The Red Vineyard

“I’ll give you just three nights in the front line trench before your hair will turn grey,” said a brown haired priest, looking at me with a slightly aggressive air.

Up to this time I did not have the Bishop’s consent. In fact, I cannot remember having mentioned in his presence my desire to go to the front with the soldiers as chaplain; but...

During the next seven or eight days from all sides I heard one question asked by young and old: “When are you going to put on the uniform, Father?” Little children to whom I had...

After a few days a box about one foot and a half long, one foot high and nine inches wide, arrived. It was made of wood covered with a kind of grey cloth, with strips of black l...

In a few weeks we left for training-camp, travelling all night and arriving at our destination early in the morning. We detrained and the whole battalion fell in, the band march...

On Sundays I would set up the portable altar on two rifle boxes placed one above the other, on a great green plain near the end of the camp. Nearly always an awning would be ere...

The time passed quickly for me, though I think for most of the men it went slowly; they seemed always restless, always longing to get to the front. They used to come to me often...

It was Sunday, October 1st. It was the most beautiful day I have ever seen. There had been a heavy frost during the night, and in the morning the hills, which had been green all...

The following Sunday, when all my Catholic soldiers were assembled at Mass in the church of the town where we were encamped, I spoke of what had transpired during our journey fr...

We did not stay very long in our new camping ground. For a few days the men seemed quite content. Everything was new to them; but soon they began to wonder how long it would be...

The doctor and I had been alloted a stateroom together, but I was subsequently given one down below, where I said Mass the first morning and heard confessions every evening. The...

All day long we sailed by Ireland and she seemed strangely peaceful and quiet. Perhaps it was the great contrast with the sea, the wide tumbling waste of waters that, night and...

That evening we moved slowly up the Mersey and at nine o’clock anchored out in the stream in full view of the city of Liverpool. We could not see it very well, for throughout th...

I have often remarked that English writers use the word “depression” much more frequently than do writers on this side of the water, and I have often wondered what could be the...

Not more than three miles from the camp was situated the convent of the Sisters of the Cenacle, a beautiful three-story building of red brick and stucco hidden away among great...

We were not in England three weeks when orders came for a draft of men to reinforce a battalion that had suffered severe losses at the front. In a few days one hundred and fifty...

I had not been given very much information at headquarters as to how soon I might be sent to the front, for they did not know how soon the call might come for chaplains.

The days passed quickly. New battalions from home came and took up quarters in camp, and to their surprise were broken up and sent in drafts to France. Every night Father Knox o...

Things went much the same at Bramshott. Spring came, and for the first time I saw the primroses, which are among the first flowers to bloom in England. They do not belong to the...

The early summer in England, especially in Surrey, is very beautiful, and as the work was light we had many opportunities to walk through the lovely country roads. But even pret...

There was a different spirit in Witley Camp than there had been at Bramshott; for in the whole division--twelve battalions of infantry and three brigades of artillery, etc.,--wa...

Not a week had passed after my retreat, when one morning a runner from divisional headquarters came into my hut, saluted and passed me a paper. I was ordered to France. This was...

At the No. 2 Canadian Infantry Base Depot I had the most wonderful opportunity of the war to study the Catholics of the allied armies--Irish, Scotch, Welsh, English, New Zealand...

Of all the lads of different nationalities who visited the little chapel in the evening and who came so often to Holy Communion in the early morning, I think I liked the best th...

There was one thing about the natives of Etaples that impressed me particularly, and that was the respect each artisan seemed to have for his work. In the little village were ca...

I had come down to my tent one evening a little later than usual to find a D. R. L. S. letter from the Chaplain Service awaiting me. D. R. L. S. meant “Dispatch Riders’ Letter S...

No. 7 Canadian General was only one of a group of hospitals situated along the highway that led from Etaples to Camiers. There were seven or eight large hospitals in all, though...

I remember the day I arrived at No. 7. The quartermaster allotted me a burlap hut in the officers’ lines, just large enough to contain a low iron bed, a rough table, made of boa...

Although the emergency cases were attended at all hours by the chaplain, it was in the afternoon that the general visiting was done. Each patient, when he had entered the hospit...

I had been visiting the two brothers for over a week--indeed one of them for over two weeks, before I knew they were brothers. One was in No. 1 hospital; the other in No. 7: one...

It was now November. The days were passing very quickly for I was kept busy; convoys were coming daily. Passchendael was being fought. I had to visit the D. I.’s and S. I.’s ver...

The days passed quickly, for they were well filled, and sometimes at night the call would come; my door would open quite abruptly, awakening me, and the light from a small flash...

It was hard work visiting the wounded, listening time after time to each one as he described the nature and history of his wounds, which in many cases were so similar. Often on...

