Show J tort tEe t r GUN CARRIAGE I a at tseh ta s R t od t I a aR AS AU AR ART is Dl h tt t qi T THE FRONT Pop at t tn n Soldiers rs Show Faith Rt riot d I Observance ce o of f DeE Demands De De- E tr t r mands mends of Church l It i ih h tf B By Y HENRY WOOD r Press S Staff to f f Corres Correspondent p pd t d m r kt r b Feb eb 1 By mall mail Religion religious ceremony play a bigger in the life of the te a front than in that o of f an any Y other engaged in the present war bably not more than one Italian tIl ier r in several hundred has not brought up from Infancy in itt thet the thelic t olic lic church Many of these preto pre pre- I te t to the war had drifted away awaya I a of all the a faithful observance I h b demands Yet in the Lour hour of i I d that that comes to a soldier when is ordered to the front they like ire It other human beings have found r L Late flit ti strict return to the religious ate of their childhood gives them consolation and strength t s loyally rally with the holy see sit sit- d at Rome Italy was in an e espe- espe ly favorable position to meet e. e demands of a religious nature her r army The Vatican placed at dispose 1 of the arm army Y all of the tests whose services could possibly d t I used and the great bulk of the theMan Man an priests who could not march ny y with the army did what they ild ld at home is is sate safe to say sap that in the present ian fan aria army there is hardly a man a aa am m esp P an F. F a a battery a regiment a o pt dron of cavalry a division or an au auy y corps that was not blessed by 1 local priest bishop or iut dinal before it marched away to tb front Many of the companies and invents fight under the protection R n J patron saints while even the vas va va- us s divisions of a a. modern modem army such tar k the artillery artillery- Infantry and cavalry Ip e also their general protecting paIn pa pa- n saints lasses at the Italian front are of y occurrence whereas in the other In mies it is an unusual thing if ii mass masse f celebrated weekly Some idea of oft e it t t how much these masses mean the soldier and even to the priest I Mt self is given in the simple n n by Don Pacifico Arcangeli a al az din l plain of artillery in a letter he has hast z tat t home It was his first mass at atT T gJ fe front and it was celebrated on the ast of Saint Barbara the patron int of artillery Incidentally it reals reals re- re als a warlike spirit that has bas made aly proud of its army chaplains the church might think toes to toa es a tie do contrary With my soul filled with just juste a e ide writes Father Arcangeli for fo foe r e magnificent work work- which the artil artil- 1 ry fulfills on every field of battle D here sere lere Saint Barbara spreads her prop pro- pro p wings more gloriously than wa er er I 1 prepared d to celebrate the mays mass ng id Since Since in our winter quarters of did not have own dear deartie I 1 my tie tle church of S S- S I erected the tar in the ills open olen A magnificent zt Italian flag was the back- back Quad On the carriage of a veteran t anon retired from service after hav hav- Sound jg g fired more mote than shells t ia la a one single night I pla placed ed the thet iE t eyed acred emblems Pine boughs were l ij 1 read pread about a t I The escort of honor to the altar a oW provided Under a dripping sky coasted con con- sted of four armed soldiers At 11 o'clock rati clock th regiment disposed itself in inI open square about the altar all of r. r he e officers and even the colonel beg beg bens be be- I ns g present listened to with The mass was lose attention in the midst of absolute lute to te silence and at the elevation of j 1 he host bost the regimental trumpeter h a a vibrating Attention After the mass all of th the officers and men mingled at a common table in n 1 a manner that can only happen when heri religious emotion has made both and men feel that all are equal HAnd And then veteran old artillerymen a who ho scores of times had seen death pass ass them by without even a quiver of emotion came to me and said brave and Im I'm not f Father Iam I am i addicted to f feminine emotions but I want to tell you that when I listened I to the mass I felt that I must cry and andI I cry And now I am going to toI I I write to my wife Nife and my children and andI tell its it I them all about |