Remembrance Sunday was first observed in 1945 to remember the dead of both World Wars, and is observed on the Sunday nearest 11^th November, the anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1918. Today Remembrance Sunday embraces all battles up to the present day so as we remember the dead of all these wars. No one can deny the heroism of the men and women on both sides who gave their lives for their country, their family and their friends. From our Catholic point of view, we don’t merely remember them – we pray for their souls, that those being purified in Purgatory arrive soon in Heaven. We remember especially those who died suddenly on the battlefield with severe injuries, and with little or no preparation to meet God. It is for them particularly we offer the Sacrifice of the Mass today and pray for them in earnest, that God grant them eternal rest and peace. We remember also the chaplains who gave their lives administering the Last Rites to the dying on the battlefield, preparing these brave men for their particular judgment.  

By the time World War I had finished, as many as 40,000 British Military had converted to the Catholic Faith during the four years of fighting. One example was Bernard Berlyn. Before the war, he was an Anglican clergyman and became a military chaplain when war was declared. In letters he sent home he remarked how indifferent the Anglican soldiers appeared to be to their religion, even while at the front.  In contrast he noted how devout the Catholic soldiers were, and he would watch them as they crowded around their chaplain for absolution before going into battle. And he wrote, “In the hour of their need they [Catholics] turned to it as naturally as a child to its mother … I saw in that terrible time something of the real Catholic spirit of the Church – the French, English, Belgians, and even the German prisoners, all receiving the same Sacraments from the same English priest.” And he wrote that at this point, “The scales fell from my eyes, and I saw the Catholic Church as I had never done before.” And a month after writing those lines he was received into the Church.

As we remember the Fallen, many of them will already have reached Heaven. Most of them we know little or nothing about. There are the famous canonised saints and martyrs like St Maximilian Kolbe and St Edith Stein, but the stories of the lesser known soldiers and civilians also humble and inspire us. Say a Hail Mary right now for the repose of the souls of those soldiers still in Purgatory, and let us be inspired by their deep faith and patriotism, and ask them and the saints in Heaven to pray for us and for peace in these perilous times in which we live today.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC