The Ypres Times.
31
Thus it was with a consternation mingled with amazement that the world learnt, in
1914, of the destruction by fire and sword of the School of Philosophy at Touvain, founded
by Mgr. Mercier and specially patronised by the Popes of whom the great Cardinal was
ever one of the most beloved and respected councillors.
The building which had wrought the salvation of modern thought had been reduced
to ashes! It was then that a figure arose in all its majesty, standing out with the light of the
spirit against a background of firethe figure of Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines,
Primate of Belgium, of Belgium which was devastated because, obeying the immortal
summons of her Kingthat great and incomparable personification of honourshe had
risen up in opposition against the perjured invader.
It was a struggle to the death, unremitting, step by step, between might and the -
spirit. It was, alas! no longer in the intellectual world that the great Apostle sought
his adversaries. He who had seemed destined never to leave the world of thought, was
now pitted against the greatest engine of war that the world had ever known. He was
now to reveal his energy and will, his patriotism and fortitude, which he was to preach in
undying words to martyred Belgium, and, beyond her frontiers, to all the human race.
He embodied the soul of his heroic people and, by his personal efforts, encouraged
them to maintain the high level of their self-sacrifice. He met threats and insults with his
saintly smile, the smile of one who, in hours of darkness as in hours of joy, turns ever
towards the Cross. That is why, in the greatest tragedy ever played upon the human
stage, his Apostolic soul held dominion not only over Belgium but over the world.
The whole universe listened to the voice that rang out above the booming of the guns.
I cannot urge too strongly upon everyone, of whatever race or creed, their obligation to
read the series of historical documents comprising Mgr. Mercier's pastoral letters, sermons,
and untiring correspondence with the invader. For the importance of the great Cardinal's
heroic struggle is not always fully realised. It was from Belgium's resistance that the Allied
cause drew all that moral strength which, little by little, won all the nations of the world
to their side. If Belgium, weary of her sufferings, weary of waiting for a deliverance
that was only to be hers after four years of martyrdom, had ended by surrendering, the
Allies would have lost their most important asset in the great struggle. The resistance
of the Belgian army gave a decisive blow to the plans of the German High Command,
a blow from which it did not recover, and of which the consequences became evident to
all at the Battle of the Marne.
But the opposition of the invaded Belgian people had just as great an influence on
the final issue of the conflictand their steady, daily resistance to the invader was far
greater in its heroism, and perhaps even in its results, than that of the army at Liège,
at Antwerp and on the Yser.
Cardinal Mercier was the life and soul of this resistance and it is to him that the
Allies should pay their tribute of gratitude. The Germans knew this well. Cruelly
treated on several occasions, imprisoned in his palace, his every word and action spied
upon, never once was he known to falter andwhich is yet more extraordinaryGermany
was able to find no single pretext, error or weakness which could allow her to bring down
her heavy hand once and for all upon the mainspring of that heroic resistance, and to
silence for ever the voice of the great Apostle. Do we realise the depths of courage, tenacity
and skill that this victory represented under these conditions
The Popecontrary to what has been said time and again on this subjectformally
condemned the invasion of Belgium and the horrors of the War. Some may have wished
him to play a part similar to that of Cardinal Mercier. He could not have done so, for
alas! the Allies had neglected to secure the means essential to enlighten him on the reason
for the great conflict, which was purely moral and political and not religious, while
Germany had taken every precaution to secure for herself an all-powerful influence at
the Vatican. And, while the Pope threw himself passionately into the work of putting
an end to the terrible struggle between the nations, he never ceased to protect with his