ation of man with God and of man with man.

Moreover, war for the sake of war is a crime. War is justifiable only if
it is the necessary means for securing peace. St. Augustine has said:
"Peace must not be a preparation for war. And war is not to be made
except for the attainment of peace." In the light of this teaching,
which is repeated by St. Thomas Aquinas, patriotism is seen in its
religious character.

Family interests, class interests, party interests, and the material
good of the individual take their place, in the scale of values, below
the ideal of patriotism, for that ideal is right, which is absolute.
Furthermore, that ideal is the public recognition of right in national
matters and of national honor. Now, there is no absolute except God. God
alone, by His sanctity and His sovereignty, dominates all human
interests and human wills. And to affirm the absolute necessity of the
subordination of all things to right, to justice, and to truth, is
implicitly to affirm God.

When, therefore, humble soldiers whose heroism we praise answer us with
characteristic simplicity, "We only did our duty," or "We were bound in
honor," they express the religious character of their patriotism. Which
of us does not feel that patriotism is a sacred thing, and that a
violation of national dignity is in a manner a profanation and a
sacrilege?

I was asked lately by a staff officer whether a soldier falling in a
righteous cause--and our cause is such, to demonstration--is not
veritably a martyr. Well, he is not a martyr in the rigorous theological
meaning of the word, inasmuch as he dies in arms, whereas the martyr
delivers himself, undefended and unarmed, into the hands of the
executioner; but if I am asked what I think of the eternal salvation of
a brave man who has consciously given his life in defense of his
country's honor and in vindication of violated justice, I shall not
hesitate to reply that, without any doubt whatever, Christ crowns his
military valor, and that death, accepted in this Christian spirit,
assures the safety of that man's soul. "Greater love than this no man
hath," said our Saviour, "that a man lay down his life for his friends."

And the soldier who dies to save his brothers and to defend the hearths
and altars of his country reaches this highest of all degrees of
charity. He may not have made a close analysis of the value of his
sacrifice, but must we suppose that God requires of the plain soldier in
t