This article by Henri de Villiers was first published in 2014 on the blog of the Schola Sainte Cécile, to commemorate the centenary of the start of the Great War. It is translated and republished here and at Canticum Salomonis in honor of Armistice Day, and the centenary of the first armistice, which occurred this past Sunday.



On August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France, and Europe entered into a terrible four years of slaughter that would decimate believers on every side, wiping out the youth of thousands of towns and villages, and bringing about the loss of a great part of Europe’s Christian elite. In memory of this sorrowful centenary, we present a collection of photographs that testify to the faith of these men in the midst of the horrors of the front.We shall remember them.Requiem æternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.(Psalm 134,14) –Mass at the front in France during the First World War.(Psalm 17,6) –Mass at the front for the French troops. New York Times, February 14, 1915(Psalm 17,2-3) – 1915: A Mass at the 43rd battery of the 29th artillery regiment between Oostduinkerke and Nieuport.(Psalm 118,82) – Holy Mass for the French troops on the front of Champagne in 1915. Collection of Odette Carrez(Psalm 28,10) – 1915: Sub-lieutenant Pape says Holy Mass for the 262nd infantry regiment. Photograph by Henri Terrier (1887† 1918). Musee de l’Armee, Paris.(Psalm 21,26) – German troops assist at Mass in the Belgian cathedral of Anvers. New York Times, March 21, 1915.(Psalm 3,9) – Austrian soldiers receive Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in 1915 in Russian Galicia. New York Times, 23 May 1915.(Psalm 17,4) – A Russian priest celebrates the Divine Liturgy for Russian troops in 1915. The soldiers have formed a choir and are chanting the liturgy next to the altar. The War Illustrated Album DeLuxe, Vol. 1; Amalgamated Press, London, 1915.(Psalm 120,1) – A priest says Mass for Italian troops on the Italo-Austrian front in the mountains of Tyrol. New York Times, February 27, 1916.(Isaiah 62,12) – April, 1916: Soldiers of the Russian expeditionary corps taking an oath and venerating the icon and cross at the monastery of St Pantaleimon, Mount Athos, Greece. Photograph: Dubray.(Isaiah 8,10) – April, 1916: In the Mirabeau camp near Marseille, men of the first regiment of the first Russian brigade pose around their flag, decorated with the face of Christ and emblazoned with the motto taken from Isaiah and chanted at Byzantine Great Compline, in particular on Christmas Day: С нами Бог – God is with us.(Isaiah 12,2) – April, 1916: Gathered on the parade grounds of Camp Mirabeau near Marseille, the men of the first Russian brigade receive the blessing from Fr. Okouneff, chaplain of the regiment, before their departure for the front.(Psalm 9,10) – April, 1916: Gathered on the parade grounds in Camp Mirabeau near Marseille, the troops of the second regiment of the first Russian infantry brigade celebrate Easter, with the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Fr. Okouneff, chaplain of the regiment. The soldiers have formed a choir and are chanting the liturgy next to the altar.(Psalm 49,23) – 1916: Renault car-chapel dedicated to St Elizabeth, donated by a businessman from Antwerp to serve the Belgian troops.(Isaiah 17,7) – French soldiers assist at Mass before going into battle. Source: Vive la France, William Heinemann, Londres, 1916.(Psalm 6,3) – Mass in an Austrian military hospital in 1916.(Isaiah 60,19) – A priest, probably the famous Fr Paul Doncoeur, S.J., celebrates Mass at an altar – nicknamed the altar of Fr. Doncoeur – carved into the 1st Zouave Quarry, in the quarries of Confrécourt in the Soissonais. Paul Doncoeur was a Jesuit who become a military chaplain in 1914. He participated in the battles of the Marne, Aisne, Champagne, and Verdun, and was seriously wounded at the Somme. Then he rejoined these regiments for the battles of Reims and Flandres. His bravery and dedication to assuring a Christian burial to soldiers who died on the battlefield earned him an immense renown: seven citations, the War Cross, the Legion of Honor. This altar was sculpted by the 35th and 298th infantry regiments in 1914. There is a patriotic inscription written below: “God save France.” On the right, a ladder gave direct access to the front lines.(Psalm 17,7) – Mass celebrated for Austrian prisoners of war. Illustrated War News, Vol. 1, Illustrated London News and Sketch, London, 1916.(Psalm 87,14) – A chaplain preaching in a French church transformed into a hospital.(Psalm 118,50) – Mass for the troops in the region of Soissons.(Psalm 40,12) – Mass at the front.(Psalm 4,6) – French soldiers hear Mass in a chapel in the trenches: New York Times, February 25, 1917.(Psalm 45,9) – March 1917: M. l’Abbé Louis Lenoir (1882-1917), military chaplain to the 4th colonial infantry regiment, celebrating Holy Mass for the troops at Gravena (Greek Macedonia), shortly before his death in May 1917.(Psalm 33,15). – Mass on the Italian front in 1917.(Psalm 141,8) – Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war assist at Holy Mass in a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy in 1917. British Library.(Psalm 118,49). – Abbé Even, chaplain of the 51st division. Photograph taken 10 September 1917 by Paul Castelnau (1880 † 1944). Médiathèque de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris.(Isaiah 60,7) – Field altar for Mass in the open air, installed in the back of a car in 1917. Photograph: Georges Pila.(Isaiah 18,3). – June 22, 1918, blessing of Polish flags in the woods of Beaulieu, Aube. Photograph: Auguste Goulden.(Isaiah 30,29) – 1918: Mass celebrated in Amiens Cathedral, where the walls have been reinforced with sandbags to protect them from bombardments.(Isaiah 6,1) – Interior of Amiens cathedral, with sandbags to reinforce the building against shelling, 1918.