Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 15, 1915

A New Awakening

UNDER this title the Catholic journal America publishes the following piece of news and comment:—

The entrance of Italy into the war has greatly intensified the national patriotism of the Hungarians. Attacked by their former ally, they have been roused as never before. Subscriptions to the war loan at once poured in from all sides, and men asked to be sent to the Italian frontier. A big religious procession was held at the capital “for the victory of our just cause and our honest weapons and for an honorable peace.” The right hand of the saintly King Stephen, the famous national relic of Hungary, was carried through the streets, and it is estimated that one hundred thousand persons took part in the imposing Catholic demonstration. At its head was the imperial representative, the oldest son of Archduke Joseph. Then followed the Cardinal Prince Primate Csernoch with a majority of the bishops, government representatives, and state and municipal officials. The scene vividly suggested to the onlookers of many creeds that the Catholic traditions of Stephen the Saint were again renewed throughout the land, that Hungary is a Christian state, and that its people are resolved that it shall remain a Christian kingdom. “Our good sword will lead us on to victory,” a press correspondent writes from Hungary, “and the cross will preserve for us the fruits of this victory. No apprehension is felt about the outcome of the war, since it is believed that the entrance of Italy into the great struggle cannot change the situation. The Tyrolese Alps, it is argued, are far more impregnable than the Carpathians, which even the overwhelming Russian forces with their strong artillery could not cross.

This “new awakening” seems to be under religious auspices. It was a “religious procession;” a relic of the “saintly King Stephen” was a conspicuous addition to the demonstration; it is designated as an “imposing Catholic demonstration;” the second figure in the procession was the highest representative of the Pope in Hungary,—“the cardinal prince primate,”—followed by the “majority of the bishops;” through this demonstration “Catholic traditions” were being renewed again throughout Hungary; and “the cross”—the organized religion of the Roman Church—was to be the preserver of the victories won by Austrian swords. Such a demonstration, under such auspices, and such declarations, make the church’s protestations of neutrality impossible of proof, and may have been the occasion of recent interference with Vatican mail, and suggestions of the possibility of the Pope’s removal to the neutral country Switzerland.