Newspaper Page Text
APRIL 22, 1944
-™IL EULLETIN OF t HE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
News Review of the Catholic
THREE"
Wounded Chaplain
Transferred From
Charleston Hospital
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON— Capt. Albert J
Iloffman, a priest of the Arch
diocese of Dubuque who lost his
leg when he stepped on a German
land mine near St. Angelo Oliveta,
- in Italy, has been transferred to
Percy Jones General Hospital at
Battle Creek, Mich., from Stark
General Hospital, Charleston, S.
C., where he was convalescing, the
War Department has announced.
Disinclined to talk of the
heroism which won him the Silver
Star decoration and his captain’s
bars during the engagement for
11)11 609 Tunsia, Father Hoffman
said in an interview before his
departure from Stark General Hos
pital:
“In combat, no one stands out
as doing anything heroic. Acts
of heroism are commonplace. Prob
ably the only reason anyone gets
a medal is that his deeds happen
to be noticed and reported. As
to my spending most of my time
in the front lines with the men—
well, this is the way I look at it:
The men brought to aid stations
usually are under omrphine. They
will be cared for by the chaplains
in the hospitals- The fellows at
the front, perhaps lying for hours
before help reaches them, are
the ones who need a chaplain.
There is nothing more terrifying
than the feeling of lying alone,
lost and helpless. Those are the
men whom I have made my par
ticular concern.” e
While Father Hoffman was not »
willing to talk of his exploits, fel-1
DIONNE QUINTUPLETS RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION
^° R *? AS ,T ER SUNDAY ’ the Dionne quintuplets and their sister Pauline (second from
git) kneel before the altar of the tiny chapel in what was once their nursery in Callander, Ontario,
to receive Holy Communion. The lad assisting the priest is the son of one of the guards, and the girls
G^or^a P ,rh! ° n g arC ° lder Si3tCrS 01 thC Quint3 ’ The cha P el is on >y a few feet from their new
Georgian home. Copyright. 1944. King Features Syndicate. Inc.
■ o> CAiHUlU), lei- I — —
pita/ * 1 * * * * who served*witiPhim‘’’iVum Story of Missi oner’s Flight Across China
combat area were loud and en-! r> 7 - 6 -
Keveals Many Instances of Japanese Cruelty
combat area were loud and en
thusiastic in their praise of the
priest who was called ‘The Father
Duffy of this war”, and “the brav
est man I have ever known”, by
one of the men of the 34th Divi
sion-
In another ward at the hospital,
Cpi. James P. Fouche, of Atlanta,
Texas, recalled the bravery of
Father Hoffman in the Tunisian
incident. The wounded corporal
said: “Our battalion was ordered
to take Hill 490, the smaller hill
near Hill 609. We got half way
up when enemy fire forced us
to take cover. One of the fellows
up ahead got hit. We could hear
him moaning. Two medics tried
to reach him, but they could not
because of enemy machine gun
fire raking the area. The poor
guy kept calling and two other
medics took a slab at it, but they
couldn’t reach him either. Then
Father Hoffman walked up there
through a hail of machine gun
bullets and in a little while came
back carrying the wounded man."
Another wounded soldier. Pvt.
George L. McAvoy, of Washington,
la-, related that Father Hoffman
rescued him after he had been
wounded in the legs by shrapnel.
He said it took Father Hoffman
several hours, assisted by two
medical men, to effect his rescue
under fire and that before the
night was over Father Hoffman
also brought in four other casual
ties, one of whom was a German
prisoner.
Cpl. George L. McAvoy, propped
on a hospital bed, with both of
his legs in splints, said:
“Man, do I know Father Hoff
man. Why, he picked me up the
day the Jerries got me. We were
advancing under heavy artillery
fire, when one of the shells ex
ploded near me. I hit the dirt
with both of my legs filled with
shrapnel. Several hours later,
Father Hoffman came crawling up
with two medics. We were still
under heavy fire, but they moved
me out all right. It took an
hour and a half to get to the little
hut just 200 yards down the
mountainside, where Father Hoff
man had set up an aid station.
