," says another, "having been wounded in the hand
by a bursting shell, remained at his post in the line of fire, prodigal in
his help to the wounded and in his consolations to the dying."

The Abbe Bertrand, vicar of St. Germain de Coulamer, was mobilized
on the outbreak of war, and for his gallantry in the field promoted
successively to the ranks of sergeant, sergeant-major, sub-
lieutenant, and lieutenant. He fell on November 4 at the battle of
Audrechy, leading his men to the assault. A few days before his
death he wrote: "I always look upon this war as an expiation, and I am
proud to be a victim." And again: "Oh, how cold the rain is, and how
severe the weather I For our faith in France I have offered God to let
me be wet and soaked to the very bones."

The story of the Abbe Armand, in the 14th battalion of the Chasseurs
Alpins, is that of a hero. A simple man, he used to open his heart to
his rough comrades, and often in the trenches, under shell-fire, he
would recite the Psalms in a clear voice so that they could hear him.
On November 17, to the south of Ypres, his company was selected to
hold a dangerous position, swept by the heavy guns of the Germans
and near the enemy's trenches. All day until the evening the priest
and his comrades stayed there, raked by a hideous shell-fire. At last
nearly all the men were killed, and on his side of the emplacement the
Abbe Armand was left with two men alive. He signalled the fact to
those below by raising three fingers, but shortly afterwards a bullet
struck him so that he fell and another hit him in the stomach. It was
impossible to send help to him at the time, and he died half an hour
later on the tumulus surrounded by the dead bodies of his comrades.
They buried him up there, and that night his loss was mourned, not
without tears, by many rough soldiers who had loved the man for his
cheeriness, and honoured him for the simple faith, which seemed to
put a glamour about the mud-stained uniform of a soldier of France.

There were scores of stories like that, and the army lists contained
the names of hundreds of these priest-soldiers decorated with the
Legion of Honour or mentioned in dispatches for gallant acts.

The character of these men was filled with the spirit of Christian faith,
though the war in which they sacrificed their lives was an outrage
against Christianity itself. The riddle of it all bewilders one's soul, and
one can only go groping in the dark of despa