Men of God, Men of War -- Reflections on Spiritual Support in the Armed Forces
When death threatens, humans often discover a sudden belief in God. Sustained exposure to mortal danger can make believers of even the most irreverent and most sceptical. This probably explains why "men of God" -- that is priests and clergy -- have traditionally accompanied "men of war" -- that is warriors and soldiers -- whenever they face combat. What follows is a short reflection on spiritual support for men engaged in warfare.
Mass at an RAF Station in 1940
In the ancient world, priests usually accompanied armies to war, providing what was considered indispensable services to the fighting troops -- interpreting the will of the gods. The Spartans, for example, would not engage in combat unless the priests accompanying them received "positive" signs when reading the entrails of a slaughtered sacrificial animal. The priests effectively had the final word on whether battle would be joined or not. Likewise in ancient Rome, priests were primarily responsible for placating the gods by preforming rituals in their honor and for trying to understand the will of the gods by detecting and correctly interpreting omens.
The role of priests changed in Christianity, which in its first three hundred years of existance was not a state religion. In the early centuries, particularly when Christians were persecuted, Christian priests acted not as official servants to public gods, but rather as advisors and comforters of individuals, often slaves, prisoners, and those facing execution. Furthermore, the pacifist tradition of the early church inhibited the mingling of religion with warfare.
However, after St. Augustine developed the concept of "Just War," Christian clergy increasingly began to take an active part in warfare. The Christian tradition, however, remained markedly different from that of the ancient priests. The role of priests was not to discover the will of God but rather to plead for his intervention and, most importantly, to provide spiritual comfort to the individual combatants. Thus, although Christian clergy have participated only rarely as combatants, their presence with front-line troops was viewed as vital to moral.
The role was not always positive. Particularly during religiously motivated wars, religious rhetoric could actually foster hostilities. Infamous, too, were priests such as papal legate Arnaud-Amaury, whose fanaticism contributed to the horrors of the Albigensian crusade. After the crusaders had captured the city of Beziers, a bastion of the Cathar heretics, the victorious troops realized that "they could not tell the good (Catholics) from the wicked (heretics)," and turned to the papal legate for advice. Arnaud-Amaury, a Christian abbot, replied: "Kill them all, God will recognize his own."
Yet Christian clerics could also act as a break on excessive violence. Famously, when Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian army at the battle of Tewkesbury, Lancastrian survivors fled to Tewkesbury Abby, where flooded the nave of the church. Edward IV rode onto the porch, covered in Lancastrian blood and his horses shoes struck sparks on the flagstones, but he was stopped by the abbot holding up a cross. The Abbot of Tewkesbury pleaded with him not to besmirch his victory by shedding blood in a church, and he didn't. Edward IV simply had the leading Lancastrian lords dragged out of the church for execution elsewhere; the commoners, however, were spared.
I'm also fond of the incident during the 7th Crusade when King (later Saint) Louis of France was so keen to come to grips with the Saracens that he leapt from his ship into water up to his armpits and rushed ashore with his shield over his back. Not wanting to wait for the disembarkation of the horses, he allegedly wanted to charge the Muslim troops defending the beach at Damietta on foot with his lance -- until one of the bishops in his company told him that such an action would be "blasphemous." The bishop told the king that such foolhardiness amounted to presuming God would protect him and no mortal had the right to assume divine goodwill.
Yet, despite such high profile incidents, the primary function of priests on medieval battlefields was one of hearing confessions and performing last rites for individual Christian souls. In the Middle Ages, even the most brutal and apparently godless mercenaries often retained a profound, one might say superstitious, faith in the ability of priests to ease their passage to the after world. Thus there are recorded cases of mercenaries during the Hundred Years' War torturing priests into giving them absolution for their sins -- including the torture they were were then committing.
While the standing and power of priests has declined in the centuries that saw the Reformation, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution and advent of secular ideologies such as Communism and fascism in all its variants, modern military institutions nevertheless acknowledge their utility. The U.S. army, for example describes their role as follows:
[Military chaplains] are responsible for tending to the spiritual and moral well-being of service members and their families. The chaplain’s responsibilities include performing religious rites, conducting worship services and providing confidential counseling. They also advise commanders on religious, spiritual and moral matters.
Chaplains are commissioned officers stationed wherever there are military members, including combat environments. They have an important role in the commander’s program for operational stress control.
The RAF description is similar:
RAF Commissioned Chaplains are authorised leaders from the major world religions and provide pastoral and spiritual care for all personnel and their dependants irrespective of religious belief or status. Chaplains provide spiritual support, strength and guidance to service personnel and their families. They are a valuable source of personal well-being and guidance in times of war and peace.
The following example of a modern chaplain in action has always appealed to me. The setting is France May 1940. The narrator Paul Richey in his memoir Fighter Pilot.
As I doubled across to my new aircraft I met Squadron Leader White, the Roman Catholic padre to the local Battle squadrons...He asked me if I wanted absolution, puffing along beside me. I confessed briefly. He asked if there were any other Catholics who might want absolution. I said, 'Only old Killy in that Hurricane over there -- he hasn't wanted it for ten years, but you can try!' We laughed and I waved him goodbye. But confess Killy did -- sitting in his cockpit with the padre standing beside on the wing beside him. he was a good man that padre. I never saw him again.
This incident highlights the increased need those looking into the face of death often feel for a means to communicate with God.
An RAF chaplain is a secondary character in "Where Eagles Never Flew." My novels about the RAF in WWII are intended as tributes to the men in the air and on the ground that made a victory against fascism in Europe possible.
they took the war to Hitler.
Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.
Their average age was 21.
This is the story of just one bomber pilot, his crew and the woman he loved.
It is intended as a tribute to them all.
or Barnes and Noble.
"Where Eagles Never Flew" was the the winner of a Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Military Fiction. Find out more at: https://crossseaspress.com/where-eagles-never-flew
For more information about all my aviation books visit: https://www.helenapschrader.com/aviation.html
"When death threatens, humans often discover a sudden belief in God."
ReplyDeleteOr -- as my grandfather used to say-- "There are no atheists in fox holes."