df our own patriotism. For down within us ail is something deeper than personal interests, than personal kinships, than party feeling, and this is the need and the will to devote ourselves to that more general interest which Home termed the public thing, Res publica. And this profound will within us is Patriotism. Our country is not a mere concourse of persons or of families inhabiting the same soil, having amongst themselves relations, more or less intimate, of business, of neighbourhood, of a community of memories, happy or unhappy. Not so; it is an association of living souls subject to a social organisation to bo defended and saieguarded at all costs, even the cost of blood, under the leadership of those presiding over its fortunes. And it is because of this general spirit that the people of a country live a common life in the present, through the past, through the aspirations, the hopes, th.' confidence in a life to com'e, which they share together. Patriotism, an internal principlo of order and of unity, an organic bond of the members of a nation, was placed by the finest thinkers of Greece and Rome at the head of tho natural virtues. Aristotle, tho prince of the philosophers of antiquity, held disinterested 6ervice of the city—that is, tho State—to be the very ideal of human duty. And the religion of Christ makes of patriotism a positive law; there is no perfect Christian who is not also a perfect patriot. l''or our religion exalts the antique ideal, showing it to be realisable only in. tho Absolute. Whence, in truth, comes this universal, this irresistible impulse which carries at once tho will of the whole nation in one single effort of cohesion and of insistonce in face of the hostile menace against her unity and her freedom? Whence comes it that in an hour all interests were merged in the interest of all, and that all lives are Logother offered in willing immolation?. Not that the State is worth more, essentially, than the individual or the family, seeing that the ..goqcl o| tha family. aj)d of the indivjd.usl_

is the cause and reason 01 the organisation of the State. Not that our country is a Moloch on whose altar lives may lawfully be sacrificed.' The rigidity of antique morals .and the despotism ot the Caesars suggested tho false principle—and modem militarism tends to revive it— that the State is omnipotent', and that the discretionary power of tho State is tho rule of Eight. Not so, replies Christian theology; Eight is Peace—that is the interior order of a nation, founded upon Justice. And Justice itself is absolute only because it formulates the essential relation of man with God and of mnl l with man. Moreover, war for the sako of war is a crime. War is justifiable .only if it is the necessary means for securing peace. St. Augustine has said: "Peace must not be a preparation for war; and war is not to be made except for the attainment of peace." In the light of this teaching, which is repeated by St. Thomas Aquinas, Patriotism is seen in its religious character. Family interests, class interests, party interests, and the material good of the individual take their place, in the scale of values, below the ideal of Patriotism, for that ideal of Eight, which is absolute. ' Furthermore, that ideal is the public recognition of Right m national matters, and of national honoui. Now there is no' Absolute except God. God alone, by His sanctity and His sovereignty, dominates all human interests and human wills.. And to affirm the absolute necessity of the* subordination ot all things to Right/, to Justice, and to Truth, is implicity to affinn God. When, therefore,' humble soldiers whose heroism we praise answer us with.characteristic simplicity, "We only did our duty," or "We were bound in honour, they express the religious character of their Patriotism. Which of us does not feel that Patriotism is a 6acred thing, and that a violation of national dignity is in a manner a profanation and a sacrilege F iTHE REWARD OF THE SLAIN. I was asked lately by a Staff officer whether a soldier falling in a. righteous cause—and our cause is each, to demonstration —is not veritably a martyr. Well, he is not a martyr in . the rigorous theological -meaning of. the word, inasmuch as he dies in arms,. whereas the martyr delivers himself, undefended and unarmed, into the hands of the executioner. But if I am asked what I think of the eternal salvation of a, brave man who has consciously \given his life in defence ot his country's honour, and in vindication of violated justice, I shall not hesitate to reply that without any doubt whatever Christ crowns his military .valour, and that death, accepted in this Christian spirit, assures the safety of that man s soul. "Greater love than this no man hath," said our Saviour, "that- a man lay down, his lifo for his friends. And the soldier who dies to save his brothers, and to defend the hearths and altars 01 his country, reaches the highest of all degrees of charity. He may not have made a close analysis of the value of his sacrifice;-but must we suppose that u-od requires of the plain .so dicr ill the excitement of battle the methodical Pf ecl " sion of 'the moralist or the theologian ? Can we who revere his heroism doubt that his God welcomes him with love? ' Christian brothers, be proud of your sons. Of all griefs, of all our human sorrows, yours is perhaps the most worthy of veneration. I think X behold you in your affliction, but erect, standing at the side of the Mother of Sorrows, at 'foot of the Cross. Suffer us to offer you not only our condolence but our congratulation. Not _all our heroes obtain military honours, but for all wß . ex K®J the immortal crown of the elect. Tor this is the virtue of a singlejac t of' pefcct charity: it cancels a .whole lifetime of- sins. It transforms a sinful man into 11 Assuredly a great and a Christian comfort is the thought that not only amongst our own men, but in any belligerent army whatever, all who in good faith submit*, to the discipline of their leaders in the service of a cause thoy believe to be righteous, are sharers in the eternal reward of the soldier s fice. And. how many may there not be among these young men of twenty who> had they survived,. might ■ possibly not have had the resolution to live altogether well, and yet in the impulse of Patriotism had the resolution to die so. well? Is it not truo, my brethren, that God has the supremo art of, mingling His mercy with His wisdom and His justice? And shall we not acknowledge that if war is a soourgo for this earthly life of ours, a scourge whereof we cannot easily estimate the destructive force and the extent, it is also for multitudes of souls an expiation, a purification, a forceeto lift them to tho pure love of their country and to perfect Christian unselfishness?

