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I 



The Corby Monument Committee 

OF THE 

Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphi 

* G E N E R A L S T . C L A I R A . M U L H O L L A N D , Chairman; 

H E N R Y A . N. D A I L Y , Secretary; 

E D W A R D J . DOONER, Treasurer; 

R E V . W I L L I A M S . S I N G L E T O N , S . J . , Moderator; 

T H O M A S A . D A L Y , 

J A M E S M . D O H A N , 

ROBERT A . E T H E R I N G T O N , 

J A M E S A . F L A H E R T Y , 

L A W R E N C E F . F L I C K , JR., 

E D W A R D J . G A L B A L L Y , 

M I C H A E L F . H A N S O N , 

A N T H O N Y A . H I R S T , 

W I L L I A M F . H E U I S L E R , 

J . P E T E R K L I N G E S , 

J . W A S H I N G T O N L O G U E , 

T H O M A S V . L O U G H R A N , 

D A N I E L H . M A H O N Y , 

J O H N A . M C C O R M I C K , 

S . E D W I N MEGARGEE, 

E M I L E G . PERROT, 

J O H N J . R E I L L Y , 

W A L T E R GEORGE S M I T H , 

H E N R Y F . S T I T Z E L L , 

J O H N J . S U L L I V A N , 

JOSEPH A . W E B E R . 

* Now deceased. 









T H E I N C E P T I O N O F T H E M O V E M E N T . 

A t a regular monthly meeting of the Catholic Alumni 
Sodality of Philadelphia, held at St. Joseph's College on 
Sunday, January ioth, 1909, Vice-President Henry A . N. 
Daily presented a motion for the appointment of a com-
mittee to further the erection on the battlefield of Gettys-
burg, of a statue to the Very Rev. William Corby, C. S. C., 
in the act of giving absolution to the Second Brigade of the 
Second Army Corps on the afternoon of July 2d, 1863. 
General St. Clair A. Mulholland had vividly described the 
incident at a previous meeting of the Philadelphia County 
Federation of Catholic Societies, and Mr. Daily briefly 
recalled his stirring words. The motion was unanimously 
carried and a committee was promptly appointed by John 
J. Reilly, President of the Sodality. 

F A T H E R C O R B Y ' S C A R E E R . 

The Very Rev. William Corby, C. S. C., was born Octo-
ber 2d, 1833, in Detroit, Michigan. A t the age of nineteen 
he entered Notre Dame University, and one year later 
joined the Congregation of the Holy Cross. In 1859 he 
was appointed Prefect of Discipline of the institution and 
on Christmas Day, i860, was ordained priest by Rt. Rev. 
John Henry Luers, D. D., first Bishop of Fort Wayne, 
at the Cathedral in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the Fall of 
1861 he resigned his post and his other professional du-
ties, so as to be one of the volunteers called for by his re-
ligious Superior to go to the front as chaplains. Pro-
ceeding at once to Washington he was regularly assigned 
as Chaplain to the Eighty-eighth New Y o r k Regiment 
of the Irish Brigade, then at Camp California, near Alex-
andria, Virginia. For the next three years Father Corby 
followed the fortunes of the Brigade, and was one of 
the eight priests of the order engaged in render-
ing temporal and spiritual assistance on the field and 

in the hospital. A t Fair Oaks, the Seven Days' Battle, 

3 



in the Wilderness and on the Peninsula, at Fredericksburg, 
Gettysburg and Petersburg he carried consolation to the 
afflicted and ministered the rites of the Church to those in 
spiritual need, ever ready to extend a merciful and helping 
hand to sick and wounded and dying soldiers. The sur-
vivors of those trying days love to tell how Father Corby 
soothed the last moments of their comrades in arms and 
assuaged their anxiety by communicating with their friends 
and relatives. 

Whilst acting as regular Chaplain to the forces during 
the war he held the rank of Captain of Cavalry. 

After the War he returned to Notre Dame, where he re-
sumed the duties he had temporarily laid aside at his coun-
try's call. But whether he was performing his religious 
duties in the class-room instructing the young, or minister-
ing to the dying on the firing line, he was always God's 
soldier. It is only natural, then, that he was made the re-
cipient of the highest honors at the hands of the members 
of his Order. He served a term as President of Notre Dame 
University, and to him was due the rebuilding of the Uni-
versity after the fire of April 23d, 1879. His election as 
Provincial-General of the Congregation of the Holy Cross 
in the United States was followed by his. being chosen 
First Assistant General for the Order in all parts of the 
world. A t the time of his death, December 28th, 1897, he 
was Commander of the only G. A. R. post composed en-
tirely of members of a religious order. 

T H E I N C I D E N T I T S E L F : 

A B S O L U T I O N U N D E R F I R E A T G E T T Y S B U R G . 

Fought on the soil of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg was one 
of the most important in its results of all the battles ever 
waged. It marked the beginning of the end of the titanic 
struggle between the North and the South. It stands now 
in history as the most fiercely contested battle of all times. 
More men were killed and wounded, in proportion to the 
total number of those engaged, than in any other battle 
known to chronologers. 

The army of the South, commanded by General Robert 



E. Lee and numbering about, ninety thousand men, left the 
banks of the Rappahannock River in June, 1863, marched 
across Virginia and Maryland, and invaded Pennsylvania, 
expecting by this move to carry the seat of war from the 
Southern into the Northern States. The Northern Army, 
under the command of General George G. Meade, arrived 
in Pennsylvania from the South shortly after the Southern 
army had entered the State. The two great forces met at 
Gettysburg, in Adams County, Pennsylvania, on the morn-
ing of July 1 st, 1863, and the great conflict commenced. 
Af ter three memorable days of fighting the Southern army 
was defeated and retreated towards the South. 

During those three days the most remarkable heroism 
was displayed by both armies. Among the many thrilling 
episodes of the battle was one the like of which has never 
been recorded in the history of our country. It took place 
about four o'clock on the afternoon of July 2d, the second 
day of the battle. The Northern troops, beaten and driven 
back on the first day of the fight, had, in the evening, taken 
up a strong position on a ridge of land called Cemetery 
Ridge, the right flank resting on Culp's Hill, the left three 
and a half miles away on Little Round Top. About two 
o'clock in the afternoon of the second day, Lee ordered his 
right flank, under the command of General Longstreet, to 
advance, turn the Northern left flank, and capture and oc-
cupy that part of the field called the "Round Top." Thus 
commenced the battle of the second day. From that hour 
until long after dark the fighting was close and deadly. 

When the battle was raging along the whole left of the 
Northern army, and the smoke hung thick about the Round 
Tops, with the deafening crash of artillery and musketry 
reverberating among the hills, the Peach Orchard and 
the Devil's Den a veritable hell of fire and a shambles of 
dead and wounded, orders came that General Hancock 
should detail a division to go to the left, charge across the 
now celebrated Wheat Field, and check the advancing lines, 
of the enemy. 

The Irish Brigade, consisting of the Sixty-third, Sixty-
ninth and Eighty-eighth New York regiments, the Twenty-
eighth Massachusetts and the One Hundred and Sixteenth 

5 



Pennsylvania Volunteers, was a part of the division or-
dered to the rescue. 

In the history of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Penn-
sylvania Volunteers, written by General Mulholland, we 
find the following:— 

"There are yet a few minutes to spare before starting 
and the time is occupied in one of the most impressive 
religious ceremonies I have ever witnessed. The Irish 
Brigade, which has been commanded formerly by General 
Thomas Francis Meagher, and whose green flag has been 
unfurled in every battle in which the Army of the Potomac 
was engaged, from the First Bull Run to Appomatox, and 
now commanded by Colonel Patrick Kelly, and to which 
our regiment was attached, formed a part of this division. 
The brigade stood in column of regiments closed en masse. 
As a large majority were Catholics, the chaplain of the 
brigade, the Rev. William Corby, C. S. C., proposed to 
give general absolution to all the men going into the fight. 
While this is customary in the armies of the Catholic 
countries of Europe, it was, perhaps, the first time it had 
ever been witnessed on this continent, unless, indeed, the 
grim old warrior, Ponce de Leon, as he tramped through 
the everglades of Florida in search of the Fountain of 
Youth, or De Soto, in his march to the Mississippi, in-
dulged in this act of devotion. Father Corby stood on a 
large rock in front of the brigade. Addressing the men, he 
explained what he was about to do, saying that each one 
could receive the benefit of the absolution by making a 
sincere act of contrition and firmly resolving to embrace 
the first opportunity of confessing their sins, urging them 
to do their duty well, and reminding them of the high and 
sacred nature of their trust as soldiers, and the noble object 
for which they fought, ending by saying that the Catholic 
Church refuses Christian burial to the soldier who turns 
his back upon the foe or deserts his flag. The brigade 
was standing at 'order arms,' and as he closed his address, 
every man fell on his knees with head bowed down. 
Then stretching his right hand towards the brigade, 
Father Corby pronounced the words of the general abso-
tion: 'Dominus noster Jesus Christus vos absolvat, et ego, 
auctoritate ipsius, vos absolvo a vinculo excommunicationis et 
interdicti in quantum possum et vos indigetis; deinde, ego vos 
absolvo a peccatis. vestris in nomine Patris, et Filius, et 
Spiritus Sancti. Amen!' The scene was more than im-
pressive, it was awe-inspiring. Nearby stood Hancock, 
surrounded by a brilliant array of officers, who had gath-

6 







ered to witness this very unusual occurrence and while 
there was profound silence in the ranks of the Second 
Corps, yet over to the left, out by the Peach Orchard and 
Little Round Top, where Weed, Vincent and Hazlett 
were dying, the roar of battle rose and swelled and re-
echoed through the woods, making music more sublime 
than ever sounded through cathedral aisles. 1 he act 
seemed to be in harmony with all the surroundings. I do 
not think there was a man in the brigade who did not 
offer up a heartfelt prayer. For some it was their last; 
they knelt in their grave clothes—in less than half an hour 
many of them were numbered with the dead of 2 July. 
Who can doubt that their prayers were good? What was 
wanting in the eloquence of the good priest to move them 
to repentance was supplied in the incidents of the fight. 

