One of our alert readers sent me the link to some spiffy footage from WWII.
A Catholic Mass being conducted by a Chaplain in Makin Islands, Kirabati during World War II.
I would still very much like to find someone to make super-light reversible vestments.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Thank you Fr Z. Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently ripping his hand away from the faithful attempting…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: ““That’s just a remanent of an imperial court…” Sold! I’ll take a double order, please!”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Beautiful post Fr.The poem is wonderful.I am 71 yrs of age and i thank God for the Latin Mass.You write…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: ““Liberals accuse traditionalists of clinging to the useless bowing and scraping of ancient court practices. They won’t kneel! No! They’ve…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “When you got to “Sounds like a ritual to me,” it reminded me of the wonderful book by Thomas Edward…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I agree with the above sentiments, given that our government seems hell-bent (literally) on starting a war with Russia over…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Fr Z I agree with MaternalView above. The world situation is shaky and a trip to Poland… next to Ukraine…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I‘ll assume black goes „upward“ and down left is h8. 1. f5+ forcing gf6 (xf5 e. p.) 2. h5+ forcing…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Lori announced massive parish closings, along with the suppression of the Latin Mass in diocese. Sure suicide by cutting off…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I think people have lost confidence in all manner of things, airplane manufacturers, airlines, FAA, government agencies who are supposed…”
on Wednesday after the 2nd Sunday after Easter – traditional Solemnity of ST. JOSEPH! – Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church!: “Aw, dear St. Joseph. I love him so much. I was blessed to go to a mass of this feast…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “1. . . . . .. . . . . . . h7-h5+ 2. g5-h6(×h5) . f7-f5+ 3. K-g5 .…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Dear Masked Chicken, thank you for pointing me to your post of 22 March, which which I largely agree. My…”
Loading ...
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
Loading ...If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Loading ...
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Use my code for a discount
Visits tracked by Statcounter
since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
Did chaplains in forward zones like that have permission to just collapse everything to white or black, or would he have green/red and purple ones stashed somewhere too?
Thank God for military chaplains who serve on the front lines.
What a beautiful sight. I tried to ID the left shoulder patch but can’t make out which unit this would be. They had been at it a while, evidenced by the long hair. The server must have been suffering a left knee injury yet was still driving on – bless him. Bless all of them, probably none of whom are with us anymore ~ requiescant in pace.
Moved me to tears.
Battle of Makin was fought Nov. 20-23, 1943. The 21st was a Sunday, but this doesn’t look to be in the heat of battle, so I’m guessing this would have been the 28th. Can’t explain the white vestments though, unless they did indeed only keep two colors. Wiki says these men would have belonged to the 27th infantry.
Very moving to see this.
I can’t envision the iPhone generation winning that war … no way.
I’d have liked to have that Jeep, on whose hood Holy Mass was have been offered.
If that is Makin Island and they are wearing a 27thID patch, then that is the “Fighting” 69th New York (then known as the 165th Infantry/165th RCT). Makin was the first island taken by the U.S. Army in the Pacific, and occurred at the same time the Marines took Tarawa.
I can’t tell which chaplain it is, but they had a Redemptorist chaplain at Saipan who was killed by a Japanese shell while ministering to a fallen soldier. His helmet, with the large hole where the shell fragment hit, is on display at the regimental armory in New York City.
It is the same regiment that the famed Fr. Duffy served with in WWI, and formed the first regiment of the renowned Irish Brigade in the American Civil War.
James Cagney and a host of other famous Irish-American actors made a great movie, The Fighting 69th, about the regiment in World War I.
In WWII, the regiment was still largely Irish, but they had several Italian Americans and others. The only member of the 69th NY to receive the Medal of Honor in WWII was Alejandro Ruiz, a Mexican-American.
I don’t know why I found that clip so moving – perhaps it was the fact that the Eternal Sacrifice was being offered while, all around, preparations were being made for an offensive.
One or two people have commented on the colour of the vestments. In my days as a clergyman in the Church of England, we had a chasuble which had come to the parish (indirectly) from a priest who served as a military chaplain in the First World War.
As in the video clip, it was reversible. One side was black, the other was of cloth of gold which could replace all other liturgical colours apart from black. There were two small holes in the front of the chasuble, to enable the tapes to be passed through. These tapes were obviously loose and each ended in a kind of padded button which was embroidered. In this way, the buttons would be seen by the congregation as an ornament on the front of the chasuble.
Sadly, the chasuble had been discarded as being of the wrong (i.e. Roman) shape and I found it rolled up in a drawer in the sacristy. The local branch of the Royal British Legion paid for its restoration when I told them of its provenance and I wore it every year for the Solemn Requiem on Armistice Sunday. I wish now I had found a way to bring it with me when I became a Catholic.
Everyone please pray for vocations and offer yourself up. The Military Archdiocese has requests for 850 Priests right now. Currently, there are only around 200 Priests for all of our men and women in uniform. The Knights of Columbus just this past week fulfilled their end of a 5 year campaign for a million dollar scholarship fund for the military services (1 year early I might add), but money is just the first step. The men are needed! God bless these brave Chaplains.
Fr,
What color vestment? I would think Gold and Purple would be the most useful? You can contact me privately.
BTW, awesome video. I will have to show my husband a use for a Jeep he probably newer thought of.
(to paraphrase…)
Nyyyyyah! You Father wore Army Boots!
Have that chasuble & stole…. exact.
I had to share this with my husband, a Vietnam vet, who has told me in the past that the most moving Mass he ever attended was celebrated on the hood of a Jeep standing in the middle of a rice paddy.
God bless the priests who risk their lives to bring Mass to our military men and women in difficult situations.
He does not appear to make a cross when administering Holy Communion. Is this just a matter of custom?
http://youtu.be/r8SwNRCqeJs
This one is awesome. Mass before landing on Iwo Jima. Notice how the ship sways. God bless our chaplains!