Our Catholic H eriiage i11, Texas
Council of the Order. The other councils of the State were equally gen- erous, as were all others throughout the nation. As a matter of record, the Knights spent $44,000,000 for the benefit of the armed forces during World War I and its veterans. In addition to providing secretaries for centers at home and abroad, the Order arranged to send a number of priests to France to serve as "volunteer chaplains." Although they had no affiliation with the American Expeditionary Forces, they went every- where with the soldiers, providing the consolations of religion and preach- ing the Gospel. Fifty-four Knights of Columbus chaplains served in France during World War I. When Armistice Day came on that gray November 11, and fighting ceased, the over a million soldiers abroad soon came back home. Soldiers, sailors, and marines were uniformly loud in their praise of the work done for them by the thoughtful and devoted Knights of Columbus workers. Pope Benedict XV lauded their work of charity and patriotism performed in the true spirit of the knights of old; and made a personal request that they come and establish a Club within the City of Rome, a desire fulfilled years later. To this day the work of the Knights in Rome in behalf of the underprivileged continues with great beneficial results. One more unprecedented act was done by the Knights of Columbus before their return from France. After peace was concluded, they erected a memorial at Metz to commemorate the victory, at a cost of $50,000, consisting of a statue of Lafayette, which was dedicated on September 6, 1920. High ranking officers of the French government and American representatives attended the ceremony. The work of relief during World War I unified, as only common work for the sake of charity can, the Knights of Columbus throughout the United States, making each and everyone feel rightly proud of the sacri- fices made for suffering humanity. The sneak attack on the unsuspecting base, Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, a day which will, as President Roosevelt said, go down in history as a day of infamy, plunged the country into World War II in self defense. Supreme Knight Francis P. Mathews, later Secretary of the Navy, and Ambassador to Ireland, offered the services of the entire Order immediately to help, as it had done before, carry the comforts of Christian charity, sympathy, and understanding to the men in uniform. A similar offer was made to His Eminence Francis Cardinal Spellman, Military Vicar of the Armed Forces of the United States by appointment of the Holy See over all Catholic chaplains in the armed services.
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