The above lines are quoted in his "Memoirs of Chaplain 
L i f e " by Father Corby himself, and the patriot priest goes 
on to say: — 

"In performing this ceremony I faced the army. My 
eye covered thousands of officers and men. I noticed that 
all, Catholics and non-Catholics, officers and private sol-
diers, showed a profound respect, wishing at this fatal 
crisis to receive every benefit of divine grace that could 
be imparted through the instrumentality of the Church 
ministry. Even Major-General Hancock removed his hat 
and, as far as compatible with the situation, bowed in 
reverential devotion. That general absolution was in-
tended for all—in quantum possum—not only for our 
brigade, but for all, North and South, who were suscept-
ible of it and who were about to appear before their 
Judge." 

These readings were received with hearty applause by 
the meeting, after which Rev. William S. Singleton, S. J., 
Moderator of the Sodality, explained the 

T H E O L O G I C A L S I G N I F I C A N C E O F G E N E R A L A B S O -

L U T I O N . 

Contrition, Confession and Absolution are the essence 
of the Sacrament of Penance. On the part of the peni-
tent satisfaction is also necessary, but only for the in-
tegrity of the Sacrament. Contrition may be perfect or 

7 



imperfect; the former is sorrow for sin out of pure love 
of God, the latter is sorrow for sin because, to choose one 
example, of fear of punishment. A t a time of imminent 
danger where no priest is present, an act of perfect con-
trition is absolutely necessary if a person guilty of mortal 
sin wishes to save his so.ul. But where a priest is pres-
ent, and general absolution is given, imperfect contri-
tion will suffice, provided the penitent resolves, if he 
escapes death, to confess his sins to a priest. Such is 
the teaching of the Church with regard to Catholics. 

As far as baptized persons, non-Catholics, are con-
cerned, they are subjects of the Sacrament of Penance. 
If they have contrition for their sins and resolve to con-
fess them if they escape death, they, too, will be saved 
if general absolution has been given. A s far as unbap-
tized persons are concerned, if they took part in the cere-
mony with the proper spirit, as outlined above, they had 
baptism of desire and received absolution as well. 

General Mulholland closed a most enthusiastic meet-
ing by urging the speedy raising of funds. The design 
and cost of the monument were outlined and the Gen-
eral concluded by saying that he was confident that he 
could find the exact spot whereon Father Corby stood 
when pronouncing absolution. 

T H E P R O G R E S S O F T H E M O V E M E N T . 

The movement, as "The Catholic Standard and Times," 
of Philadelphia, said on February 13th, 1909, under a 
picture of the incident, at once attracted attention and 
received cordial approval from clergy and laymen in all 
parts of the United States. Secular papers, as well as 
religious journals, thought the proposal worthy of atten-
tion in their news columns. "The Evening Times," of 
Philadelphia, specially reported on February 14th, 1909, 
the meeting of the Sodality held on that day. 

"The Catholic Standard and Times," on January 23d, 
1909, contained an editorial from the pen of its gifted 
editor, Mr. John J. O'Shea, which is well worthy of re-
production at this point. He said:— 

8 



" A R E P R O O F IN B R O N Z E . 

"In the proposal to erect a statue to Father Corby on 
the field of Gettysburg, as brought forward by Mr. Henry 
A. N. Daily at the meeting of the Catholic Alumni Sodality 
of Philadelphia, there appears a higher reason than any 
offered for monuments to great soldiers or sailors who 
deserved well of their country. The statue, if erected, will 
tell a tale and teach a great lesson. It will tell the 
tale of the devotion of the Catholic chaplains on the 
fields where the fate of the Union was being written 
in pages of blood. To cheer the living on to duty and to 
comfort the dying with the hope of eternal reward for 
duty bravely done was their part wherever the blast of 
death was hottest in all those dreadful years, and nobly 
they performed it. A second meaning it would possess 
would be the convincing answer it would yield, in its 
own dumb but expressive way, to the false pleadings of 
the sectarian bigots as to Catholic allegiance and sense 
of citizen duty at times of crisis. It will show that the 
blessing of the Catholic Church attends every man who 

• nobly performs his duty to the State in her hour of need 
of his brain and arm, and be a perpetual reproof to the 
malignant falsifiers. Therefore, it is to be hoped that 
the proposal to place this statue on the field at Gettysburg, 
on the very spot where he imparted his absolution and 
blessing to the men about to march to death or victory 
for the Union of the American Republic, will meet with 
enthusiastic support." 

Encouraged by all these signs of popular approval, if 
indeed encouragement was needed, the committee set 
actively to work. Sub-committees of Finance, Monu-
ment, Printing and Publication were at once appointed, 
and the fruits of their manifold labors soon took the con-
vincing form of substantial contributions to the building 
fund. On February 20th, 1909, the Philadelphia branch 
of the Alumni of the University of Notre Dame held its 
annual meeting, and soon faculty, students and alumni of 
that great institution were working in harmony with the 
committee. 

After bids had been received and models submitted by 
Sculptors Murray, Di Neste and Schweitzer, the contract 
for the monument was awarded to Mr. Samuel Murray, 
of Philadelphia, who was the sculptor of the monument 

9 



to another eminent Catholic warrior, Commodore John 
Barry, now standing in Independence Square, Philadel-
phia, and of the magnificent Memorial Arch erected at 
Gettysburg by the State of Pennsylvania in honor of her 
sons who fought on that stricken field. The Committee 
then published a brochure, on which appeared a cut of 
the proposed monument. An oil painting, now hanging 
on the walls of Notre Dame University, of the incident, 
was also reproduced, and beneath it this inscription, ex-
tracted from the official "History of the Civil War in 
America," by Comte de Paris, Vol. I l l , page 620 : — 

"As the moment is drawing near for marching against 
the enemy all the ranks are kneeling, and the chaplain, 
mounted upon a rock which affords him a natural pulpit, 
has pronounced a general absolution for the whole brigade' 
in the midst of a religious silence only interrupted by the 
fire of artillery. The command 'Forward!' immediately 
follows the sacred words of the priest, and the Irish have 
at once rushed into the thickest of the fight. They sud-
denly stop Anderson's brigade in its advance. * * *" 

A picture of Father Corby, taken in his prime, occupied 
a prominent position. 

It was well said that "besides perpetuating the memory 
of Father Corby's great religious act, the monument will 
serve as a testimonial of Catholic loyalty to the Repub-
lic. N o more opportune time than the present—when 
the charge of the Catholic's lack of civil allegiance is 
again heard—could be chosen for this work, and there-
fore the co-operation of Catholics throughout the coun-
try is confidently invited." 

L E T T E R S F R O M T H E H I E R A R C H Y . 

«S. " B A L T I M O R E , M A R Y L A N D , February the 1st, 1909. 
General St. Clair A. Mulholland, Office U. S. Pension 
Agency, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
" M Y D E A R G E N E R A L : — I take great pleasure in ex-

pressing my hearty approval of the movement to perpet-
uate by the erection of a monument, the incident of Father 
Corby giving the blessing to the members of the Irish 
Brigade before the Battle of Gettysburg. 

10 



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"I wish you with all my heart success in your under-
taking which has for its.object the honoring of a good 
and saintly man, 

"With sentiments of the highest esteem, I am, Most 
Faithfully Yours, 

"(Signed) + J. CARD. GIBBONS, 
"Archbishop of Baltimore." 

" P H I L A D E L P H I A , January 20, 1909. 
"General St. Clair A. Mulholland, 

" D E A R G E N E R A L : — I n reply to your letter of the 13th 
inst. I beg to say that I heartily approve of the movement 
to perpetuate by a permanent monument, the interesting 
incident of Father Corby giving the blessing of the Church 
to the brave members of the Irish Brigade as they were 
marshalled to fight the great battle of Gettysburg, which 
so helped to preserve the integrity of the nation. The 
scene of the Catholic priest blessing these soldiers will 
remain symbolic of the relations of Catholics to the State. 
They will pray for it, fight for it and help by word and deed 
to preserve its integrity. 