When I was taken care of he went
out searching for other wounded.
Before the night was over, there
were four more battle casualties
in our little hospital. One of
them was a wounded German
prisoner whose life Father Hoff
man saved when the Italians were
about to finish him.”
PRIEST FROM DETROIT
INJURED IN FLORIDA
VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Very
Rev. John G- Cook, LL.D., pastor
of St. Mary of Redford Church.
Detroit, Mich., who sustained a se
rious injury at Jasper Fla., left
Valdosta on April 4 in an ambu
lance for Detroit for surgical
treatment. En route from Florida
to Detroit with friends, Father
Cook slipped and fell while walk
ing near his car which was parked
in Jasper.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
TORONTO, Ont. — Brimming
with drama, horror and suspense,
the story of 42 days of flight across
China from the Japanese was re
lated by the Rev. Ronald W.
Reeves, 35-year-old Scarboro mis
sionary, in a signed article pub
lished in the Toronto Daily Star,
secular newspaper.
Father Reeves, who is a native
of London, Ont., vouched for the
stories of Japanese atrocities visit
ed ppon Chinese and Catholic mis-
sioners for lending aid to the Doo
little fliers who bombed Tokyo. He
told of murders and maltreatment
which befell missionaries, priests
and nuns alike( at the hands of the
Japanese, and of the fall of Shan-
ghai, in which vast areas of the
city were burned and thousands
of men, women and children per
ished in the flames.
“Four days during those 42 har
rowing days of fleeing from the
Japanese,” Father Reeves wrote,
“I fell by the wayside in sheer ex
haustion and cried: ‘Oh, Lord, I
can’t go on. I’m ready to die!’ At
times I was even delirious, for I
had wasted away to 100 pounds-
But strength would creep back
with a few hours of heavy sleep
and I would get up and trudge on
again.”
STORY OF EXPERIENCES
The story he related of his 20,-
000-mile journey home and expe
riences said:
“I started my journey in Lishui
on the eastern coastal area of
China one day last July. I wore
only a ragged pair of shorts,
sweater and canvas shoes. With an
old bicycle I wended my way along
roads often cluttered up with
weary refugees. Along Hit ditches
lay dead and dying Chinese, ema
ciated from sicknes and starvation.
“Sometimes I traveled by ox
cart. Whenever I couldn’t swim or
wade rivers I managed to get pass
age on a sampan. Eventually I got
to the base of the Himalayas where
U. S. airmen flew me over to Cal
cutta. From India I went to Africa
and then to Australia — over two
oceans and twice across the equa
tor, en route to the United States
and Canada, a jouney of 20,000
miles. All this in seven months.
“When Jimmy Doolittle’s air
men bombed Tokyo they flew on
to pre-arranged air bases in cen
tral China. Some of the men miss
ed their way in the heavy mist and
had to bail out. Some were injured
and these found refuge in the
Catholic missions. The priests and
nuns rendered first aid and restor
ed them to health.
JAPANESE REVENGE
Spies learned this and informed
the Japanese- Then came the vin
dictive bombers, who rained dev
astation down .upon the offending
towns. Later the soldiery entered
and put the torch to everything,
killing everyone in sight. The fate
of the girls and women was hor
rible.
1 “I visited Nancheng, where the
Irish Columban Fathers had a
mission. They had cared for one
U. S. wounded airman. Because of
this their town was wiped out.
Save for the mission church and
the priest’s house, every building
was razed. Any native who had not
fled to the mountains was shot on
the spot. Going through t he ruins
later, I came across the bodies of
two young Chinese girl students.
Through their bodies was driven
a wooden stake.
