|
July 1, 1916
Memorial Day
July 1st is a time for celebration for the people of Canada. But in Newfoundland and Labrador, the day also has a more somber meaning.
Memorial Day commemorates the participation of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel, France.
On July 1, 1916, 801 members of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment fought in that battle and only 68 answered the roll call the next morning.
When news reached Newfoundland about the Battle of the Somme at Beaumount Hamel and the great losses the families of the young men who had died looked to their churches for comfort.
The families of the slain, took some comfort from the fact that the reports on how the young men died in many cases showed that they were strong in their faith.
J. Augustine Hogg, C.F., one of the men that witnessed the battle wrote to the Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche, the Archbishop of St. John at the time - from the battlefields of France to tell him how one particular soldier died at Beaumont Hamel.
He wrote to the Archbishop:
"One of the men who was killed on July 1st, unfortunately I do not know his name, was found dead on that night with his rosary beads in one hand and his prayer book in the other, open at the prayers for the dying. No doubt when he fell wounded he felt that the end was drawing near and set himself ready to die as a Catholic should. This is I think typical of the way in which our Catholic soldiers went into battle." (Source 107 2 2)
Comforting words for the parents of these young men who had died so far away from home.
The Archbishop and priests of the Archdiocese were always conscious of the war, as was every citizen in the country.
In 1918 the Archbishop Roche spoke about the impact of the war in a Pastoral Letter. He wrote in this letter that was to be read from the altar of every Catholic church throughout Newfoundland.:
"We here in Newfoundland have felt the effects of the war... The dreadful reality of war has come to too many families throughout the land. And there are very few districts in the Island which are not mourning... sons lost on the field of battle. The war is an all absorbing topic, it is never absent from our thoughts. It is like some dreadful nightmare that we cannot shake off. Our prayers and desires are for a speedy end of the war, for an early peace, but for a peace at the same time, which will render impossible another such world calamity as that which we are suffering now." (Source 107 2 6)"
Shortly after the Great War, the Government of Newfoundland purchased the ground over which the 1st Newfoundland Regiment made its heroic advance on July 1. Much of the credit is due to (Reverend) Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Nangle, a Roman Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of St. John’s who, as Director of Graves Registration and Enquiry and Newfoundland's representative on the Imperial War Graves Commission, negotiated with some 250 French landowners for the purchase of the site. He (Father Nangle) had a leading part in planning and supervising the erection, at each of the five Newfoundland Memorials sites in Europe, of a statue of the noble caribou, the emblem of the Regiment, standing facing the former foe with head thrown high in defiance.
On July 1 we ask you to remember that here in Newfoundland and Labrador - it is Memorial Day. We ask you to pray for all young men and women who have lost their lives in wars throughout the ages and remember those that are now involved in conflicts throughout the world.
For more information on this and other related subjects contact the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese.
Other “Archival Moments” will be posted at this site on a regular weekly basis. If you have friends or colleagues who would like to receive these "archival moments" please send us their e mail address or forward this moment to them from your desk!!
E-mail: ldohey@nf.aibn.com
We hope that you have enjoyed this archival moment.
|
|