"Your Brigade in this country has proved itself worthy 
of the splendid name and fame of the older Irish Brigade 
of the Continent of Europe. 

"You must permit me to add that your own character 
and record eminently fit you to be the leading spirit in the 
present movement. 

"I wish you from my heart all success in procuring 
means to secure its success and enclose check to aid this 
purpose. 

"With sincerest regard, I remain, dear General, 
"Yours most faithfully, 

"(Signed) + P. J. R Y A N , 
"Archbishop of Philadelphia." 

"ARCHBISHOP'S H O U S E , 
"452 Madison Ave., New York. 

" M A R C H 3 1 s t , 1909. 
"General St. Clair A. Mulholland, United States Pension 

Agency, Philadelphia. 
" M Y D E A R G E N E R A L : — I am well pleased to know that 

you are about to erect a monument to the lamented Father 
Corby on the field of Gettysburg, recalling the remarkable 
incident in the life of that good priest and patriotic citizen 
when he gave his blessing to the men going into that 
memorable battle. This monument will add to the many 

11 



evidences and arguments that make for the patriotism of 
the Catholics of the United States. 

"Praying Godspeed to the good work you have in hand, 
I am with great respect, 

"Very sincerely yours, 
'.'(Signed) + JOHN M. F A R L E Y , 

"Archbishop of New York."' 

" A R C H B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
St. Louis, Mo. 

" F E B R U A R Y 1 3 t h , 1909. 
"Mr. Henry A. N. Daily, 1129 N. 63rd, Street, Philadel-

phia, Pa. 
" M Y D E A R S I R : — I cordially approve of the purpose of 

the Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia to erect a 
monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield to the Very Rev. 
Wm. Corby, C. S. C., especially commemorating his 
splendid services as Chaplain of the Irish Brigade. 

"I have the honor to be, 
"Respectfully yours, 

"(Signed) ¿ J O H N J. GLENNON, 
"Archbishop of St. Louis." 

" S T . P A U L , April 12, 1909. 
" M Y D E A R G E N E R A L : — I am glad to learn through you 

that a monument is to be erected upon the field of Gettys-
burg in honor of Rev. William Corby, C. S. C. This 
tribute to his memory is a very deserving token of the 
gratitude which Americans, especially Catholic Americans, 
owe to his piety, zeal and valor. Father Corby was one 
of the most unselfish and courageous priests sent by the 
Church as Chaplain during the Civil War. I knew Father 
Corby very well. To my mind he was always one of the 
most priestly of priests, and a most loyal citizen. Com-
memorate as we may his name—we shall never go beyond 
his deserts. 

"Very Sincerely, 
"(Signed) * JOHN IRELAND, 

"Archbishop of St. Paul." 
"General St. Clair A. Mulholland. 

" T H E C A T H E D R A L , 
"Harrisburg, Penna. 

" J A N U A R Y 26, 1909. 
"It gives me great pleasure to add my words to those of 

His Grace, the Archbishop, recommending that a lasting 
12 



monument be erected on the Gettysburg Battlefield to the 
memory of Father Corby, who, with utmost devotion to 
Church and Country remained with his troops, cheering 
and consoling them amid the perils which tried men's 
souls, during that memorable three days' fight. 

"(Signed) + J. W. SHANAHAN, 
"Bishop of Harrisburg." 

" B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
"136 N. Craig Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"To General St. Clair A. Mulholland. 
" D E A R G E N E R A L : — I hope the movement that has been 

started to raise funds to erect a statue to Father Corby 
will not fail. The movement would teach a lesson of 
religion and patriotism to this and succeeding generations 
of this Republic, as in turn they visit the historic field of 
Gettysburg, and stand upon the soil consecrated by the 
heroism and blood of the valiant men, who, with bowed 
heads and contrite hearts, received the blessing and abso-
lution of Father Corby before they-rushed on to death or 
victory. 

"I enclose herewith a check for fund with best wishes. 
"Yours sincerely, 

"(Signed) * REGIS CANEVIN, 
"Bishop of Pittsburgh." 

" A R C H B I S H O P ' S RESIDENCE. 
"636 W. Eighth Street, Cincinnati. 

" F E B R U A R Y 26th, 1909. 
"Mr. H. A.N. Daily, Philadelphia. 

" D E A R S I R : — I am pleased to learn that the Catholic 
Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia intend to erect a monu-
ment to Very Rev. Wm. Corby, C. S. C., on the Gettysburg 
Battlefield and I add my hearty endorsement to those of 
His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, and His Grace, Arch-
bishop Ryan. 

"Very sincerely yours in Xto., 
"(Signed) * HENRY MOELLER, 

"Archbishop of Cincinnati." 

" B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
"Trenton, N. J. 

" F E B R U A R Y 24th, 1909. 
"The Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia, 

Father Corby Monument Committee. 
" G E N T L E M E N : — I t gives me pleasure to add my endorse-

ment to the movement inaugurated to raise funds for the 
13 



erection of a monument to the late Father Corby who 
figured so prominently in the Civil War. 

"Few episodes in our national history present a better 
opportunity to illustrate the strength and union of the 
Catholic's patriotism and religion, or to refute the charges 
that have been made against our loyalty to country than 
the inspiring picture of a Catholic priest raising his hand 
to impart to thousands of Catholic soldiers, reverently 
kneeling to receive it, the merciful absolution of the Sacra-
ment of Penance. 

"Heartily, therefore, approving of the movement, I de-
sire to see it make such progress as to enable the Catholic 
Alumni Sodality to deliver its 'Sermon in Bronze' on the 
occasion of the dedication of Pennsylvania's Triumphal 
Arch at Gettysburg. 

"I am, Sincerely yours in Xt., 
"(Signed) + JAMES A. McFAUL, 

"Bishop of Trenton." 

" B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
"1211 Thirteenth Street, Altoona, Pa. 

" F E B R U A R Y 1 7 t h , 1909. 

"Mr. H.A.N. Daily, 
" D E A R S I R ; — I believe it is right that V. Rev. W. Corby, 

who displayed such a lofty sense of duty on the Gettys-
burg Battlefield, should be honored by a monument erected 
to his memory. I enclose my mite. 

"Yours sincerely, 
"(Signed) + E. A. G A R V E Y . " 

" B I S H O P ' S HOUSE, 
"1025 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N. Y . 

" F E B R U A R Y 1 7 t h , 1909. 
Mr. H. A.N. Daily, Sec. Father Corby Monument Committee. 

" D E A R S I R : — I fully endorse the effort your committee 
is making to have a statue erected at Gettysburg to Father 
Corby who gave absolution to the Catholics of both armies 
just as they were entering on the battle where so many 
lost their lives. It is a fitting way to record an event so 
great to them and so comforting to their kindred and so 
significant to all their countrymen. Wishing the monu-
ment success, 

"Faithfully yours, 
"(Signed) * CHARLES H. COLTON, 

"Bishop." 

14 



" B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
"Erie, Pa. 

" F E B R U A R Y 18, 1909. 

Mr. H. A. N. Daily, Philadelphia, Pa. 
" D E A R S I R : — I cordially approve of the proposal to erect 

a monument to Father Corby on the Battlefield of Gettys-
burg, and I wish the enterprise every success. 

"I am, respectfully yours, 
"(Signed) * JOHN E. FITZMAURICE, 

"Bishop of Erie." 

P R E S S N O T I C E S . 

As has been above remarked, the press of the country 
gave the movement the attention it deserved. The Cath-
olic papers, of course, were in the forefront. "The Pitts-
bugh Catholic" contained a long article on the subject in 
its issue of March 4th, 1909, and "The New York Free-
man's Journal" gave full reports of our progress, especially 
in its issue of February 27th, 1909. 

"The Leader," of San Francisco, under date of March 
13th, 1909, said:— 

"It is the intention of those most nearly interested that 
the monument shall stand everlastingly as a tribute to the 
strong devotion of the Catholic priests to the soldiers dur-
ing the terrible years of civil strife, and incidentally com-
memorate one of the most striking acts of religion that 
ever took place on any battlefield—the giving of general 
absolution to a whole brigade just before they entered the 
battle." 

"The San Francisco Monitor" was not behind its 
"Leader." On August 14, 1909, it had a long report of 
the various steps theretofore taken in furtherance of our 
project and on September 18th, 1909, said, editorially: 

" F O R A L L O F US. 

