Ecclesiastics and Military Chaplains in the Great War

Written by Maury Fert

Novices, clerics, converts, seminarians, priests, fathers and members of different religious orders, all fell under the call of arms. Indeed, most of them (about 10,000 out of 28,000) were fully included in combat units without distinction of any kind from the other soldiers.

The religious and secular clergy, according to the rules in force in the early twentieth century, had to perform military service in peacetime like every other citizen of the Kingdom of Italy. The mobilization provisions did not provide for religious service among combat troops.

The introduction of military chaplains in the Royal Italian Army is due to Gen. Cadorna, who in a circular of April 12, 1915 ordered the assignment of military chaplains to every regiment and body of the Armed Forces.

The appointment of chaplains allowed the ecclesiastics to avoid the condition of being priest-soldiers. There were numerous questions supported by more or less influential recommendations that were periodically addressed to the competent authority, namely the Field Bishop, a position that for the full duration of the Great War was held by Bishop Monsignor Angelo Bartolomasi, who was awarded with the rank and remuneration of Major General. Chaplains instead were granted the rank of Lieutenant.

According to the most recent estimates, there were 2,738 military chaplains operating at the front, of which 742 were located in local hospitals, 18 in the Reserves, 591 aid-chaplains in local hospitals and 37 in the Navy.

Military ecclesiastics instead numbered 24,446: about 15,000 of them were priests. The priest-soldiers were the seminarians, novices, clerics and converts who were assigned to the fighting troops. Those who were already priests at the time of mobilization had the possibility of being assigned to health departments.

During the war the military ecclesiastics not recruited into the body of chaplains numbered no less than 22,000. A preliminary differentiation must be noted among them. Those who had not received major orders in the priesthood, about 10,000 novices, clerics, converts, seminarians, were not in any way distinguished by the military authorities from the mass of soldiers and were indifferently assigned to combat units where they were forced to kill. The others, almost always older, could instead request allocation to health departments and hospitals, both in the field, in the war zone, and in the local area: here the most humble were used for various services.

The presence of priest-soldiers in the army has characters that are noticeably different from that of the official chaplains. Above all because they were much more closer to the soldiers than the chaplains, with whom they shared hardships, hardships, dangers, and to which they often experienced feelings of solidarity with those who had the same problems.

The priest-soldiers therefore gave the troops an image of clergy in uniform distinct from the chaplains and could perform on occasion a religious action that enjoyed credibility and trust from their fellow soldiers.

One of the fundamental characteristics that substantially differentiated the function and role of the chaplains from that of the ecclesiastics, was the action animated by the fervent patriotism of the former in comparison to the greater lukewarmness towards these sentiments expressed by the latter.

In September 1915 an informative organ of military chaplains was created, "Il Prete Al Campo", a periodical directed by Don Giulio De Rossi.