The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1919. FRANCE AND THE VATICAN

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1919, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1919. FRANCE AND THE VATICAN

SEFORE the war there was in France a C notable Catholic revival among men of letv USm) ters, and ini a country where genius" ;is reverenced as it is in France such a sign was full of promise for the fixture. Many of the, writers who a few years ago drew the rJAZjQ- attention of French readers to the crying w necessity for v establishing tj society V;once more on the basis of God’s law are now -no more. Peguy, Psichari, and numerous others have died fighting for France, which has suffered untold loss in their deaths. Bom-get, Lamy, and a host of authors of great name still remain to carry on the work of regeneration. Their number is increasing as time goes on, .and novelists and romance-writers hitherto noted for their antiCatholic bias are to-day seeing life with a higher and clearer vision. It is remarkable that at the reception of Mgr. Baudx'illart among the immortals of the Academic the address of Marcel Prevost pleased and surprised Catholics who were doubtful enough as to how the writer of so many novels of doubtful morality and unhealthy views would approach his subject. M. Prevost, however, affirmed that he had been convinced by the teachings of do Mun and Baudrillart that it is the duty of all good Frenchmen to restore internal harmony in the country by reparation for. the injustice committed against the Church. He pleaded that all should work and pray together- that the ties which had been broken should be restored, insisting on liberty of teaching for the Church and the return of the religious who had been expelled. When a prominent member of the Left has the courage to assert such views at a full, meeting of the Academic, and when the talented representatives of the intellect of France loudly applaud his speech, there can be no doubt that we may .welcome? a sign of the times which the dead heroes would have given their lives to see. .. . * , ... . In April, during a visit to Rome in connection with the cause of Joan of Arc, Mgr. Touchet 7 told an interviewer that in the hearts of many Frenchmen there was an eager - desire' for . reunion between France and the Vatican, This desire was begotten of a sincere love of France and a sense of justice towards the Church which 3 France had treated so badly in the past. ’ If at present the Government is in opposition ; to the popular will, it is because of its corruption and weakness, and because of = the prevalence of Masonry ! and atheism in ? high places. Mgr. Touchet believes that 'in - time I the 3 will of ■ the people will overcome this - evil and root ; out old prejudices and ■ hostilities which stand in 'the | way of France’s welfare/- France - herself is religious | at, heart, and /anxious' for '-the' renewal of cordial relations with the Pope. Mgr. Touchet recalls that in

the past Leo XIIJ*. one day said- to him; “France is the staff on which I lean., in order ,to cross,. Europe, but France needs me.” Similar words were uttered to him recently by Cardinal Gasparri, ! find there is no doubt that they put the case -in a nutshell. , . Mgr. Touchet witnesses what ; joy /was. caused in Catholic France by the Pope’s recent manifestation of affection for the land, of. Joan /of . Arc, ! and. he sees in, this :.; a promise that the "heroine of his race will win yet another victory no less precious than that which cost her life in bygone years. In a recent number of the . Dublin Review a writer relates that English soldiers marching past her statue into a French town' saluted with the words, Pardon, Jeanne-. : ' If the story be true, this touching tribute from the ranks 1 of her ancient foes was a r splendid reparation for 'the crime 1 of the'past. No less was it a lesson for those Frenchmen of to-day who are : the only enemies Jeanne has how in that by their hatred of her religion and ; by their' activity in the cause of evil they are ruining the dear land for which she died. ’ ' -• • - * We know well how the memory of Jeanne inspired the heroes of the recent war, and how r her spiritual presence was felt among the soldiers whose bravery and chivalry once more saved France. We know, how near to ruin and desolation the Masons and the Jews had brought France in the early days of the war how they put incapable men in positions of trust; how they kept in the background the best and bravest officers because of their faith; and how at last only a sense of imminent danger compelled them to rely on Petain and on Foch, who led the armies of the Entente Powers to final victory. The Generalissimo who came at the eleventh hour to save France was a man after Jeanne’s heart. Selfreliance, courage, patriotism had failed when he came on the scene. Until he appeared there was talk enough and to spare about these qualities, but never a public word about prayer and trust in God. The Man of the Hour made no mistake. He was a man of prayer, a devout Catholic who drew his strength from communion with God. History will write that Foch saved the world by his military genius and his strategy ; but Foch himself gave the honor where it was due. Before the final trial he said: “Prayer has saved the Allies before in this deadly struggle, and it will save them again.’’ Not to the “bull-dog tenacity of the‘English,” not to the prodigal bravery of the French, but to the prayer of the humble people of Finance did he attribute the miraculous turning back of the great armies that threatened Paris in the early days, and xxow that he was in supreme command he made no secret of his dependence on prayer for victory. He did not hesitate to ask for —above all for the innocent prayers of the little childrenand when the tide'turned at last his humble word was: Non nobis, -Domino, non nobis, sed nomim tuo da r/loriam- “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy Name be the glory.” God who chose Jeanne in other years now chose Foch to save France and to teach her a salutary, lesson. : Surely France will learn the lesson and be again as in the glorious past, The Eldest Daughter of the -Church. >•,