"All American Catholics should be interested, and 
actively interested, in the movement to honor Father 
Corby, the civil war chaplain to whom a monument will 
be erected at Gettysburg. The Civil War not only saved 
the Union and freed the negro, but it also afforded Amer-
ican Catholics an opportunity to prove their patriotism. In 
days of old it was no gentle thing for Catholics, Irish 

IS 



Catholics, to claim American citizenship, so strong was 
bigotry and prejudice against them. But the war gave 
them a chance to answer, 'in deeds, not words,' the calum-
nies of their enemies; and one of the strongest of those 
answers was the sacrifice and heroism of the Catholic 
army chaplain,—such men as Ireland, now a great prelate, 
who carried ammunition to his men, risking his life to do 
it; such men as Corby, who figured in the war's greatest 
battle and most memorable scene, Gettysburg. Gettys-
burg is the heart of our Union; and to have a monument 
standing there, picturing the Priest performing his Holy 
Office, putting courage and strength into the hearts of 
his men, that they might face the dangers of battle un-
flinchingly,—that is a consummation devoutly to be 
wished. Such a monument will be an answer for all time 
to narrow-mindedness. Let it be erected, and let it be 
erected by all the Catholic people of our country. Let 
that statue be set up, representing the Catholic priest, 
* * * speaking the words of absolution to his Cath-
olic brethren, voicing the words of Holy Church, to sus-
tain the Union and honor our Republic,—let this be done, 
and many the pilgrim to Gettysburg in future ages, who 
will learn a lesson that words could never teach." 

"America," " A v e Maria" and "The Catholic World" 
gave us space. No doubt can be entertained but that the 
widespread and constant enthusiastic support of our 

Catholic weeklies and monthlies were of important assist-
ance in reaching people and places the Committee could 
never reach. That more space can not be given to ex-
tracts from our best aides is regretted by no one more 
deeply than the compiler of this little pamphlet. 

C A T H O L I C O R G A N I Z A T I O N H E L P E R S . 

The Knights of Columbus, the County Federation of 
Catholic Societies of Philadelphia and the Irish Catholic 
Benevolent Union were the first organizations to afford 
the movement substantial support. "The I. C. B. U. 
Bulletin" of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Union, said 
in May, 1909, that "the movement gathers force as the 
project develops." The Secretary of the Corby Monu-
ment Committee addressed the thirty-seventh annual 
convention of the I. C. B. U. held at Atlantic City in Au-

16 



gust, 1909, and the response from its patriotic members was 
gratifying. 

A t the Eighth National Convention of the American 
Federation of Catholic Societies, held at Pittsburgh in 
August, 1909, the following resolution was unanimously-
adopted : — 

" G E T T Y S B U R G M O N U M E N T T O F A T H E R C O R B Y . 

"We have learned with pleasure of the movement to 
erect a monument on the field of Gettysburg to the mem-
ory of Rev. William Corby, C. S. C., Chaplain during .the 
Civil War of the Irish Brigade, and afterward a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic, whose example of 
religion and patriotism should be handed down to poster-
ity." 

The resolution was the direct result of the address 
made to the Convention by General Mulholland, who 
spoke with his usual vigor and eloquence. One remark-
able statement in his speech was that the first man to 
suggest a monument to Father Corby was an Episcopa-
lian, Captain Cummings, of Meadville, Pennsylvania; " I 
will never rest," said he, "until I see a monument to 
Father Corby." And one of the first, if not the first sub-
scriber to the building fund was a Presbyterian. 

The Notre Dame Alumni, as was to be expected, re-
sponded generously to the appeal for a memorial to one 
of their best known presidents. The present head of the 
institution, Rev. John Cavanaugh, C. S. C., said in the 
Christmas number, 1909, of "The Notre Dame Scholas-
tic" : — 

"The Corby monument will be a gratifying proof of the 
patriotism of Notre Dame, and will show the devotion of 
the Church and her priesthood to our country in the dark 
days of the Civil War. Surely no old student will miss 
this opportunity of writing Alma Mater's name high on 
our country's roll of honor." 

The Sodality itself was a unit for the movement. N o 
meeting was held without a complete report of the Com-
mittee's progress. The Committee itself published two 



pamphlets, one in March and the other in August, 1909, 
and numerous printed circulars were mailed to possible 
subscribers. The second pamphlet contained the fol-
lowing from a letter sent with a substantial check from a 
loyal Catholic in the W e s t : — 

"It seems to me that there is Catholic admiration enough 
for Father Corby to raise several times the amount of 
money necessary for a suitable memorial to his memory. 
* * * I cannot but believe that tens of thousands, 
when they know the facts pertaining to Father Corby's 
heroic and saintly career, will desire to be added as con-
tributors to the monument to his memory." 

D E A T H O F G E N E R A L M U L H O L L A N D . 

On February 17th, 1910, when the success of the 
movement had been practically assured, General St. 
Qair A. Mulholland passed peacefully away. A s chair-
man of the Committee, he had devoted many hours which 
could ill be spared from a life as busy and as full of good 
deeds as his was, to the movement in every detail. He 
had travelled many miles to interview members of the 
hierarchy, prominent citizens of every shade of religious 
belief and organization conventions and meetings, small 
and large. Of the many sympathetic gatherings which 
took place after his death, by no means the least in num-
bers and sincere appreciation of his merits as a citizen 
of the Republic and a fervent member of the Church was 
the memorial meeting held by the Sodality at large. 
This is not the time or the place to re-record his many 
noble qualities; but we may be pardoned for quoting the 
remarks of the Secretary of the Committee, which were 
widely circulated:— 

" A t the last meeting of the Committee," wrote Secre-
tary Henry A. N. Daily, to a Western aide of the move-
ment, "it was decided that we should retain the name of 
General St. Qair A. Mulholland as our Chairman. Gen-
eral Mulholland was a magnificent example of the true 
Catholic patriot. His record as a soldier stands unsur-
passed and his whole life is an edification to all with 
whom he came in contact. His whole noble self was 

18 







given to the success of this movement, knowing Father 
Corby intimately as he did, having served with him: in 
the Irish Brigade. W e felt that we should retain his 
name as a tribute to his devotion and zeal in starting and 
doing so much for the movement. R. I. P ." 

U N V E I L I N G O F T H E M O N U M E N T . 

Saddened, but not discouraged by the death of their 
able chairman, the Committee took up its work with pa-
tient resolve, and by the Fall of 1910 saw clear the way 
for the early unveiling of the statue. Invitations were 
accordingly sent out for attendance on the exercises to 
be held at Gettysburg on Saturday, October 29, 1910. 
Of the responses the following were notable:— 

" C A R D I N A L ' S RESIDENCE, 
"408 N. Charles St., Baltimore. 

"OCT. 21, 1910. 
" M Y D E A R S I R : — I rejoice to learn that a monument 

will be dedicated Oct. 29th to Rev. Wm. Corby, C. S. C., 
at Gettysburg. This is an appropriate tribute to a faithful 
priest and heroic chaplain. 

"Faithfully yours, 
"(Signed) + J. CARD. GIBBONS. 

"Mr. H.A.N. Daily." 

" A R C H B I S H O P ' S H O U S E , 
Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Logan Square, Philadelphia. 

"OCT. 17, 1910. 
" M Y D E A R M R . D A I L Y : — I beg to acknowledge the 

receipt of the invitation to attend the dedication of the 
statue of Rev. Father William Corby, C. S. C., Chaplain 
of the 88th Regiment New York Infantry, on the battle 
field of Gettysburg, on Saturday, October 29th, 

"I regret that my appointments will not permit- my 
presence on the occasion, but I hope that a great number 
of our Catholic citizens will be there. The event com-
memorated by the statue is a most interesting one, and 
it was a happy thought to so perpetuate its memory. 

"Yours very faithfully, 
"(Signed) * P. J. R Y A N , 

"Abp. of Philadelphia." 

19 



On Friday afternoon, October 28, about two hundred 
members of the Sodality, with their friends, subscribers 
to the monument and invited guests, left Philadelphia on 
a special train over the Pennsylvania Railroad. On the 
evening of that day a "camp-fire" took place in Xavier 
Hall, Gettysburg. The children of the parochial schools 
sang' "Tenting To-night on the Old Camp-ground" and 
"The Star-Spangled Banner." 

The Committee takes this opportunity to thank, in an 
especial manner, Rev. Thomas W. Hayes, the pastor at 
Gettysburg. Father Hayes gave generously of his means 
and of his time in aid of the erection of the monument. 
The smoothness with which the exercises at Gettysburg 
progressed was due, in no small measure, to his efficient 
aid. 

The following addresses were delivered: — 

A D D R E S S B Y R E V . W A L T E R E L L I O T T , C . S . P . 

"Our first duty is to the dead, those brave men who offered 
their lives for their country in this great battle. May 
they rest in peace. Amen. And let us include the_ dead 
Confederates; let us pour upon the old sores of civil strife the 
unction of prayer and wrap about them the bandages of 
restored affection. 

"Next we should offer a greeting of unfeigned admiration 
to the survivors of this greatest conflict of the war of national 
preservation. May God grant them a peaceful evening of 
life and a happy death. 

