the Belgian people, who are as illustrious by
reason of their nobility and their piety as they are today
worthy of all sympathy.

Amid the difficulties and anxieties of the present hour we
would remind the sons who are so dear to us that the arm of
God is not shortened, that He is ever able to save, that His
ear is not deaf to prayer.

Let the hope of Divine aid increase with the approach of the
festival of Christmas and of the mysteries that celebrate the
birth of our Lord, and recall that peace which God proclaimed
to mankind by His angels.

May the souls of the suffering and afflicted find comfort and
consolation in the assurance of the paternal tenderness that
prompts our prayers. Yes, may God take pity upon the Belgian
people and grant them the abundance of all good.

As a pledge of these prayers and good wishes, we now grant to
all, and in the first place to you, our dear son, the
apostolic benediction.

Given in Rome, by St. Peter's, on the feast of the Immaculate
Conception of Our Lady, in the year MCMXIV., the first of our
Pontificate.

BENEDICT XV., Pope.

One last word, my dearest brethren: At the outset of these troubles I
said to you that in the day of the liberation of our territory we should
give to the Sacred Heart and to the Blessed Virgin a public testimony of
our gratitude. Since that date I have been able to consult my colleagues
in the episcopate, and, in agreement with them, I now ask you to make,
as soon as possible, a fresh effort to hasten the construction of the
national basilica, promised by Belgium in honor of the Sacred Heart.

As soon as the sun of peace shall shine upon our country we shall
redress our ruins, we shall restore shelter to those who have none, we
shall rebuild our churches, we shall reconstitute our libraries, and we
shall hope to crown this work of reconciliation by raising, upon the
heights of the capital of Belgium, free and Catholic, that national
basilica of the Sacred Heart. Furthermore, every year we shall make it
our duty to celebrate solemnly, on the Friday following Corpus Christi,
the festival of the Sacred Heart.

Lastly, in every region of the diocese the clergy will organize an
annual pilgrimage of thanksgiving to one of the privileged sanctuaries
of the Blessed Virgin in order to pay especial honor to the protectress
of our national independence