THE HEROISM OF BELGIUM DURING THE WAR OF 1914

New Zealand Tablet, 29 July 1915, Page 11

THE HEROISM OF BELGIUM DURING THE WAR OF 1914

A Sermon Preached at Notre Dame, Paris, by the Rev. Father Marie-Albert Janvier, of the Dominican Friars, Under the Presidentship of His Eminence Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris. (Some time ago a Presbyterian minister in a rural district of Southland was foolish enough to assert from the pulpit that Catholics, both in Mew Zealand and everywhere else, were doing nothing to recognise the heroism of Belgium, and that it was only Protestant people who were showing appreciation of that gallant country's bravery and self-sacrifice. Official refutation of the calumny, so far as New Zealand was concerned, was immediately forthcoming, and the non-Catholic secretary of the Otago Belgian- Distress movement called upon the minister publicly to withdraw his demonstrably false statement, but the Rev. Mr. Macdonald has not been manly enough to discharge this obvious duty. As an illustration of the way in which Belgium's conduct is regarded by the Catholics, of France we have translated, in such odd moments of leisure as we could snatch, the following sermon delivered some time ago in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, by a prominent preacher of the day, and kindly sent to* us by an esteemed Christchurch correspondent. Apart from its special subjectmatter, our readers will find it of some interest as a sample of modern French pulpit eloquence. The unusual practice of applauding during sermons, which sprang up during the first outburst of patriotic fervor, has since been vetoed by Cardinal Amette, but we have retained the applause marks on this occasion as furnishing a guide to the sentiments of the people.) Melius est nobis mori in hello quam vide re mala nentis nostra?, et sanctorum.' , (It is better to die in battle than to see the evils of our people and the profanation of our churches). —Macchabees, iii., 58. Your Eminence —My Brethren, — Eighty-three years ago to-day, on November 15, 1831, was concluded at London a treaty which, duly and solemnly signed by England, by France, by Russia, by Prussia, and by Austria, consecrated the freedom of Belgium and declared her territory neutral and inviolable. Confiding in the plighted word of Europe, and scrupulously faithful to her own engagements, the new State enjoyed long days of peace and prosperity. Beneath the shadows of her ancient belfrys, of her palaces, temples, universities, and markets, flourished religion, art, literature, science, philosophy, and commerce. The whole world flocked to listen to the hymns of pious adoration which the bells of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, of Namur, Bruges, Ypres, and Tournai, sang at eve in towers gilded by the light of the setting sun. On this privileged soil wise Governments reconciled the spirit of progress and liberty with love of tradition and of authority. Well populated, lined by roads which rendered communication easy between her different provinces, this young nation heard the hour strike when her vitality overflowed her own frontiers and carried clier name and influence among the nations to the wider world beyond. Suddenly, this happy state of things has been disturbed ; suddenly, this onward flight has been checked; suddenly, a war of which our history, will speak with horror has broken the general equilibrium, and has struck first of all the kingdom that should have been the most sheltered from its fury—Belgium. But in this extremity Belgium has shewn herself superior to her calamity and has astonished the world by ' her constancy more than by her misfortunes. Her attitude has merited,, has obtained the homage of all nations: especially has she merited that of France, whom she has so greatly aided in her just cause. I think myself happy, most eminent Seigneur, that you have deemed me worthy to interpret, under the sky> -of our beautiful capital, beneath the -arches of our national basilica, our feelings towards our Allies,