“According to the Columban
priests, three groups of Japanese
soldiery entered the town, each
more wanton and cruel than the
other. In the mission were some
old people, some girls and little
children. There were about 20
priests and a Bishop named
Cleary (the Most Rev. Patrick
Cleary, Vicar Apostolic of Nan
cheng). The Japanese soldiers,
with axes, smashed everything in
sight-
MURDERS OF PRIESTS
“After this they made their way
to where the Bishop and his
charges were. ‘We’ll take care of
the Chinese,’ they told him. But
fho RieRn.t „
WARTIME REGULATIONS
TOUCH LIVES OF MONKS
AT ENGLISH MONASTERY
■GOOD FRIDAY SERVICES
AT VATICAN ATTENDED
BY DIPLOMATIC CORPS i
(Radio, N. C. W. C. News Service)
. CITY. — Attending
the Good Friday feremonies in the
Vatican were the entire diplomatic
corps, including Harold II. Titt-
man, Charge de’Affaires of the
United States at Vatican City, and
Francis D’Arey Osborne, British
Ambassador to the Holy See. ftiem-
bers of the Latin American diplo-
matic corps also were present.
It was an inspiring sight to see
His Holiness Pope Pius XII, the
Cardinals and Archbishops and
members of the Papal Court, with
their splendid vestments and shoes
removed, humbly venerating the
Holy Cross-
IT IIAS BEEN ANNOUNCED
in Chungking, that the Chinese
Government has conferred , the
highly important Order of Brilliant
Stars, with cravat, on the Right
Rev. Msgr- G. Barry O’Toole, who
was co-founder of the Catholic
University of Peking. The order
customarily is conferred only upon
Chinese Cabinet Members and
upon foreigners who have given
outstanding service to the Chinese
people.
Monsignor O’Toole, who died of
a heart attack in Washington, on
March 26. was professor of philos- ‘
opliy at the Catholic University of
America and editor-irt-chief of
The China Monthly, published in
New York City. He held manv hon
orary posts in recognition of his
work for Chinese relief.
By GEORGE BARNARD
(London Correspondent,)
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
LONDON—-Cistercian monks in
the 800-year-old monastery on the
tiny Island of Caldy, off the Welsh
coast, whose lives are dedicated
to prayer, meditation and work
in the fields, now have to study
such worldly problems as the new
British pay-as-you-earn income
tax. These 13 monks, reports the
London Daily Express, are find
ing that under present war-time
conditions they cannot maintain
their cloistered seclusion.
They have had to install a tele
phone, a radio and to read the
daily newspapers to keep up-to-
date wth current regulations and
make sure they are not commit
ting any offenses. They now have
to worry about rationing. They
have to make returns to the Min
istry of Agriculture on the food
they produce, and any above their
essential needs has to be sent to
the mainland and handed over to
the Government. s
Besides its 13 monks, Caldy
Island has a population of 30,
a
the Bishop' ancT a young"priest ™° stly . r ® u A r . ed P e °P le who appre-
hnrreri tho wav T’hio u.„ ciale isolation. They boast one
r «
barred the way. This infuriated the
invaders. One Japanese soldier
raised his rifle to shoot the Bish
op, but a young priest rushed over
and shielded him with his body.
The Japanese was apparently mov
ed to admire the young priest's
courage, for he raised his rifle a
bit higher and shot over his shoul
der to kill the Bishop. But the I
bullet missed.
“The priests and nuns were
roughly handled. A mock trial was
set up for the priests. Several of
them were shot, including five Chi
nese priests. One nun died a few
days later from shock.
“Perhaps the most horrible sight
I have ever witnessed was the fall
of Shanghai. With my own eyes I
saw twelve miles of buildings
burning, set afire by the Japanese.
Thousands of men, women and
children died in this holocaust.
Mounds and mounds of bodies
were saturated with gasoline and
set afire to prevent a plague.
RIVER RED WITH BLOOD
“The Soochow River was a ghast
ly sight. From bank to bank it ran
with blood- Bodies beyond count
floated on its muddy surface. Four
times I had to run the Japanese
blockade. On my first trip I swam
between two logs lashed together,
using them as a float
“My worst and most nerve-
wracking experience was when I
crossed a turbulent river 400 feet
across on a foot-wide wooden
plank. The original bridge had
been laid across the piles left
standing in the river. I had my bi
cycle. I was too weak to swim the
river. I could not discard my ve
hicle, for I needed it for trans
portation. There was only one
-hing to do. With a prayer on my
war casualty, 19-year-old Richard
Cummins, R. A. F., missing from
a raid over Europe.