"Our great occasion is the honoring of Father William 
Corby, and commemorating his administering sacramental 
absolution to the Irish Brigade, just before they went to the 
rescue of the Third Corps in the second day's fight. He was 
worthy to be chaplain of that dauntless band of Catholic Union 
soldiers. I knew him in the early fifties during my first year 
at Notre Dame University. He was then a scholastic, gentle, 
refined, cultured, and beaming with the first flush of his 
priestly and religious vocation. His family was an edifying 
one, as I happened to know, as my own home was in their 
vicinity. He looked forward to the placid and fruitful career 
of a university professor, for which he was admirably fitted 
by natural endowment and skilful training. God destined him 
to a warlike novitiate for that high calling. Hardly a year 
of his priesthood had elapsed—the very honeymoon of his 

20 



divine nuptials,—when the whole nation was plunged into 
bloody civil war, and young Father Corby was sent forth as 
military chaplain. Holy Cross Community, then but a little 
order in numbers and temporal resources, but great in God's 
plans for His Church in America, seemed to forget every-
thing, even its primary vocation for higher education, in the 
presence of the nation's peril. I am persuaded that one cause 
of the magnificent success of Holy Cross during the past 
thirty years, is the merit won by Father Sorin's disinterested 
patriotism, in giving Father Corby and four other splendid 
priests, the newest and brightest members of his order, to work 
for God, nay if need were to die for God and country, in the 
ministry of an army chaplain in our great war. 

"The true value of any human quality is fixed by the eternal 
scales of death. And a priest's high place in God's dealing 
with men, is only fully known, when God would by his means 
show His mastery of the terrors of death. Sudden and cruel 
is death's stroke on the battlefield. But there is a true say-
ing;'Peace hath her victories no less renowned than those of 
war,' victories, in fact, over war itself. Corby changed the 
defiant glare of a warlike death into the tender hopefulness 
of a Christian's departure into eternity. Instead of the fierce 
eagerness of war, the dying soldier, by this priest's ministra-
tions, was wholly filled with thoughts of God's goodness to 
sinners, the dread light of battle giving place to radiant hopes 
of pardon. 

"Praise, if you will, the iron valor of a soldier in the thick 
of battle. But this glory must yield to the peaceful laurels 
of Christ's crown, granted by sacramental absolution, all em-
purpled with the blood He shed on Calvary. Who can tell 
how many hundreds and thousands of souls during the Civil 
War, exchanged, in their dying hour, under the spell of 
Corby's priesthood, the rage of conflict with men for the 
blessedness of sure confidence in God's eternal love. 

"Generals of all grades are rightly honored on this memor-
able field in enduring granite and bronze; for our army was 
well led, and our leaders were worthy of both their cause and 
their brave soldiers. But war ends at last, while peace never 
ends, for it is God's eternal benison. It was Corby's lofty 
destiny to be generalissimo in a warfare greater even than 
that waged to save the American Union,—that of love aeainst 
hate. & 

"Therefore the public-spirit of the Philadelphia Corby Mem-
orial Committee is worthy of all applause, in arranging for 
the placing of our monument on this battlefield of Gettys-
burg." . ? 

21 



A D D R E S S B Y R E V . J O H N C A V A N A U G H , C . S . C . 

"As I understand it, the 'Camp Fire' is an occasion for 
recollections of a war or a particular battle in it. Now my 
recollections of Gettysburg are naturally somewhat meagre. 
I did, however, know Father Corby. I had the precious priv-
ilege of living for years with him in the intimacy of community 
life. His genial spirit is among the happiest experiences and 
most treasurable memories of my life. Kindliness was the 
essence of the man. It pained him when his duty required 
him to give pain to others. Faith and piety beamed from his 
countenance. Looking upon his face, one might easily fancy 
that some seraph had strayed from its path in the sky, and 
had lighted on our earth to tarry for a little while. God 
loves any country when he sends it priests like Father Corby. 
It is to men like them that the Church looks hopefully to see 
to it that her message shall be borne acceptably with no 
stammering tongue to the people of America. 

"And what is the message that the Catholic Church brings 
to America? What return can she make for the gift of 
liberty? She says to America; 'As you have your symbol, 
so I have mine. Your flag was but a bit of painted cloth 
until it was made to stand for a great reality—for liberty 
under the law, for stories of courage and patience in war, 
deeds of honor and matchless devotion in peace, for hospi-
tality to the oppressed of every land, the fullest material well-
being, the highest industrial genius, the largest toleration, 
universal manhood suffrage, an honest zeal for peace among 
nations and an amazing enthusiasm for the education of 
youth. My symbol is the Cross. In pagan times, it was a 
token of ignominy; but one day on a little hill in old Judea 
there loomed against the sky a cross on which hung, naked 
and bleeding, the noblest, truest Man that ever lived—nailed 
there, because he loved his brothers and would do them good; 
and to-day, nineteen centuries after, as during all the years 
between, the Cross has been kissed and treasured and adored 
as the holiest of symbols by all civilized men.' 

"The Church comes to America, humanity's latest and great-
est experiment in democracy, and she says: 'Before you were 
even a hope in the hearts of men, I was an ancient reality. 
It is true that the splendor of my throne has at certain epochs 
drawn to me the princes of this world, but I am democracy's 
finest exponent. The wealth of story and fable cannot pur-
chase the papal tiara; the cunning of statecraft cannot compass 
it. Like my Divine Master, I have put down the mighty 
from their seat and have exalted the humble. My first pope 
was a fisherman, and when, a few years ago, I selected his 
latest successor, I made choice between Cardinal Svampa, 



the son of a shepherd, Cardinal Gotti, the son of a dock-
laborer, and Cardinal Sarto, Pope Pius X, for whose educa-
tion his poor mother sold her little farm.' 

"The Church looks upon the elaborate system of public 
schools that cover the land and she says: 'From the beginning 
I have been the great educator. The historic universities of 
the world grew up in the sunshine of my favor. I applaud 
your zeal for the spread of knowledge, but I remind you that 
nimble minds and athletic bodies do not make a God-fearing 
and moral and enduring nation. My parish schools cost me 
twenty-five millions of dollars a year, and for that sum I could 
build each year a Cathedral or a University that would be one 
of the world's wonders; but I gladly make the sacrifice 
to save the faith of my little ones; for the centuries have 
taught me that the heart of culture is culture of the heart; 
that the soul of improvement is improvement of the soul; that 
great epochs, creative epochs, have invariably been epochs of 
strong religious belief; that faith watches over the cradles of 
nations while unbelief doubts and argues over their graves.' 

"The Church looks upon the sects teaching an undogmatic, 
vague and formless religion, and she says to them; 'Because 
you have turned away from the ancient truths, and have lost 
your power to comfort and inspire, you now lead men only 
as the wheelbarrow leads the man who pushes it. You have 
despised dogma and tradition, and have constituted every man 
his own theologian. But I say to you that the unlettered 
masses need to be taught; they cannot reason out for them-
selves the stupendous problems of life and eternity. The 
man who comes home from his work in the evening ex-
hausted by toil cannot do it. The professional man, however 
brilliant in his own vocation, has not the specialist's knowledge 
of religion. These men are doing the practical work of the 
world. They could not give their days and their nights to 
these problems if they would, and they would not do it, if 
they could. Moreover, a man cannot afford to wait for his 
religion until his hair is gray. He needs it in his youth. He 
needs it most of all during the years when his lower nature 
begins to rebel against his higher instinct. During the won-
derful period of adolescence when Almighty God is building 
up the body of a boy and changing him into a man; when his 
mind is emerging from the period of play and entering upon 
the period of reflection, a great change is taking place in the 
young man's soul. During those years is largely determined 
the question of whether he will go through life standing 
upright like a man with his face to the stars or whether he 
will wallow through the world like a beast with his face to 
the earth. His raw, untrained mind is unfit to work out 
fundamental problems of ethics and metaphysics; yet it is 

23 



this stupendous task you lay upon him. Man must be taught, 
and, therefore, God sent me, His living messenger. I come 
to you fresh from the empty cross and the empty tomb; I 
come to you from Christ and Peter; I have not forgotten my 
message, for adown the centuries I have repeated it to myself 
and to the world in the selfsame words in which I received it. 
For every problem of life I have the answer; the experience 
of twenty centuries I have stored up and recorded. I have 
the words of eternal life; accept my message!' 

"To the spirit of socialism she says; 'I am the Church of the 
poor as well as of the rich; the millionaire and the mendicant 
kneel in equal humbleness around my confessional. The 
prince and the pauper alike approach my communion table 
with folded hands and downcast eyes. The rich and the poor 
you will always have with you; you will always have Dives 
feasting in his banquet hall and Lazarus languishing at his 
gate. It is just as wrong to kick a man because he is up as 
to kick a man because he is down.' 