to tell our countrymen how we should admire the heroism of Belgium, compassionate her sorrows, and relieve her distress. -• , ■• I, Admiration is the feeling one experiences in contemplating an extraordinary spectacle, a sentiment in which mingled joy, astonishment, and sympathy suddenly seize and overcome us, throwing us into a sort of ecstasy. It supposes that we recognise in the object of our admiration not only beauty but an immeasurable beauty which floods our faculty of vision. ' Admiratio,' summarily says St. Thomas, ' consequitur ap•prehensionem ahcujas excedentis nostrum facultatem.' In the physical order, it attaches itself to the horizons that our vision could not embrace in all their fulness, to the heavens sown with stars so numerous that man can not count them ; to the oceans whose living waves extend ever further than our sight. In the intellectual teder, the unlooked for victories of genius, of art, science, and of philosophy, give it birth, dazzling the mind and transporting, the heart. But above all, it shines in the moral order, and in this order that which summons it to its loftiest height is the apparition of heroism. This is because heroism, with its halo of strength and splendour, is a prodigious phenomenon, the indomitable outburst of a virtue which, wishing to save itself and keep itself unstained, breaks all bounds, resists all powers, endures all tortures, and raises itself to so high a plane that according to the ancients, no one practises it save by drinking of the cup whereof drinks the invincible Divinity. On the heights encircled by the fires of heroism, life attains its maximum of intensity ; nature, forgetful of the laws that ordinarily govern her, rises above herself, and assumes proportions that seem incompatible with her weakness. Happy the individuals and the nations who, scorning physical ease and their immediate interests, have abandoned themselves to the impulses of heroism ; they have chosen the better part, an incorruptible portion which God Himself could not take from them. To refuse admiration to these chosen beings who are the glory of our race, would be to commit a crying injustice against which the upright conscience and the honest heart would eternally protest. Belgium has known this access of grandeur, this super-abundance of energy, this intoxication' of moral life that heroism brings with it. Heroic she was when, summoned to obey the ultimatum of a potentate possessing the most powerful army in the world or to face the horrors of a merciless war, she declared in the memorable session that did not last a quarter of an hour, for right against might. Heroic she was when, with a handful of warriors, she dared to resist the assault of countless invaders and, during unforgettable weeks, held them in check. Heroic she has been when, driven back from Liege to Namur, from Namur to Brussels, from Brussels to-Antwerp, from Antwerp to Ostend, from Ostend to Dixmude, she refused the humiliating peace that they did not blush to offer her. Heroic she has been in this young and great. King, who, careless of his own person, shares all the ordeals of his subjects, lives with his soldiers in the trenches, sleeps beneath the cannon, commands in the firing line, and, on the morrow of the worst catastrophes, cries proudly, ' Belgium is bruised, but she is not conquered.' (Applause.) Heroic she has been in that ' little Queen ' who, ever at hand on the battlefield, tends the wounded and soothes by her grace, faith, and serenity of hope the last hours of the dying. . . . Heroic has she been in her ministers, ever illustrious, who, seconding their sovereign, work incessantly for their country and serve her with a devotion, a disinterestedness, and an intelligence which perhaps has never been witnessed in history. Heroic has she been in her soldiers, who have checked, harassed, foiled, decimated, often even, vanquished an adversary whose strength was equalled only by his insolence. Heroic has she been in her people, who have seen the waters of the Meuse, of the Sambre, of the Scheldt, of the Lys, running red with blood ; who have seen the fortresses of Liege and Antwerp, and the monuments of Louvain and of Malines laid low, yet

never renounced their independence. (Applause.) Philo* sophy tells us that one day, one hour, one' minute of heroism is worth more than a century of banal prudence or commonplace virtue. During the last three and a-half months, Belgium has lived a life of inexhaustible heroism. To-day she is the pride of humanity. (Applause.) She has an unassailable right to the admiration which will sustain her courage, to the public praise which will do justice to her greatness of soul, to the acclamations which, throughout the whole world, will bear testimony to her virtues and her prowess. She has an especial • claim on the land of France which her intrepid effort has saved for us. That humble return on our part will certainly not be denied her. O proud inhabitants of Flanders and of Brabant, there is not a generous being who is not moved in thinking of you, who has not his gaze fixed upon you. From the Thames to the Vistula, from civilised countries to remote deserts your praise is in all mouths, and I dare to believe that the celestial court bend over the walls of heaven to see you more clearly and to contemplate with delight your steadfastness and devotion. From the soul of France there ascends to you a living, glowing tribute of praise. It is not a silent tribute our angels, our saints, our apostles, our doctors, our artists, poets, historians, will prolong the ringing echoes to the end of time and beyond time. Successive generations will ever hear repeated in heaven and on earth ' Honor to the King of the Belgians, Albert I. ! Honor to the Queen of the Belgians, Elizabeth ! (Applause.) Honor to Bjrocqueville, Prime Minister of the Belgians, and to his colleagues! Honor to the army of Liege, of Namur, of Antwerp, of Ostend, of Dixmude ! To all the Belgian race, honor and benediction throughout all ages!' (Applause.) 11. Heroism is a principle of glory, but suffering follows in its train. And this I further say, that the radiance of its glory is in proportion to the greatness of the sacrifices that it entails, and the more it is sensible of the sorrow it endures, the more it merits its name. The Christian who does not yield to blows of which he feels all the cruelty surpasses the stoic who, in misfortunes, affects indifference to suffering. Christ was sublime hot because He gainsaid the effect of the torture on His body and soul, but because, though a prey to unutterable anguish, He refused to betray His divine mission. Belgium has been sublime not because she has said to her implacable enemy ' The blows do not hurt me," but because she has said to him : ' The wounds that you inflict on me, so great, so deep, so severe though they are, will not overcome my tenacity.' Belgium has shown herself heroic because she has been able to endure, without flinching and without wavering, all the terrors of an awful agony. O brothers, how great you are, but how unfortunate ! That King and Queen, how they have suffered when truly murderous projectiles burst above their dwelling and threatened the lives of their little ones, when the enemy invading their territory, made himself master in their palace, in their provinces, and in their capital ! How those officers suffered when their fortresses were beaten down. How did these humble soldiers suffer when death swept down upon them! How these pastors suffered when the vaults, columns, arches, and the altars of their temples came down with a crash! How those magistrates suffered when their cities were suddenly demolished by the iron hail or destroyed by fire ! How have those peasants and workers suffered, driven from their farms and their factories, and compelled to flee in haste and hazard ! Above all, how have these fathers, mothers, and little ones suffered, from whom the terrible scourge has torn the beings most necessary to them, and most beloved! 'The ways of Sion mourn.' Along roads yesterday illumined by the rays of happiness I see only tears, I hear only sobs. The devastated fields weep, the waters of the rivers, red with blood, flow onward in murmurs of lamentation, and king and subjects show'on their noble countenances the mark of the tragic, emotions which wring their hearts. Oh! would that