CHURCH DIGNITARIES
ATTEND FUNERAL SERVICES
FOR MONSIGNOR O’TOOLE
TOLEDO.—Four members of
the Hierarchy, the Most Rev. Paul
Yu Pin, Vicar Apostolic of Nan
king, China, and Arch-Abbot Al
fred Koch, of St. Vincent’s Abbey,
Latrobe, Pa., were among church
dignitaries attending the Solemn
Requiem Mass for the Rt. Rev.
Msgr. George Garry O’Toole, held
in Rosary Cathedral here.
In the santetuary with the Most
Rev. Karl J. Altar, Bishop of To
ledo, were the Most Rev. Edward
Mooney, Archbishop of Detroit;
the Most Rev. Moses E. KVley,
Archbishop of Milwaukee, and the
Most Rev. William F. Murphy,
Bishop of Saginaw.
MORE THAN a quarter of a
million religious, educational, oc
cupational and recreational arti
cles, provided by War Relief Ser-
y* ca ? of (ho National Catholic
Wellare Council, have been receiv
ed at, or are on their way to, pris
oner of wat camps throughout the
world. The vast program of War
Relief Services is financed in part
with funds from the National War
Fund, and partly by funds made
available by the Bishops’ War
Emergency and Relief Committee.
REPORTS STATE that the Ca
thedral of Padue sustained consid
erable damage when three bombs
exploded in its vicinity recently.
Another report related that in the
destruction of the Augustinian
Church at Padus in a previous day
light raid, the famous frescoes of
the celebrated artist, Mantenga. in
the edifice, were destroyed com
pletely, constituting the greatest
artistic loss thus far suffered in
the war by Italy.
A DECREE of the Supreme Con-
gregation of the Holy Office, dated
April 1, ordered to be published
by His Holiness Pope Pius XII,
states that the opinion of certain
persons who recently either deny
the primary end of marriage to be
the generation and education of
children, or teach that the second
ary ends of marriage are not es
sentially subordinated to the pri
mary end, but are equally principal
and independent, cannot be ad
mitted.
lips I started across the precarious
catwalk. The rushing water below
made me dizzy. I inched my way
across sideways with my bicycle in
front of me. After an eternity I
found myself only half way. Here
I began to sway, so weak was I.
“At Calcutta I was in hospital
for several months. I had wasted
away to a skeleton. After a slow
recovery I started out on my last
lap of the journey- I arrived in
San Francisco in February. I was
eager to get home. I Had no word
from my family for almost two
years. When I got home I found
my mother had died two months
earlier. A young sister of mine, a
nurse in training, had died sever
al months earlier from diphtheria,
contracted from a patient.”
A GROUP of 300 Catholic and
non-Cath61ic lawyers gathered in
the rooms of he Chicago Bar As
sociation recently for the first of
four meetings sponsored by the
Most Rev. Samuel A. Stritch, Arch
bishop of Chicago, and the Catho
lic Lawyers’ Guild, to acquaint
lawyers with the Canon^ Law re
lating to marriage.
THE USUAL THRONG of faith
ful from all parts of Italy and Eu
rope who attended Holy Thursday
Mass in the Sistine Chapel and
visited the Repository in the
neighboring Pauline Chapel were
absent this year. Beacuse of pre
vailing war circumstances, only
persons who were residents of
Vatican City were admitted to the
services and to the Pauline Chapel.
CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS with
Canadian troops in Italy report
that Italian clergy have been most
anxious to help and that arrange
ments for Mass and special devo
tions have been made with the
greatest facility, according to the
Most Rev. C. L. Nelligan, Principal
Catholic Chaplain of the Canadian
armed forces.
A SHOWING OF THE FILM
entitled “Pastor Angelicus,” deal
ing with the life of Vatican City
and the activities of His Holiness
Pope Pius XII, took place recent
ly at the Lutheran University of
Upsala, Swedenf according to u re
port from Stockholm. ,