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 I cannot urge too strongly upon everyone, of whatever race or creed, their obligation to read the series of historical documents comprising Mgr.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

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1926 | | pagina 5