ENDURANCE. We may now say, my brethren, without unworthy pride, that our little Belgium has taken a foremost place in the esteem of nations. lam aware that certain onlookers, notably in Italy and in Holland, have asked. how it could be necessary . to. expose this country to so immense a loss of wealth and life, and whether a verbal manifesto against hostile aggression, or a singlo oannot-shot on the frontier, would not have served the purpose of protest. But assuredly all men of good feeling will he with, us in our rejection of these paltry counsels. Mere utilitarianism is no sufficient rule of Christian citizenship. On April 19, 1839,' a treaty was signed in London by King Leopold, in the name of Belgium, ■on the one part, and by tho Ejnpcror of/'Austria, the King of France, the Queeil "of England, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia, 'on the other; and-its seventh article decreed that Belgium ..shuld form a separate and perpetually neutral State, and should be held to the observance of this neutrality in regard to all other States. The co-signatories, promised, for themselves and their successors,, upon . their oath, to fulfil arid to observe that treaty in every point and ?very article without contravention,. :or tolerance of contravention. Belgium was'thus bound in honour to defend'.her own independence. She kept her word. The other Powers were bound to respect and to protect her neiir trality. 'Germany violated her .oath; England kept hers. These ars the facts.

The laws of conscience- are sovereign laws. We should have" aoted uuworthily had we evaded our obligation by a mere feint of resist in co; And now we would not rescind our first resolution; we exult in it. Being called upon to write a most solemn page .-in the history of our country, we resolved that it should be also a sincere, also a glorious page. And as long as we are compelled to give proof of endurance, so long we shall endure. All classes of our citizens have devoted their 6ons to the . cause of their country; but the poorer part of the population have set the noblest example, for they have suffered privation, cold, and famine. If I may judge of the general foeling from what I have witnessed in the humbler quarters Malines, and in tho most cruelly afflicted districts of my diocese, the peonle are energetic in their endurance. . They look to be righted : they will not hear of surrender. . Affliction is, in the hand of Divine Omnipotence, a two-edged, sword. Tt wounds the rebellious, it sanctifies him who is willing to endure. God proveth us, as St. .Tames has told us, but He "is not a tempter of evils." All that comes from Him is good, a ray of light, a pledge of love. "But every man is. tempted by his own conoupiscence. . . Blessed is he that endureth temptation, for when he hath been proved he shall receive tho crown of life, which G-nd hath promised to them that love Him.'' Truce, then, my brethren, to all murmurs of complaint. Remember St. Paul's words to the Hebrews, and through them to all of Christ's flock, when, referring to the bloody sacrifice of our lord unon the cross he reminded them that they had not yet resisted unto blood. Not only to .the Redeemer's examnle shall yen look, but also to that of the,, thirty thousand who liavo already shed their lifeblond for their country. In comparison with thein, what have you endured who are deprived of the daily comforts of your lives, your newspapers, your means of travel, communication with your families? let the patriotism of our Army, tho heroism of our King, of onr beloved Queen in her magnanimity, sfcrvo to stimulate us and support us. Let us bemoan ourselves no more. Lot us deserve the coming deliverance. Let us hasten it'by our .virtue cvonmore than by our prayers. Courage, brethren. Suffering passes away; the crown of lifo for onr souls, the crown of glory for our nation, shall not. pass. DUTY tINDER INVASION. I do not require of you to renounce any of your national desires. On the contrary, I hold it as part of the obligdr mg,-fiPiegQi>aL-9.ffics- & --ingfcftqi;

