CARDINAL MERCIER. Uephone: Telegram: Langham, IMS. Ypresleag, "Baker," Lenden. IMES Communications to the Editor," Ypres Timet." ^iYPRES^ PRICE 6d. Baker St, London, W.I. iPOSTAGE 7d. THE JOURNAL OF THE YPRES LEAGUE. Voi,. 3. No. 2. Published Quarterly. April, 1926 By COMMANDANT HEMELEERS-SHENLEY Assistant Military Attaché, Belgian Embassy All who were present at the funeral ceremony of Cardinal Mercier will treasure the memory of the grand and moving tribute paid by a whole people to one of its most illustrious pastors. But it is not only Belgium and the Church who can boast of counting this great prelate as one of their own, for Mgr. Mercier was much more than a Belgian and a Prince of the Church. From the midst of the appalling chaos of materialism which reigned supreme during and after the War, rose up this great spiritual figure, to give new life to the hopes, not only of devastated Eelgium, but of the whole world, of humanity tottering among fire, blood and ruins, and well-nigh doubting the very existence of God. The spirit, the Spirit of Godsuch was Mgr. Mercierphysically, morally, intellec tually, in his writings as in his actions, his manner, his whole bearing, his Apostolic smile, his simplicity, his anger evenan anger so full of dignity when he lashed the invader with his scorn. Nothing could have been more majestic than this tall, slim old manthere was genius in that face, reflected on that brow, as well as gentleness and simplicity, the simplicity of a child. The Apostle, nay, Christ Himself, was visible in His priest. He united in his person the mystic majesty of a saint with the intellectual keenness, the breadth of mind, the common sense and the indomitable strength of character that made him, perhaps, better fitted than any other man of his time to wrestle with the problems of the hour. His energy was inexhaustible, despite the fact that the terrible illness from which he had suffered for years caused him constant pain. No great religious, intellectual or political event took place in his time without receiving the indelible stamp of his personality. Not long after he left the Seminary, he discovered, in the principles and methods of St. Thomas, the foundations of the philosophical teaching he afterwards professed for years at the University of Louvain. He was to initiate and propagate an intellectual and moral reformation, the need for which had become so imperative owing to the mistaken theories which were gradually leading humanity towards the ultimate and complete denial of all ideals. It was Pope I,eo XIII who discovered among his clergya clergy scattered to the four corners of the earth—the Apostle who was to give a new and irresistible impetus to sound philosophical theories. He proved notably that religion and science walk hand in hand, to the ultimate glory of the Creator, and his work as a whole led to the regeneration of philosophical thought, freed from the confused, contradictory and unhealthy theories of modern times.

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1926 | | pagina 3