"To anarchy she says: 'The most sacred thing in all the 
world is authority. "Authority is the golden ladder whose 
lowest round rests upon earth and whose top is bound to 
the great white throne of God." St. Paul speaks of the 
freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. Accept the law 
of God, and you become a child of freedom; despise that law, 
and you have become a slave of passion. Accept the laws of 
health, and you live a happy, wholesome life; depise them, and 
nature will scourge you with whips of scorpions and plague 
you with disease. Accept the laws of the commonwealth, 
and you move among your fellows, majestic and independent 
as a king; transgress those laws, and you must shun the face 
of day, and skulk in darkness like a hunted, hated thing. 
Wherever you turn, whether to religion or philosophy or 
history, whether to nature without or conscience within, 
whether to the health of soul or body, this lesson is written 
in letters of fire over all the universe; Obey law, or die.' 

"The Church looks with shame and sorrow on homes made 
desolate by divorce and she cries out against the desecration. 
Not unheralded, and not without credentials, does she come 
to plead for the home, for, if any should challenge her right, 
she would point to that event in history which, more than 
any other, has sown religious discord among us who speak 
the English tongue. She would say: 'You men of America, 
you men of Canada and England, and Australia, and New 
Zealand, and India, have you forgotten at what cost you 
were lost to me? I was willing to pay even that price rather 
than betray the sanctity of marriage. Do you not remember 
that sorrowful day when I, the Lady of Kingdoms, sat down 
in the dust to weep over my dead greatness? One by one 

24 



the nations had deserted me, until it seemed there was noth-
ing left, but the promise of Christ that I should not fail for-
ever. At this terrible juncture the King of England, that 
Henry who had won the title of "Defender of the Faith," 
stood forth against me and declared that, unless he were per-
mitted to divorce his wife and marry another, England also 
would go away. In the day of my perfect power and glory, 
it would have been a staggering blow. What must it have 
been in the hour of my humiliation and grief? But the in-
tegrity of God's word was at stake, and though it grieved me 
sore to do it, without a moment's hesitation I paid the great 
price. The millions of English-speaking men and women 
over the world were hopelessly lost to the Church, but the 
Christian home was saved and the sanctity of Christian mar-
riage was vindicated.' 

"These are some of the elements of the message which the 
Church brings to America, and when you look into them 
carefully, and note how essential they are to the very life of 
America, I ask you is it too much to say that the Catholic 
Church is an absolute essential to America; as essential as 
the Declaration of Independence, or the Supreme Court, or 
the Constitution of the United States? 

"Some agency must do this work for America, but what 
shall that agency be? The expedient that has been most 
widely accepted by the men, if not the women of our day, 
is naturalism. Look about you and see the vast herds of 
men who are living purely natural lives, who go through 
weeks and months and years with no thought of prayer, who 
resort to their temples only when self-interest or society or 
curiosity or custom summons them thither; whose norm of 
conduct is to state it at its highest only their natural con-
science, and to state at its truest, is a more or less shadowy 
sense of respectability. What we Catholics understand by 
the Grace of God—The Holy Ghost flooding the mind of a 
man with light so that he sees things in their true proportions 
as God sees them; the Holy Ghost infusing strength into the 
will and bringing reinforcements to the struggling soul-—of all 
this the natural man has no conception. He does not believe 
in a personal devil, and he has only a vague notion of an 
offended God. He has no sense of sin. He realizes that he 
has strong passions, but these, he says, are natural and he 
will follow the way of the world; he will gratify them to his 
heart's content so that only his health be not seriously im-
paired, so that only he be not killed or imprisoned, so that 
only he escapes public disgrace or social ostracism by his 
friends. He prides himself most on his ability to take care 
of himself and in rare instances when the elements are hap-
pily mixed in him, he may lead a life at least outwardly 

25 



respectable. But more often this man who talked so bravely 
of self-control and will-power is swept away on the whirlwind 
of passion. It is avarice and he is cast into prison as a forger; 
or he goes through life wearing the shame of a defaulter and 
hearing even in his dreams the curse of the poor man whom 
his avarice has beggared. It is lust and his pathway is 
strewn with evil memories and broken hearts and public and 
private scandal. Death claims his wife or a beloved child 
as a victim and he sits by the open coffin dumb with grief 
or gasping incoherent pleadings into the ear of the dead. 
Business ventures fail him and, left to struggle hopelessly 
with a strain which tortures his mind and fills him with 
despair, he leaps into the river at midnight or sends a bullet 
into his brain. He dies an evil death, and leaves a tainted 
and dishonored name as a heritage to his family.. 

"Such then is naturalism as it works itself out to its logical 
result in the conduct of men. It is the philosophy of death, 
not life; the philosophy of failure, not of success. It holds 
no joy for humanity in this life, no joy for humanity in the 
next. 

"There are other gentle philosophers who would ask men to 
cultivate morals because in the long run it will be for the 
good of the race. Live wholesome lives, say the Positivists, 
because a thousand years from to-day humanity will be the 
better for your self-restraint. We are expected to believe that 
when the rush and tumult of passion comes upon a man he 
will pause in his purpose to remember that in the ages to 
come a generation of which he knows nothing and in which 
he has only a platonic interest will profit by his abstinence; 
but every student who knows the heart of men is aware that 
in the hour of temptation humanity is likely to ask, with Sir 
Walter Boyle Roche, 'What has posterity done for us?' 

"Let the pale-eyed and anemic philosopher who has never 
felt the rush of red blood in his veins remind himself of the 
generations whose welfare depends upon his present action; 
let him retire virtuously to some quiet spot and regale his 
soul with that thin delight, but for the great living masses 
of humanity you want:a more vital influence, a stronger 
motive, a more compelling restraint. 

"Still other gentle philosophers will tell us that virtue is its 
own reward, that moral-conduct is only to be seen in order 
to be loved, that culture and the refinements of life will make 
men love the good and practice it. A few years ago there 
stood before the world a brilliant young man, whose genius, 
had it been properly directed, might have shed light and 
strength upon the race of men. You remember Oscar Wilde. 
He was truly a lord of language. He played upon the re-
sources of our English tongue as a great master charms forth 

26 



undreamed-of melodies from the heart of a great organ. 
He was the apostle of Aestheticism, and while his eccentric-
ities excited some derision, his genius, his exquisite refine-
ment of speech and manner were Such as to bear down the 
ridicule and win for him the admiration of men. He believed 
in salvation through the gospel of culture; he chanted in 
glorious language the dirge of dead religions; he summoned 
humanity to lift its face to the new Sun that was to usher in 
the great day of emancipation from the ancient and wornout 
creeds. The day of emancipation never came, but instead 
came a day when that man of genius stood in prison stripes 
behind the prison bars, flung there by an outraged world 
because of unspeakable crimes against morality. The people 
who would save humanity through the gospel of culture; who 
would incite men to be sober and chaste, to keep their bodies 
and their houses decent, to lift them out of the gutter by 
giving them social ambitions and teaching them the habits 
of educated people, ought to bear in mind that neither amuse-
ments nor social ambitions ever kept a man or woman from 
the grogshop or the brothel, when they wanted to go there. 
You cannot fight liquor or lust in the soul with magic lanterns, 
or even by clean clothes or nice table manners. It is like 
planting morning-glories on a dungheap—the flowers bloom, 
but the rottenness and decay are untouched beneath. 

"On the other hand, religion has from the beginning in-
spired men to virtue and restrained them from vice. It was 
she, who in the morning of history, developed the human 
conscience by pointing with flaming sword beyond the skies, 
by reminding men perpetually of the unknown and myste-
rious, by warning him of the sleepless eye of God that sees 
man's acts and man's heart and by announcing justice and 
judgment in the day of final accounting. Not all the laws 
of civilization could prevent robbery and urge men to patient 
labor, without the power of religion behind them; not all the 
literatures of the world could have created the Christian 
family; not all the philosophy in the world could cheer the 
heart of sorrow or charm away despair from those who suffer. 
Look upon the poor woman dying in pain and poverty, whisper 
words of faith and hope into her ear and observe how her face 
lights up and her heart is cheered and strengthened. Now 
suppose we repeated for her all that is to be found in the 
Greek poets and philosophers, all the wonderful things we 
have found in the tangled mazes of human thought, what 
consolation would we have brought her? Philosophy and 
culture are good enough for the easy chair and the warm 
slippers of a man at peace with the world, and having a good 
digestion; but for the sorrowing and afflicted, for the vast 
heaving masses of humanity with all the cark and care of life 

27 



upon them, one act of faith, one whisper of hope, one smould-
ering spark of divine love is incomparably better than all the 
subtle speculations of academic loungers and drawing-room 
philosophers. What do they know of life in its ruddiness? 
From the depths of their easy chairs they do not see the 
battleground of the world. The millions of men and women 
who bear their heavy burdens with patience, almost with 
gladness, young people standing on slippery ground, com-
pelled to choose daily between virtue and suffering on 
the one hand and some alluring form of sin on the other, feel-
ing the pangs of poverty, trembling in the clutch of disease, 
conscious always that by turning away to a career of sin 
they might escape these horrors; but conscious, too, of the 
dignity and the destiny of their immortal souls, turning 
steadfastly away from evil, never dreaming of surrendering 
their souls to the demands of the body. And the man of 
discernment, as he looks on these scenes, recognizes in them 
a heroism as worthy of eternal remembrance as the martyrs 
of any age; and the Church and the angels of God, as they 
lean over the battlements of heaven, see nothing in all the 
earth or sky one-half- so beautiful as the patient lives of the 
poor. Now they understand why to the poor in spirit is 
promised the Kingdom of Heaven, for Christ lives on eternally 
in these Christ-like lives. 

