The Maréchale (Catherine Booth-Clibborn)Strahan, James
Religion
The Maréchale (Catherine Booth-Clibborn)
Strahan, James
Booth-Clibborn, Catherine, 1860-1955
as well as from the succeeding silence in which she knew that faithful
hearts were praying for her. The clouds vanished, the fear of men was
gone, and only the awe of the unseen world remained upon her spirit.
Slowly she walked onto the platform, not raising her eyes from the
ground. The audience seemed petrified by the strange apparition. After
a moment of deathly silence, her clear, penetrating voice sounded
through the hall.
"’He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief ... and we esteemed Him not. _Nous n’en avons fait aucun
cas_.’
"If I wear mourning to-night, it is the better to express the feelings
which are in the depths of my heart. Your people, who are capable of
great things, are going to their ruin. On all hands there are nameless
miseries, despairing cries of women and children without defence and
exposed to shame and the most frightful misery, and why? Because you
have made Him—Christ—of no account. I mourn your sins, the sins of your
country; the drunkenness, the debauchery, the selfishness, the wrongs
which are seen everywhere; your rejection of the Christ of God, the
Saviour of the world. This fills me with sorrow, and this, unless it is
forsaken, will bring upon you the judgments of God."
Thus she unburdened her soul, and thus began not a three weeks’ but a
two months’ campaign, which from the first moment—in so strange contrast
to the tumultuous openings at Havre and Rouen—was marked by a beautiful
reverence and solemnity. The services of the police were never required
during the whole time. Four or five evening meetings were held every
week, besides afternoon gatherings, _salon_ meetings, and midnight
suppers. All Brussels was moved. An eminent statesman said to the
Maréchale, "Everybody has been ridiculed here except you. Ridicule
kills everything; you have killed ridicule."
In the full tide of the mission she wrote to her father: "Most
marvellously is God working here in Brussels. Last night I had the
concert-hall crowded and a great number were turned back at the door.
The silence, the attention is unbroken, and there is conviction among
all kind of persons. Worldly and Catholic papers speak beautifully of
us. Four journals have given leading articles to me. Praise God, it is
all His work! This morning I had a conversation with a senator who is
at the head of the party of progress here, and he says that the movement
is the most remarkable "the city has seen for a hundred years and that
the effects are profound and astonishing." Another senator has sent me
£20. I feel more than ever now I ought to continue and push the battle.
We shall be able to do something extraordinary and put Belgium on a new
footing."
The first senator referred to in the letter was M. le Jeune, who said to
the Maréchale—
"The bar, the artist world, society, Catholic and Protestant—they have
all come to hear you. You are universal, Madame."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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