FOCH IN THE HOUR OF VICTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 20 February 1919, Page 37

FOCH IN THE HOUR OF VICTORY

Some months ago at least half the world gave Marshal Foch, by acclamation and common consent, the title of "the man of the hour" (says America). It was a tragic title, for it was fearful < with awful responsibilities; it was a stupendously honorable title, for it meant that out of the hundreds of millions of men of the many nations arrayed against the Central Powers he had been judged the one man best fitted to save Europe and humanity. The hour has passed and with it much of the glamor of the title. Hereafter he will probably be designated as the man of history. For no man in all history ever faced so colossal a task, commanded so many troops, represented so many great Governments. He rose to the occasion, he fulfilled his trust, he defeated the enemy, he brought back peace. If ever a man deserved an undying place in history, that man is Ferdinand Foch.

"On every side we are hearing of his military genius, his force of character, his steadfastness in defeat, his moderation in victory, his tireless activity, his calmness in personal loss, his attachment to his soldiers, his simplicity of life, and all those other qualities which his friend, Marcel Knecht, has described so graphically in a recent number of the Independent. But perhaps in all his great moments, and there have been many such, he never rose so high as when his spirit of Christian humility led him to deprecate any personal praise for his share in the final success, and to say that he deserved no thanks, because in the accomplishment of great things he has been merely an instrument in the hands of God.

This last trait in his character appeals especially to Catholics, who yield to none in their appreciation of his -.many claims to admiration, for it is another proof that Marshal Foch, like the majority of the great French generals, is still, as he has ever been, a fervent son of the faith. As he turned in his time of anguish, during the dark days of the battle of the Yser, to the little chapel near his headquarters, there to find light and strength in meditation and prayer, so in the moment of supreme victory he made his way to another church, again near his headquarters, there to give thanks to the God of Hosts.

Cardinal Amette has put this fact on record in a very striking way, for in the course of his address in the Cathedral of Notre Dame during the "Te Deum" celebration on Alsace Day, he interrupted his discourse to read a letter which he had just received from the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies :

"What a satisfaction it woxild be for me to join with you in chanting the "Te Deum" of thanksgiving in our old national basilica. I shall chant the "Te Deum" where I am at present, in the church near my headquarters, thus fulfilling in one and the same act my duty to God and my duty to my country." Duty to his country kept him in the field; duty to God led him to the altar.

As M. Marcel Knecht exults with laudable pride, that Marshal Foch grew up as a youth in his "beloved city of Metz on the banks of the picturesque Moselle," and that he "has always remained a Lorrainer in heart, if not by birth" ; so the Society of Jesus will be pardoned if it also, with similar pride, points to the fact that this incomparable man of history received his educational training in the Jesuit College of St.

Clement-les-Metz, and that like so many other heroes of the war, he is, in the common sense of the word,, gloriously but none the less truly, a "Jesuit boy."