"This is the lesson that the priest of to-day has to teach the 
world, just as it fell to Father Corby fifty years ago to teach 
America how the heart of the Church beats in unison with 
the heart of the nation. It is for us, the priesthood, in the 
days of peace to rival the courage, the untiring zeal of the 
priesthood of those woeful days of war, that fifty years from 
to-day, another, standing not upon a great battlefield, but in 
the midst of a vast monument to peace, may say with as much 
truth of us as we say of Corby and the other chaplains: They 
did a great work greatly." 

James J. Smith, of Cleveland, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel 
of Volunteers, who, during the war was in the Sixty-
ninth New Y o r k Volunteers, was among those present at 
the camp-fire. Thomas F. McGrath, of San Francisco, 
a First Lieutenant of the Sixty-ninth New Y o r k Volun-
teers, was, to his great regret, unable to make the long 
journey across the continent. T o him, in great measure, 
the Committee owes its thanks for the generous response 
of his fellow-townsmen to its appeal for funds. His 
reminiscences of General Mulholland, in the San Fran-

28 



cisco "Monitor" in the early Spring of 1910, were timely 
and touching. 

S O L E M N H I G H M A S S . 

On the morning of Saturday, October 29, low masses 
were celebrated in St. Francis Xavier's Church, Gettys-
burg, at six, seven, eight and nine o'clock. After the ar-
rival of a second special train from Philadelphia over the 
Pennsylvania Railroad a Solemn High Mass was celebra-
ted by Rev. Thomas W . Hayes, Rector of St. Francis 
Xavier's Church, Gettysburg; the deacon was Rev. John 
Cavanaugh, C. S. C., President of Notre Dame Univer-
sity, and the sub-deacon was Rev. William S. Singleton, 
S. J., Vice-President of St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia. 
Rev. Mark Stock was Master of Ceremonies. Among 
those present in the sanctuary were Right Rev. Bishop 
McSherry, of South Africa; Right Rev. Stephen Soter 
Ortynsky, (Greek) Ruthenian Bishop) for the United 
States; Mgr. Philip R. McDevitt, Superintendent of the 
parochial schools of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; 
Mgr. J. M. Connolly, of New Y o r k ; Rev. Charles W . 
Lyons, S. J., President of St. Joseph's College, Philadel-
phia, and Moderator of the Catholic Alumni Sodality. 
The sermon was delivered by Mgr. James P. Turner, D. D., 
Prot. Ap., Vicar-General and Chancellor of the Arch-
diocese of Philadelphia. It was characterized by the 
"Catholic Standard and Times" of Philadelphia, in its 
issue of November 5th, 1910, as "a sermon notable for 
its lucid presentation of the divine origin of the priest's 
power to forgive sin, closing with a striking picture of 
Father Corby's dramatic exercise of this power." 

T H E F I N A L E X E R C I S E S . 

A t 1.30 in the afternoon of Saturday, October 29th, 
1910, the church bells began to ring, and at 2 o'clock 
all was in readiness for the final exercises in honor of 
the first priest to be thus commemorated on any battle-
field. Several hundred Catholics, whose numbers should 
have been greater, and doubtless would have been had 

29 



the weather been more propitious, participated in the cere-
monies. There was no procession or display of any sort, 
except that the speakers' stand was draped with the na-
tional colors, and the bronze figure of Father Corby was 
concealed by the folds of a large American flag, awaiting 
the hand of the little girl who was to unveil it. 

"The site," says the "Catholic Standard and Times," 
of Philadelphia, in its issue of November 5th, 1910, "se-
lected for the monument is most advantageous. A nat-
ural pedestal for the statue—similar to the one on which 
the heroic Chaplain stood upon that memorable July 
day—rises some three feet or more above the sod, close 
to the main avenue, and within a few hundred yards of 
the magnificent Pennsylvania Memorial Arch, dedicated 
a few weeks ago." When the statue was unveiled there 
was "disclosed the heroic figure of the Chaplain (in the 
uniform of his rank, captain of cavalry), standing with 
arm outstretched in the act of pronouncing absolution, 
and with a countenance upon which the sculptor, with 
exquisite art, has caught the look of spiritual love which 
must have radiated from the face of the Shepherd of 
that martial flock." 

Samuel Murray, sculptor of the monument, was one of 
the honored guests of the occasion. 

The Gettysburg Band played several martial airs, and 
then the final exercises began. They were simple and 
impressive, admirable in their smoothness and dignity. 

A D D R E S S B Y W A L T E R G E O R G E S M I T H , E S Q . 

"We are assembled to commemorate an event unique in 
the history of the great Civil War. On this battle ground 
consecrated for all time by memories that will endure even 
after these bronze and marble monuments have crumbled into 
dust, another effigy is to be dedicated, to a soldier, but a 
soldier of the Church, to a hero, but a hero in the cause of 
religion. The pages of history glow with the records of 
deeds of heroism done on land and sea by officers, soldiers 
and sailors, who illustrated American courage on both sides 
of the mighty conflict, and with fitting appreciation of the 
value of their example, the scenes they have immortalized 

30 



have been marked by a grateful people, but now for the first 
time a monument has been erected to perpetuate the mem-
ory of a deed done directly for the glory of God and the 
salvation of the human soul. Amid these trimphant mon-
uments of solders we have placed the presentment of a priest 
in the act of performing one of the most sacred functions 
of his office. In doing so we have honored ourselves as 
well as him whose devotion to his holy calling has given 
occasion to our work. The military spirit is latent in every 
manly heart; no one can tread these heights without a quick-
ening of the blood as he recalls the glorious deeds enacted 
upon them, but surely it is well here of all places to have 
our thoughts turned to the great Author of life, and the 
paramount duty resting upon every man to consecrate him-
self first of all to His service. Therefore, this monument to 
Father Corby has been erected, and we may hope that it 
will bring to the minds of every traveller upon this field for 
generations yet unborn not only the name and deed of the 
heroic Chaplain, but the truth that in the battle of life the 
first essential for the courageous warrior is the offering of 
his whole being to his Father in Heaven." 

P R A Y E R B Y R E V . J O H N C A V A N A U G H , C . S . C . 

"Almighty God, Lord of Heaven and Earth, look with favor 
on Thy children assembled in Thy name. We praise Thee, 
we bless Thee, we adore Thee, we glorify Thee. We give 
Thee thanks for Thy great glory. Grant us Thy grace that, 
doing Thy will with loving hearts, and keeping ourselves 
unspotted from this world, we may deserve to be joined to 
Thee in the peace of eternity; through Christ our Lord. 

"Almighty and Merciful God, Giver of life and Lord of 
death, grant eternal rest unto the souls of all the faithful 
departed, and admit them speedily into the place of refresh-
ment, light and peace. Look mercifully, we beseech Thee, 
on those especially who have gone down to death that liberty 
might live; on those whose blood has hallowed this spot, 
and made it forever memorable in the hearts of their grateful 
fellow-countrymen. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, 
and let perpetual light shine upon them. 

" O God, from whom are right counsels and just works, 
send forth Thy spirit on all who in Thy name exercise author-
ity, and administer the laws for justice' sake. Bless our 
beloved country, and make her always the custodian of liberty, 
the refuge of the oppressed, the patron of peace and the 
fostering mother of all civic and social virtues; through Jesus 
Christ, Our Lord. Amen." 

31 



T H E U N V E I L I N G . 

The five-year-old daughter of President Daily, Berria-
dette, was then escorted from the speaker's stand by 
Captain James G. Mitchell, engineer-in-charge of the 
Pennsylvania Memorial Arch. A s she pulled the silken 
cord, the Stars and Stripes which enfolded the statue 
slowly fell, disclosing the simple and stately monument. 

A D D R E S S B Y H E N R Y A . N . D A I L Y , E S Q . , 

P R E S I D E N T O F T H E C A T H O L I C A L U M N I S O D A L I T Y 

O F P H I L A D E L P H I A , 

"Right Reverend Monsignor, Reverend Fathers, Ladies and 
Gentlemen, Fellow-Sodalists and Gentlemen of the Battle-
field Commission:— 

"Nearly every page of our country's history is emblazoned 
with the story of some great or noble act, performed by men of 
the faith which we are proud to confess.'. 

"From the day when first the great Columbus trod the 
shores of far off San Salvador, down through all the various 
stages of our history, down to our own very day, in fact, our 
people, (Catholic men), have ever been conspicuous by the 
part which they have taken in the discovery, upbuilding and 
preservation of this great and glorious country. 