you as to your duty in. face of the Tower that has invaded our soil and now occupies the greater part of our country. Tho authority of that Power is not lawfuL authority. Therefore in the soul and conscience you owe it neither Tespect, nor attachment, nor obedience. Tho wle lawful authority in Belgium is that of our Kins, of our Government, of tho elected representatives of the nation. This authority alone lias a right to our affection, our submission. Thus, tho invaders' acts of public administration havo in themselves 110 authority, but legitimate authority has tacitly ratified such of those acts ■ as affect the general interests, and this ratification, and this only, gives them juridic value. Oacupied provinces are not conquered provinces. Belgium is no more a German province than Galicia is a Russian province. the occupied portion of our country is in a position it is compelled to endure. The greater part of our towns, having surrendered to the enemy on conditions, 1 are bound to observe those conditions. From the outset of military operations the civil authorities of the country urged upon all private persons the necessity of abstention from hostile acts against the enemy s army. That instruction' remains in force. It is our army, andour army solely, in league with the valiant troops of our Allies, that has the honour and the duty of national defence. Let us en- . trust the army with one' final j deliverance.

Towards the persons of. those who _ are holding dominion among us by military force, and l who assuredly cannot but be sensible of the chivalrous, energy _ with which we have defended, and are still defending, our independence, let lis conduct ourselves "with all needful forbearance. Some among them have declared themselves willing to mitigate, as far as possible, the severity of our situation, and to help us to recover some minimum of regular civic life. Let us observe the rules they have laid upon us so long as those rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our consciences as Christians, nor out duty to our country. Let us not tale bravado lor courage, nor tumult for bravery. . A WORD TO THE PRIESTS. You. especially, my dearest brethren in the priesthood, be you at. once the best examples of Patriotism, and the best supporters of public' order, ' On the field of battle yo.u have been magnificent. The King and the Army admire the intrepidity of our military chaplains in face of death, their charity at the work of- the ambulance. Your Bishops are proud of you. i , You have suffered greatly. You have endured much calumny. But be patient; history will do you jußtice. I today bear my witness for you. Wherever it has been possible I have questioned our people, our-clergy, and particularly a considerable number of priests who had been deported to German prisons, but whom a principle of humanity, to which X gladly render homage, has since set at liberty. Well, I affirm upon my honour, and'l am prepared to assert upon faith of my oath, that until now I have not met a single ecclesiastic., secular or regular, who had once incited civilians to bear arms against the enetayAll have loyally followed the instructions of their Bishops, given in the early days of August, to the effect that they were to use their moral influence over the civil population,-so that order might be prejerved and military regulations observed. , '

I exhort you to persevere in this ministry of peace, which is for' you the_ sanest form of Patriotism; to accept with all your hearts the privations you have to enduTej to simplify still further, if it is possible, your way. of life. On© of you who is reduced by robbery and pillage to a state bordering on total destitution, sai.d to me lately: "I am living'now" as I wish I had lived always."

