Interesting Image

A tip of the hat to The New Liturgical Movement for this rather startling image, probably taken in Germany or France during the Second World War. 

This image reminds me of two stories about three holy men. 

In 2001 at the Eucharistic Congress in Saint Louis, Jan Pieter Cardinal Schotte (+2005) told a story about his youth in West Flanders, Belgium.  He was not meant to be the keynote speaker that Friday evening, but due to flight delays Fr. Benedict Groeschel was unable to address the gathered faithful.

Cardinal Schotte said that the Nazis had invaded his small town and had evacuated the area around the parish church as it was situated atop a hill, which is a strategic advantage in battle.  The pastor and vicar were away for the day visiting the sick and wounded, and it was left to the elderly sacristan to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle before the church would be demolished to make way for the invading regiments.

The young Cardinal Schotte, no older than seven or eight, was in sight of the sacristan who called him over and handed him the ciborium filled with the Sacred Hosts.  He was told to run to the convent on the other side of town and make sure that the good sisters took great care of the Most Holy Sacrament.  The boy did just as he was told, aware of the task before him.  When he reached the gates of the cloister and rang the bell for the sister, he heard the explosion from his parish church signalling its destruction.


This clearly had an impact on this young man as he moved through the ranks of the hierarchy, and this memory must never have left him as he spoke about the reverence that is due the Body of our Lord.  I can tell you, that being only a young teenager myself, at the time of the address, it was quite a meaningful story that left very few eyes dry.

The following evening, I was fortunate enough to assist him at the altar as he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Edward Jones Dome, which was followed by a procession and benediction on the riverfront near the Arch.  He was acting in his capacity of the papal delegate to this centenary celebration.  May God grant him refreshment, light and peace.

The other story, I saw on EWTN's premiere of a film about Pope Paul VI (+1978), who as a young priest was working in the Holy See's Secretariat of State.  According to the film, when Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli became the Cardinal-Secretary of State, he questioned all of his staff as to what they would do should Rome and the Vatican be invaded by its enemies.  Many priests said that they would raise an army against the invaders, while others suggested they would help the pope to flee.  One priest, then-Fr. Giovanni Battista Montini, answered that he would celebrate Mass, just as he does every morning.  This response must have been the correct one, as Pacelli and Montini continued collaborating until the former's death in 1958.

This image, along with these two stories, reminds us as Catholics that our Church has faced many trials, tribulations and persecutions in its two millenia of existence.  Whether, the times be good or bad, She continues to offer fitting praise and worship to God, our Creator.  Never forget that the first work of the Church on earth is Holy Mass!