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OCR
A PLEA FOR THE SEMINARIES OF FRANOE.
We publish herewith an appeal which comes from a
writer who was witness in France of the desolation in the
parishes on the war line. The Clergy of France, with
a certain national pride which calls for respect, have abstained
from seeking aid abroad for the rebuilding of their broken
homes and churches. But they plead for a filling-up of the
ranks of their priesthood, the gaps caused by the loss of those
who gave their lives in battle. To revive the religious fervor
of that Church which once was proud to claim the title of First
Daughter of Rome, a fresh impulse of the priestly apostolate
is needed. Hence the plea of France for the reconstruction of
its lost seminaries.
One of the most touching incidents in this connexion during
the war, and one which shows the beautiful spirit of Catholic
and of priestly international brotherhood, was the action,
amidst the bloody struggle, of the present Archbishop of
Cologne, Dr. K. J. Schulte. As he visited the camps of the
French prisoners on the Rhine to comfort them in their dis-
tress and offer them spiritual as well as temporal aid, he found
among the French captives a number of young soldiers who
had been taken from the seminaries on the eve of their ordin-
ation. Having ascertained their wish to be priests, he applied
promptly to the French authorities, and simultaneously to the
Holy Father, for permission to ordain the young candidates,
in order that they might console and spiritually assist their
countrymen in durance vile. He at the same time requested
that they receive the military rank of officers in the French
army, so as to strengthen their authority among those of their
countrymen who might not otherwise recognize the value of
the priestly dignity. .
Thus the German Archbishop was the first to turn the fruits
of the war to the spiritual advantage of its victims. We feel
assured that the same noble motives which prompted the act
of the Catholic prelate in behalf of the young candidates for
the priesthood will second the appeal of the venerable Cardinal
Archbishop of Rheims. In the light of these statements the
following communication will be rightly appreciated by our
readers, whatever their national allegiance, just as it has been
in the case of the little children for whom the Holy Father
