CHAPLAINS

Starting Wednesday Night Off Right

Posted by Ann Barnhardt - January 23, AD 2013 8:19 PM MST

† Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Meet St. Martin of Tours. He was a fourth century Roman soldier, and like many, many Roman soldiers was also a convert to Christianity. While he was yet being instructed in the Faith and before his baptism, Martin encountered a homeless man begging in the cold. The beggar was barely clothed in just a few rags. Martin, moved with compassion and pity for the man drew his sword, also known as an ASSAULT WEAPON, and cut his own cape in half, and gave half to the freezing beggar.

**I know this story seems completely unbelievable because everyone knows that people who carry and wield ASSAULT WEAPONS are incapable of anything like COMPASSION or CHARITY, but you'll just have to suspend your disbelief on this one.**

That night, Martin had a dream in which he saw Our Lord wearing the half of his cloak that he had shared with the beggar. In his dream, Our Lord said to the angels, "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad Me."

Martin was received into the Church and went on to be a manful bishop who fought the heresy of Arianism.

St. Martin's cloak was kept as a relic and was carried into battle by the French Army. The French would set up a special tent on field of battle to house St. Martin's cloak. The word for cloak in Latin is "cappa". The priests who took care of the cloak were thus referred to as the "cappellani". Eventually, all priests charged with the care of soldiers were called "cappellani". The Latin word "cappellani" became "chapelains" in French, which eventually became "chaplains" in English.

How 'bout them apples?

FOUR CHAPLAINS DAY: On February 3, 1943 a Priest, a Rabbi and two Protestant Ministers gave up their own life jackets after their ship was torpedoed by Nazis

On the frigid night of FEBRUARY 3, 1943, the Allied ship Dorchester plowed through the waters near Greenland. At 1:00am, a Nazi submarine fired a torpedo into its flank, killing hundreds in the explosion and trapping others below deck. It the ensuing chaos, four chaplains: a Priest, a Rabbi and two Protestant Ministers; distributed life jackets. When there were none left, the four chaplains ripped off their own jackets and put them on four young men. Standing embraced on the slanting deck, the chaplains bowed their heads in prayer as they sank to their icy deaths. Congress honored them by declaring this "Four Chaplains Day."

On February 7, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower remarked: "And we remember that, only a decade ago, aboard the transport Dorchester, four chaplains of four faiths together willingly sacrificed their lives so that four others might live. In the three centuries that separate the Pilgrims of the Mayflower from the chaplains of the Dorchester, America's freedom, her courage, her strength and her progress have had their foundation in faith." Eisenhower concluded: "Today as then, there is need for positive acts of renewed recognition that faith is our surest strength, our greatest resource."

American Minute with Bill Federer