REMARKABLE SERMON IN RUME

Hokitika Guardian, 14 April 1917, Page 3

REMARKABLE SERMON IN RUME

A sensation has been caused in Borne by the eloquent sermon cf the Franciscan friar, Padre Michel Ang6?o Draglmtti, which eudei with a prayer for a victorious peace for Italy and the Allied Armies, says the Tele* graph’d Milan correspondent. The peculiarity of this event i 8 that for the first time such a sartnon has been openly preached in the Pope’s own diocese, end as the Franciscan friar gave his congregation to understand with more or less approval by } the Pope. The sermon was delivered in the church of Sant Andrea della Yale before a crowded ccngiegatioo, and the preacher aftor thrilling his hearers by '' his words of patriotism, faith, and enthusiasm, was applauded spontaneously by the entire congregation, who rose to their feet as he concluded with an impassioned appeal that all the blood shed on the battlefields for the cause of humanity and Christian civilisation by the Allies should not be shed in vain. Such a demonstration is extremely unusual inside Roman Catholic churches, and is all the more striking because it occurred in Borne. Many officers and soldiers were in the congregation, and they were the first to rise and applaud. The sensation was heightened when i the friar declared that before prsach- " ing he had had the honor of kneeling at the feet or Pope Benedict XV, who encouraged him to tell the faithful of Borne and of all Itaiy to pray to Gcd for a victorious peace in the name of civilisation—the peace of Chris', which should be the triumph ot charity, of fraternity, of justice, and of right.