Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - X. Quiet Days
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igo WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
scenes from the Uspenskij Sobor in Moscow and Taschi-lunpo
in desolate Tibet.
Now begins the Latin altar service. One of the priests
chants, and the congregation responds with the constantly
recurring refrain :
" Per omnia secula seculorum. Amen."
" Oremus " comes from the altar, and again " Per omnia
secula seculorum. A^nen " from the congregation.
Next comes the sermon. The preacher chooses for the
subject of his discourse the life of St. Francis. Prayers coupled
with his name are this day being offered up throughout the
world. The congregation cannot better celebrate his memory
than by fulfilling their duties on behalf of human love and
charitableness, and by doing their part towards the relief of
the sufferings of wounded soldiers.
The stained-glass windows begin to brighten. Day is
breaking outside. The congregation sings a German song
in honour of St. Francis. A friar once more steps up to the
altar and rings a little bell. I cannot take my eyes off these
friars and sisters, who have come straight from the battle-
fields and hospitals, and whose thoughts are now so peacefully
centred round the name of the great patriarch. How moved
they seem, how eagerly they make the sign of the cross to
betoken their piety ! In a picture opposite the choir the
crucified Christ looks down from the height of His agony on to
the kneeling figures. " Per omnia secula seculorum, Dominus
vohiscum. Gratias agimus Domino Deo nostro. Unus est Deus,
unus est Dominus." The bell rings once more, the censers are
swung on their chains, and it almost seems as if the Virgin
Mary and Saint Helena had stepped out of the gloom around
the altar and had approached us.
The attendant friars greet one another by placing their
hands on one another’s shoulders and head. Holy Communion
is administered to the congregation, and once more the eternal
refrain is chanted :
" Per omnia secula seculorum." It makes
one think of all the brave ones dying out in the trenches and
of the flower of the male youth of two noble nations which
is being sacrificed on the altar of shell fire. Maybe the thoughts
of the nuns and monks, too, are more taken up with the strife
now shaking the world to its foundations, than with the peace
surrounding the name of the Holy Francis. Perhaps the
thought of all the soldiers who have died before their eyes is
clouding their mental vision. It cannot be easy to die when
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