"History records many names worthy of our deepest and 
most sincere admiration, but we find no name in all of our 
history of a more perfect type of a true Catholic and patriot 
than the noble and heroic priest of God whose memory we 
are met to honor on this historic spot to-day. 

"The reverend orator, who will follow me, will tell you in 
eloquent terms of the many and glorious deeds of this great 
priest and patriot, who, for four long years during those awful 
days from '61 to '65, gave so freely of his strength and endur-
ance, and who. time and again risked his life in the performance 
of his many and arduous duties. 

"For my part, I merely wish to narrate a few instances 
connected with the development of the project, which has 
resulted in the erection of this beautiful and artistic statue. 

"Father Corby was Chaplain of the 88th Regiment, New 
York Infantry, one of the five regiments composing the 
famous Irish Brigade. Serving with Father Corby, in the 
same brigade and as regimental commander of one of its 
famous regiments, was one whom many of us had the happy 
privilege of knowing intimately, as brave a soldier as ever 
wore the Union Blue, and as perfect a Christian and a 
gentleman as any of us dare hope to be. 

32 







"Retiring from the army, at the close of the war, with the 
rank of Brevet Major-General, with a record for bravery 
second to none, proud possessor of a Congressional Medal of 
Honor, won for conspicuous bravery in the face of the enemy, 
he spent a lifetime in the service of his God and his fellow 
men, making all who knew him love and revere him, and, 
when he departed this life on the 17th of last February, the 
one whose great hope and fondest dream was to stand on this 
spot to-day and see completed, the ambition of half a lifetime. 

"I refer to the devoted friend and companion in arms of 
the Rev. Father Corby, our late lamented and very beloved 
fellow Sodalist, General St. Clair A. Mulholland, one time 
Colonel of the 116th Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

"To General Mulholland is due honor and appreciation 
from everyone, for his zeal in promoting the movement which 
has ultimately resulted in to-day's ceremonies. For years 
General Mulholland told the story of Father Corby at Gettys-
burg, both on the lecture platform and to his friends privately, 
and his one great hope, and one great ambition was to see 
his dearly beloved friend commemorated by a heroic statue 
placed upon a rock on the site of the famous absolution. 

"Despite his long endeavor to interest the people in this 
laudable project, it was not until the evening of December 13, 
1908, that the project received its first real support. On that 
evening—and I have always thought it a happy coincidence, 
that it was the anniversary of the battle of Fredericksburg— 
that day on which the Irish Brigade so valiantly covered itself 
with glory and added another bright star to the already 
brilliant firmament, which covers the name of the Irish Bri-
gade—on that evening, at the conclusion of a meeting held in 
Philadelphia, under the auspices of the Federation of Catholic 
Societies, General Mulholland was called upon to narrate once 
more the story of . Father Corby giving absolution to the Irish 
Brigade. He stood there before the audience in that easy, 
possessed and gallant manner of his, rolling off the story with 
the grace which alone belonged to him, and when he had 
finished once more had he aroused that patriotic assemblage 
with the enthusiasm which the narration of the incident always 
called forth, but, unlike previous occasions, that story was the 
one that aroused the interests which were to finally make his 
dream a reality." 

"The Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia, of which 
General Mulholland was an honored ex-President, took up the 
work on January 17, 1909, and authorized the formation of 
the committee which so diligently and faithfully prosecuted 
the work with a never ceasing zeal to a successful com-
pletion. 

"From the very beginning of the movement we met with 
33 



the most enthusiastic and hearty endorsement from the hier-
archy and priesthood of our Church; patriotic and generous 
responses followed from the laity, and with the magnificent 
support accorded us by the present President and the Alumni 
of Notre Dame University the work of collecting necessary 
funds progressed. 

"While to-day we do not have all the money we had hoped 
to raise with which to fittingly and properly crown this happy 
day, we feel we have accomplished much in the work, which 
it is now our happiness to tender to you the honorable gentle-
men composing the Battlefield Commission. 

"In this connection I might say there was a time when the 
response to our appeal was not as plentiful as we had hoped 
for, and then it was that that grand old patriot, our lamented 
Chairman, was consumed with a great fear, lest his cherished 
project might fail. A few hours before he died he sent for 
me, and I then assured him that the monument need give 
him no concern, as I felt that the erection of the monument 
was positively assured and the successful completion of our 
work was as certain as if the statue was at that time in place 
on this rock. One of our greatest sources of gratification 
to-day is the knowledge that we, his fellow Sodalists, have 
fulfilled that which may be taken as a pledge of one whose 
honored membership in our Sodality is one of its most precious 
remembrances. 

"In my capacity as President of the Catholic Alumni 
Sodality, it is therefore my pleasant duty to present to you 
and ask you to take into custody this statue of bronze, repre-
senting the highest type of Catholic patriotism. While we 
are honoring Father Corby, particularly in the erection of 
this monument, for the important part which his heroic action 
bore in the general results of that titanic struggle which 
occurred on this field forty-seven years ago, we also feel that 
the placing of this statue upon this historic spot will be, in the 
words of that valiant soldier, General James W. Latta:— 

" 'So significantly appropriate to that Christian civil-
ization, for which the Republic so conspicuously stands.' " 

A C C E P T A N C E O F T H E M O N U M E N T . 

Colonel John P. Nicholson, Chairman of the Gettys-
burg National Park Commission, received the Statue 
upon behalf of the War Department. 

An address was then delivered by Rev. Charles W . 
Lyons. S. J., President of St. Joseph's College, Philadel-
phia, and then Moderator of the Sodality. 

34 



[We are indebted to the issue of November 5th, 1910, 
of "The Catholic Standard and Times," of Philadelphia, 
which contained this account.] 

A D D R E S S B Y R E V . C H A R L E S W . L Y O N S , S . J . 

"Rev. Father Lyons, speaking ex tempore and inspired by 
the impressiveness of the occasion and the close attention of 
his auditors, gave expression to the thought that thronged 
upon him in periods of rounded eloquence, surcharged with 
religious and patriotic fervor which called forth frequent 
bursts of applause. There was, he began, some similarity 
between this monument and one erected recently near Phila-
delphia to the memory of one of Pennsylvania's heroes of an 
older time—General Anthony Wayne. But there was a dif-
erence, and this was the keynote of Father Lyons' eloquent 
address—a difference which marked Father Corby in the 
supreme moment of his priestly act here commemorated in 
bronze, as one inflamed with a greater and broader spirit of 
patriotism and charity than that of the warrior. 'For,' said 
the reverend orator, 'while Mad Anthony Wayne is shown 
gazing out proudly and lovingly upon the land that he loved 
and battled for, Father Corby, standing upon the rock at 
the moment of pronouncing the words of absolution, saw not 
only the men before him who were his companions and whom 
he loved, but more. His great heart embraced all that was 
back of those kneeling soldiers—the home places and the 
loved ones there, whose happiness was to be so intimately 
affected by the outcome of those next few moments.' 

"Glowingly Father Lyons spoke of the self-sacrifice and 
devotion of Father Corby's service throughout the war, and 
in his eloquent peroration he bade his hearers rejoice that this 
monument shall stand forever as a silent testimonial to the 
highest and truest patriotism—the patriotism of Catholic man-
hood." 

The Benediction was delivered by Rev. Walter Elliott, 
C. S. P. 

C O M P L E T I O N O F T H E T A S K . 

The press notices of the unveiling of the monument 
were unusually good. The "Philadelphia Press" con-
tained, in addition to the descriptive matter in its issue 
of October 30th, 1910, a cut from the official photograph 
of the monument. "The Catholic Standard and Times," of 
Philadelphia, in its issue of November 5th, 1910, the San 

35 



Francisco "Monitor" of the same date, and the Gettys-
burg "Compiler" of November 2d, were noteworthy. 
The omission of press notices, lay and religious, is un-
avoidable where so many were of excellence. The com-
piler of this brochure read an account of the exercises 
attendant upon the unveiling in far off Cuba. 

Words of self-gratulation are, perhaps, out of place. 
Father Corby* now stands in bronzef upon that vast 
battlefield, and the monument erected under the auspices 
of the Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia will re-
main there until the battlefield itself is riven asunder 
before that last dread day when the Lord of Hosts Him-
self will come to judge the conqueror and the conquered, 
the men who received absolution and the Chaplain who 
gave it. Wherever and whenever general absolution may 
have been given before in the presence of a martial array, 
no such imperishable commemoration has heretofore 

been made of such an incident. The incident and its 
commemoration in this wise is one more reminder—not 
unnecessary in this day and generation—of the loyalty 
of us Catholics to our great Republic, of the devotion 
of priest to people, of the care of Church for souls, all 
for the greater glory of God. 

* General James D. Brady is the author of some personal reminis-
cences of Father Corby in the " A v e Maria" for February 5th, 1898, 
Vol. X L V I , No. 6. pages 175-178. It is a life-like picture of the 
devoted chaplain by a war-time comrade and penitent. 

t A replica of the monument was placed in June, 1911, on the campus 
of Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana. The replica is from 
the hand of Samuel Murray himself. 

36