Multiply the efforts of your charity, corporal and spiritual. Like tho great Apostle, do you endure daily the cares of your Church,. so that no man shall suffer loss and you not suffer loss, and no man fall and you not burn with zeal for him. . Make yourselves. the champions of all those virtues enjoined upon you by civic honour as well as by the Gospel of Christ. "Whatsoever things are trne, whatsoever modest,' whatsoe.ver just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think on these things." So may the' worthiness of our lives justffy_ us, my most dear colleagues, in repeating the noble claim of St. Paul: "The. things which ye have learned, and 1 received, and heard, and seen,, in me, these do ye, and the God of peaoe shall be with you."-

CONCLUSION. Let us oontinue then, dearest brethren, to pray, to do penance, to attend Holy Mass, and to,receive Holy, Communion for the eaored intention of'our,dear country. . . . I recommend parish priests to hold a funeral service on behalf of our fallen soldiera, on every Saturday. . .v"s., ■ Money, .! know well, is scarce;with you all. Nevertheless, if you', have little, give of that little, for the succour of those among your fellow-countrymen who are without shelter, without fuel, without sufficient bread. I have directed my parish priests to form for this purpose, in every parish, a relief committee. Do you second them charitably and convey to my hands such alms as you can save from your superfluity, if not from your necessities, so that I may be the distributor to tho destitue who are known, to me.

Our distress has moved the other nations. England, Ireland, and Scotland; France, Holland, the United States, Canada, have vied with each other in generosity for our relief. It is a spectacle at once most mournful and most noble. Here, again, is a revelation of the Providential Wisdom which draws good from evil., In your name, my brethren, and in my own. I offer to the Government and the nations that have succoured us the assurance of our admiration and our gratitude.

With a touching. goodness ' our Holy Father Benedict the Fifteenth has teen the first to incline his heart towards lis. When, a few moments after his election, he deigned to take me in his. arms, I was bold enough then to ask that, the first Pontifical Benediction he spoke should he given to Belgium, already in deep distress through the war. fie eagerly closed with my wish, which I knew wov.ld also be yours. To-day. with delicate kindness, His Holiness has taken the step to renounce the annual offering of Peter's Pence from Belgium.' In a letter dated on the beautiful festival of the Immaculate Virgin, December the eighth, he assures us of the part ho bears in pur sufferings, lie prays for . us. calls down upon our Belgium-the protection of Heaven, and exhorts us to..hail ip the then annroaching advent of the Prince of Peace the dawn of better days.. • Here is the text of this valued message: LETTER FROM THE POPE. "To our dear Son, Desire Mercior. Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church/of the title of St. Peter in Chains, Archbishop. of Malines, at Malines. "Our Dear Son, Health and Apostolic Benediction. 'The fatherly solicitudo which we feel' for all the faithful wliom Divine Providence has entrusted to our care, causes us to share their griefs even more fully than their joys. "Could wo then fail to be moved br keenest sorrow at the eight of the Belgian nation which we so dearly love reduced by a most cruel and most disastrous war to this lamentable state. "We behold the King and his august family, the members of the Government, the chief persons of the country, bishops, priests, aijd whole people enduring evils which' must fill with pity all gentle hearts, and which our own soul, in tlm fervour of parental love, must be the first to coninassionate. Thus, under the burden of this distress and this mourning, we call in our prayers for an en<? to such misfortunes. May the God of mercy hasten the day! Meanwhile wo strive to mitigate, as far as in us lies, this excessive suffering. Therefore the step taken by our dear son, . Cardinal Hartmann, Archbishop of Cologne, at whose request it was arranged that French or Belgian priests detained in Germany should have the treatment of officers, gave us great satisfaction, and we have expressed our thanks to him for his action. "As regards Bolginm. we have been informed that the faithful of that nation, so sorely tried, did not neglect, in tljeir piety, to turn towards us their thoughts, and that even under tho blow of so many calamities they proposed to gather this year, as in all preceding years, the offerings of St. Peter, which "npply the necessities of the Apostolic. See. This truly incomparable proof of pioly and of attachment filled us with admiratim; we accept, it with all the affeotion that is ,/iiw fxam. a .aaMil toxt Mi.ham*.