THE RELIGION OF MARSHAL FOCH

New Zealand Tablet, 17 July 1919, Page 39

THE RELIGION OF MARSHAL FOCH

The following letter, over the signature of 8.T.G., appeared in the correspondence ..columns of the Dominion of July 3: —- ’ ‘ ,vv ■ k- \ : Sir,Even the most expert “camouflageurs” of France would turn green : with envy if they learned of Mr. Howard Elliott’s attempt to transform Marshal Foch into a Presbyterian elder ! Of all the jokes perpetrated by this egregious humorist, surely this is the greatest. I learn on good authority that, in hundreds of Scots’ homes last night, the health of the great generalissimo was drunk with renewed enthusiasm, when the truth- became known at last! - ‘ Surely Mr. Howard Elliott is the supreme dazzlepainter of his generation. By one stroke of that magic pen he robs the Catholic Church of one of her greatest sons, and, unblushingly makes a present of him to the Kirk of Scotland. \■ • : ■ ‘y; y ' It seems to me, however, that there are one or two flaws .in the disguise,, and, as ; many. people. are interested in this latest exhibition of this diverting wizard, I trust that you will find space for these lines. •> .• f (1) For several years past -I have been reading such French papers as La Croix and Lcho de Paris , which never tired of telling their * readers that Foch is an exemplary. Catholic; “Catholique ires pratique .” -•- | ” (2) All through the war, but especially since 1918, English and American Catholic papers vied with one another in claiming the great Allied leader as a son of the Catholic -Church: A story, told by the chaplain of Marshal Foch, went the round of- those papers to the effect that, on July 17, 1918, when all the plans for the great attack were finished, Foch retired' to his private oratory and spent a long time there in • the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in preparation for the momentous event of the next day. . 'Qri'AJ Citt

(3) The Times History of the War (vol. 17, p.: 207) informs us that; .when Clemenceau. offered Foch %He directorship of the Ecole de Guerre in i 1907, the lattes sole difficulties Were his religion and the fact that his brother was a Jesuit. 4 y. , ” (4) Rene Puaux, in his biogx-aphy of | Foch, tells us that in 1867, when the father of Marshal Foch 'Was removed to St. Etienne, he sent his son to the Jesuit College in that city that, three years later, he sent him to the famous Jesuit College in Metz; that, upon; the conclusion of the Franco-German war, the future marshal at once returned , to his Jesuit masters, though Metz was then a j German town. A This statement is confirmed in the Times volume quoted above. C; (5) Puaux, on page 41, makes this . statement: “Foch is a Catholic,’’ and he proceeds to inform us that Foch, rather than give up his religious convictions, preferred to leave the Staff College ixx 1900, : when General Bounal, a man of anti-clerical views, was appointed its head; ’kUkk ; (6) Puaux again mentions that at the height of the second German' offensive in April last year, he saw Foch ’‘repair to the Catholic church in Cussel to seek light and guidance in prayer. . (7) In a recent article reproduced. in the Dominion. (June 25) from the Daily - Hail, M. J.‘ ; Ward • Price said: “Foch is a devoted Catholic, and about his personality one has the intuition of a hidden, but burning, ardor,vsuch as has marked many great men belonging to that faith.” \ Had ; it ever occurred to me that such a dazzlepainter would ever arise in bur midst, I would have presented other testimonies, proving my case more fully than I have been able to do. It seems wise to make such provision for the future, to collect, for instance, all the evidence that goes to show that Mr. Lloyd George is a Welshman, or Sir Harry Lauder a Scotsman, for such simple facts, taken for granted by ordinary mortals. may yet be challenged by the irrepressible Mr. Elliott. ‘ .| ; \ ‘ After camouflaging Marshal' Foch as a Presbyterian elder, Mr. Elliott, with his characteristic logic, concludes thus: “So that, after all,' it is a P.P.A. marshal who has ’ been so signally successful at the Lropt.’b s .-I have noticed that, of late, the meetings of the P.P.A. have often been held in Presbyterian halls. Are we to conclude, then, in our turn, that, not satisfied with his success in “ throwing ' the kilts over the uniform of .a-marshal of France, he is now essaying the further task of hiding beneath their variegated colors the crude yellow of his “Orange” association?