Although the little wooden chapel called Church of Our Lady, Help of Christians was nearer No. 7, I always said Mass in the chapel at No. 1. It was wonderfully edifying there in...

The nurses--“sisters” we called them--throughout all the base hospitals were most attentive to the wounded, without the slightest display of any maudlin sympathy; but they worke...

December came. During the first week of that month I prepared my hut to stand the cold of the winter months and began to look forward to a time of relative repose after the past...

I remained a week with the Seventy-fifth before any further orders came. The battalion was resting after the terrible fighting at Paschendale. After dinner in the evenings we wo...

I had been with the Seventy-fifth Battalion about six days when one evening the adjutant gave me a letter which contained orders to proceed the following morning to Camblain L’A...

My room was a partitioned off portion at the end of the cellar in which was headquarters: there was no fire in it and the month was December. Through cracks in the portion of th...

When I reëntered my hut I found that the young soldier had opened my bed-roll and removed the few little articles that were in it. The bed-roll was arranged for the night on the...

Shortly after the young soldier left there was another knock on my door, and as I stood up to go to open it I heard outside the voice of a man speaking as if to a child. When I...

The following day was Saturday and I began to think of my duties for the morrow. I had learned that the Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth battalions would remain in the trench...

We had planned to have midnight Mass in one of the large moving-picture huts at Chateau de la Haie, for here in reserve were four full battalions: one belonging to Father MacDon...

Every morning for a week or two I was in the little church where I had said Mass on Christmas Day, and every evening while I was there men came to confession. Then one morning t...

Our destination was Bruay, a mining town of about twelve thousand souls in the department of Calais, or, as the French write it, “Pas de Calais.” We marched into the town at abo...

We were in rest nearly two weeks when orders came to go back again to the line. We left one morning immediately after breakfast and were reviewed on the march by General Sir Art...

Every evening at 4:30 the curé of Fosse-dix gave Benediction in his little church for the school children and any of the village people who could attend. After Benediction he us...

The following Sunday at Fosse-dix I gave the men a general absolution and then Holy Communion, for they were going in the line immediately; after the service was over I asked th...

Although the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Battalions were in the line, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth were still in reserve and support, and every evening I was on duty at Bully-Grena...

The following week the Thirteenth and Fourteenth moved up to the front line from reserve and we went to Mazingarbe, only about four miles distant from Fosse-dix. Here, again, I...

The winter passed quietly, each battalion of my brigade moving from reserve to support, from support into the line, then back to reserve again. And always in those little church...

The spring was drawing near, and a certain vague feeling of unrest was over the troops. Word was being passed about that old Fritz was preparing for something. On our side there...

“Old Fritz” had struck at a vital part of the Allied front, planning nothing less than a separation of the French and British armies. He was attacking on a sixty-three mile fron...

I did not walk back to the Arras front. I went in a lorry. As we drew near our destination I was surprised to see so much traffic--but it was all coming towards us. At every cro...

Father Sheehan, opening the door of the class-room, stood back for me to enter. I did, and then fell back in surprise, for the little class-room was almost filled with French ci...

That afternoon, accompanied by Father Sheehan, I went up to Arras to visit my brigade, for most of the soldiers were billeted in the city. Arras was being heavily shelled by the...

Since I could not have a parade of my men at Arras I decided to do what good I could at Agnez-lez-Duisans. We had early Mass for the civil population, and as their curé was serv...

On Wednesday morning while I was taking my breakfast in the mess of the Sixteenth Battalion, George came in with a cup of tea and some good news. All the battalions of the briga...

The following morning after breakfast Father Sheehan and I went down on our bicycles to the parish church. Then each of us, wearing a white stole over our uniform, went to the l...

We waited at Agnez-lez-Duisans a few days longer, but “old Fritz” did not strike on the Arras front, though all the world knows that he continued to gain elsewhere. Two or three...

April was passing quickly. Very early in the morning, from the old trees about the convent, one heard the sweet, clear call of many birds; the leaves were unfolding; the fresh,...

I had expected to stay at Ecoivres for Sunday, and I had arranged with the curé for the soldiers’ Mass, but on Saturday orders came for us to move to Ecurie Wood. It was not ver...

The Thirteenth and Fifteenth Battalions were at Anzin, a small village about three kilometers distant from Ecurie Wood. There was a little brick church here with a great hole th...

The work at Ecurie Wood was most consoling, but the shelling was incessant and we were having many funerals in the military cemetery down the hill at Roclincourt. The Fourteenth...

The Fifty-first “took over” from us and we went to Anzin. Here it was much quieter and the battalion prepared to rest. I took charge of the village church, for I was the only ch...

I awoke the next morning to the sweet sounds of singing birds; to the glorious view of fresh green fields and peaceful lanes. I rode about three miles on my bicycle to a hamlet...

The soldiers greatly enjoyed the rest in this lovely district. It was very pleasant to bicycle through the country lanes to quaint churches where Catholic lads waited in the eve...

Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi was a beautiful day. Just before I began Mass for the Thirteenth at Bailleul-aux-Cornailles the father of M. le Curé came in to see me...

I had now been in France about one year and had had no “leave.” During this period of the war officers were entitled to leave every six months. I had not applied when the first...

St. Michael’s Club, 38 Grosvenor Gardens, London, was an ideal hostel for priests, as it was open only to men in Holy Orders. Before the war it had been the city residence of La...

Father Knox returned to Bramshott the following morning and in the afternoon I left for Parkminster. The life at the front had been one of such excitement and turmoil and freque...

From Parkminster I went to Hindhead and I was delighted with the cordial reception given me by Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Castle. Their home, almost hidden from the road, looked down...

The men were never told on coming back from leave where they might find their battalion; and when the troops were on the move often a soldier was put to very great inconvenience...

I was billeted in a little hut with the billeting officer. It was a very tiny hut, with two berths in it, one above the other. As I was on leave when the battalion came to Ecoiv...

The following day we took over the line just before Monchy. The quartermaster, transport officer and I had a nice little mess at Berneville, near Arras. I was billeted with the...

Here we came for a week’s rest after our turn in the line. We little knew then what strenuous days were before us, nor what terrible toll was to be taken of our ranks before we...

It was half-past three Sunday morning when I awoke. I dressed quickly, went down to the little church and said Mass. When I left the church the road was filled with soldiers mov...

I returned to the Sixteenth and succeeded in giving Holy Communion to a few soldiers, among whom was the solicitor whom I had baptized at Monchy Breton. But I was by no means pl...

It was a wonderful sight that met the eye as George and I left Boves that evening and turned our steps towards the battle-ground. The artillery had assembled, and on all sides w...

Early in the morning George and I left to find the Sixteenth which had passed through in the evening. We anticipated some trouble, for to find one’s battalion after an attack is...

The transport mess was in an apple orchard, one of the great old orchards of Picardy where in days before the war, happy peasants picked the apples to make the golden cider.

Every morning I said Mass in the part of the trench where I slept, which was covered overhead with a piece of camouflaged burlap, spread across pieces of scantling. The trench w...

The first Sunday on the Amiens front we had no church parade. But the second Sunday we managed to have one for the lads out of the trenches. We had Mass on a wooded hill that ha...

Our journey was uneventful, save that we were derailed at St. Paul; no one, however, was killed. All along our journey we spoke of the Battle of Amiens, “the greatest isolated v...

“When they had a day or two of good sleep, regular meals and rest, they seemed quickly to forget all they had suffered, even their mental torture. Of course, for this purpose th...

During these days of rest I devoted a large portion of every morning to writing letters of sympathy to relatives of those who had fallen in the recent attacks. I had many of the...

Although I had many letters to write, this did not keep me from having a little enjoyment. We had not been very long in rest billets when it was announced that the Sixteenth Can...

I was well satisfied with my work among the soldiers during these evenings and we were all benefiting very much by our rest. But we did not know just how soon we would be going...

On the way, fearing it might be evening before I would find my battalion, I bought an ordinary three-ounce tin of sardines and paid sixty-five cents for it; but I never ate it....

The following Sunday I said Mass on Telegraph Hill. It was a very high elevation and on all sides we could see, far below, the great green valley. I counted as many as six light...

On the night of September 26th we moved up to the trenches just before the Canal du Nord. It was a rainy night and quite dark. We marched a long time, for our guides had lost th...

On Sunday I could not have a church parade, but I said Mass in a bell tent near the Canal du Nord. That morning I joined the First Field Ambulance in a little village not very f...

During the night we marched back to Inchy. Very early in the morning I found the transport of the Fourteenth and, later in the day, the remnants of the battalion. They were in r...

It was afternoon when we came into our area, and it was Saturday. The doctor and I had been given a hut almost filled with German high explosives--barrels of cordite, rolls of g...

On October 17th word was brought that the Germans were falling back. The following day we crossed the Canal de la Sensee. Cyclists, cavalry and motor machine-guns were in immedi...

Every day for about a week troops were almost continuously passing through Somaine and all the heavy guns were being brought up. Soon railway communications were established and...

November came, and I helped the parish priest of Somaine to give Holy Communion to the vast crowds of his people who received on All Saints Day. In return, he helped me with the...

The evening of the Armistice I was sitting with the old curé of Somaine when the Englishman came up to tell me that orders had come for the brigade to march in the morning. We w...

Shortly before we reached the frontier one of the officers came into the mess and said to me: “It may be a little exciting crossing the line, Padre. I hear there are some revolu...

It is all over now, yet often I think of those wonderful days; of long night marches; of long days of weary waiting; of quiet resting-places, with their rows and rows of “little...