I possessed a sovereign charm to heal instantly such gigantic wounds ! . ..'._. -,„ . . , -.- ■| At least we shall weep with .this stricken people. - We shall sorrow over the ruins of Malines and of Louf/' vain as we weep over those of ' Sehlis, Reims, and Arras. We shall weep over the ravaged villages, the pillaged fields :■; of;.; Flanders, and .the valleys, as we weep over Lorraine, Champagne, Brie, and the North,--for two months and a-half put to fire and bloodshed. We shall weep over the noble comrades of our soldiers }as over our own sons. English, Belgians, French, are united to strive, to suffer, to die in the service of three countries who \ to-day are as one their sacred remains rest in the same graves; soon their mingled dust will be one dust;;}- their souls have together flown to God Who awards to martyrs worthy crowns; death has not separated them ; nor shall we separate them in the religious and sorrowful worship that we render them. After this, our eyes will still be filled with tears, and our hearts with love that our compassion may extend to those who arc fighting with us, and falling, on the banks of the Vistula and on the borders of Turkey. In; sharing the unspeakable afflictions of Belgium, we shall lighten her burden, and it will become less crushing for that noble race which has merited so much from France. As you feelingly and finely observed some days ago, Most Eminent Seigneur, a great hope fills our hearts and gives us strength to endure without failing the weight of our misfortunes. The blood of our soldiers has not flowed in vain : their heroism will not be without fruit: over their prematurely-dug graves will flourish the palms of victory. At the same time, thanks to the devotion of our legions, there will be established abroad a glorious peace, and at home the sweet harmony of which we had such great need. On the soil of France there will henceforth be onlv Frenchmen who respect each other, forming a. united people: for if we wished mutually to contend and curse each other again, we must contend and curse over the tombs of those who sacrificed themselves as much to snatch us from internal dissension as to protect us from the invasion of the stranger. Resting on a word that never fails, the Word of God Himself, our hope rises high, it goes beyond the portals of time. It assures us that our soldiers slain in battle are not truly dead, they have made an exchange of lifefrom the precarious state in which we are so exposed to deception and suffering, the} - have passed to the fulness of being and of beatitude. In eternity there rises another France, a France that no longer suffers, closely bound to the terrestrial France, and which the earthly France will one day rejoin, a France where we shall find, transfigured but in personality the same, the beings so loved whom we have lost. Tt is these thronging hopes alone that console us. We will pour them into the heart of Belgium, to whom we will again say that after victory, Fleming and Walloon, indissolubly united by their common efforts, by their common sorrows, by their common triumph, will work together for their enlarged and purified country, as they have struggled for her freedom and her dignity. We will again say to her that our two peoples, neighbors in this world, are also neighbors in,the next, that in; the world beyond, in the vast kingdom of the chosen, appears a radiant Brfhgium where fathers, mothers, wives, and children will find again the heroes that the war has momentarily torn From them. Tn causing to shine with greater brightness before their eyes this holy hope, -whose rich promise they comprehend as much as we, we will console our dear allies and bring balm to the hearts so cruelly bruised. At the termination of the scourge which is overturning the world they will behold a glorious country, exercising over f other nations the commanding influence which its indomitable love of justice and its inflexible fidelity to its word have won for it, and securing for itself the respect and veneration of all ages. In the days to come, they will perceive captains and . soldiers, who fell on the field of honor, living in happiness with God, stretching forth their, arms to them they will gather from this vision the strength to resign themselves with sub-

mission and to endure to the end their incredible ordeal. Our prayers will assure still more efficacy to our compassion. Invoked by us with Christian devotion, the Sovereign Consoler will prove His age-long love for the Franks, His ancient apostles, not only by strengthening our courage but;'■ also ; by" covering with His blessings the friends whom He has given lis, the immortal sons of Belgium. (Applause.) . 111. ■;-- The Christian spirit is not content with admiring heroism and with pitying suffering; it strives also to alleviate misery. The misery of Belgium surpasses all bounds. To escape servitude, outrage, and massacre, women,-children, and old men had to leave their villages, the houses that sheltered them, the cities in which they were born, and in which they expected to live and die, the fields that nourished them, and the workshops and factories from which they hoped to draw their modest sustenance. Distracted, desperate, they fled in haste, and advanced at random, saying to themselves that the morrow could not be worse than their present agony. Holland, England, Switzerland, has seen them creeping breathless, their eyes dilated with fear, their clothing in shreds, showing on their drawn faces the indelible marks of the privations they had endured. God be praised for the trust that they have shown us. Their looks and footsteps were directed above all to France. These unfortunate ones believed that in spite of the crisis which we ourselves were passing through, we would in our chivalry and traditional liberality find the secret of lodging, feeding, and clothing them. They were not deceived; our country has opened her arms to them as to her dearest children; our Government, administrations, and committees, the rich and the poor, have performed miracles to alleviate their distress. 1 venture to affirm that we have done, and that we will do, if not all that we could wish, at least all that we have been able and all that we will be able to do for the fugitives who have relied upon us. As long as we have a morsel of bread we will share it with them, and happily the day becomes more and more remote when our enemy will have any chance of conquering and overthrowing us. Applause.) God grant that we may not forget any unfortunate one ; that we may discover in our charity the means of succouring, perseveringly and effectually, all those who come to beg our aid. The heart of France is as large as the world. Therefore I venture to beg of you to think not only of the Belgians who, deprived of all, have asked asylum of us, but also of the Belgians who, remaining in their own country either from necessity •or duty, are not less to be commiserated than their exiled compatriots. To-day 1 address myself to the capital of France, to that capital which by a singular favor of Providence lias escaped the horrors of invasion, and I entreat her to open her purse to the capital of Belgium, to Brussels, which has seen the enemy triumphantly enter its walls and rule supreme within its precincts. At Brussels, bread daily becomes dearer, blacker, scarcer; misery increases, apart from the fact that for a mere nothing, for a telegraph or telephone wire broken by accident, the people are threatened with the sternest reprisals. Workmen without work, employees without occupation, widows and orphans without protectors, compose the majority of the population. Have pity on these creatures of God who are able to repeat the bitter words of the prophet: ' Our inheritance is turned to strangers : our houses to our enemies. We must buy with money the water from our springs, the trees from our . woods we must pay for with a great price, and must give our most precious possessions to obtain a. mouthful of bread and to save our lives.' Pity those needy ones who will perish with cold and hunger if we do mot come immediately to their aid. I know that our resources have diminished, that the war has weighed down our country with burdens without number. Therefore, I- do not ask you to give to the poor of Brussels more thau- you are able, but only all that you are able to give, J ~"""

Presently a noble princess, Belgian by birth, French by marriage, the sister also of Albert, 1., ,will stretch forth her hand to you, and your generosity, I am sure, will fill her purse. You will at the same -time: respond to the advance of the brave woman who' has come here from Brussels, through a thousand dangers, to implore your help. This woman, in 1870, tended for nine months our wounded with such devotion that our country wished to bestow on her a magnificent decoration. Her beautiful attitude towards our people gives her a claim on our charity towards her own. To-day Belgium celebrates at the same time the anniversary of her independence, and the festival of her King, whose patron is St. Albert; and I do not fear to state that Madame the Duchess of Vendome and Madame Guillery will be able, thanks to us, to offer to their sovereign for the eve of his festival a true treasure, a treasure destined to nourish and to clothe his most needy subjects" Thus our admiration and our sympathy will prove themselves fruitful, and they to whom we so largely owe our salvation will in large measure owe their lives to us. Madame, when you have the joy of meeting your august brother, tell him that all France, without exception, bows with a profound reverence before his royal tenacity, before the majesty of his high virtues. (Applause.) All of you who here represent Belgium, tell your cities, tell your provinces, that France will be eager to pay back a hundred-fold, and in every possible way what she has received. Add, to comfort and console them, that the moment approaches when the great bells of Saint Gudule and of Notre Dame uniting their voices will intone the Te Deum of peace and victory, and will proclaim that Belgium and France, beloved of God, are not dead. So may it be! (Applause.)