/Ti dr iv
r
dr
Ti.,.
445-0
ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
ELLIOTT ELLIOTT
1J
OPTICIANS PIRTII -w4Ot
Join fllioll mgr. Ex-Maris!.
Bros!
Siuded
Tel. B7988 NO. 3,119.
PERTH, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1944.
a-400
OPTICIANS Piccadilly Arcade
Perth Tel. B 7988 811ME?iTY-FIRST YEAR.
PRICE THREEPENCE
Pope Reveals that Identity ot laomber which Attacked 'Vatican Cite is Known "Deliberately Planned and Dishonourably and Unsuccessfully Screened Behind Anonymity" .
-
*Catacombs Suffer in Air Attacks on Rome Pope's Inherent Reserve. "In the face of a future so obscure, the reserve inherent in the nature of Our Pastoral ministry and always maintained by Us in regard to the vicissitudes of earthly conflicts, seems to Us at this moment more than ever necessary in order to avoid the possibility of the Holy See's activity for Pius, was unsuccessfuL the benefit of soults running the risk respondwas The Sovereign ,Pontiff of being compromised by false or uning to greetings addressed to him in founded interpretations, of being subthe name of the Sacred College by its jected to the enfilading fire from opposDean, the 92 -year -old Cardinal Gen- ing political camps." naro Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte. The Holy Father said it was well "Such an attack," said His Holiness, known how much the sorrow and mis"deliberately planned and dishonour- ery pressing down on peoples in everably and unsuccessfully screened behind increasing want weighed down and the anonymity of the pilot, on territory afflicted his heart, and for that reason sacred to Christians, sanctified by the his Christmas Message contained a blood of the first Peter, centre of the passage drawing attention to the exworld, moreover, for its masterpieces of treme want tormenting so many naculture and art, and guaranteed by tions, and appealing to the sympathetic bounty of all those still able to solemn treaty, is a symptom hard to explain away of the depth of spiritual give efficacious support to the great of decadence work of Christian charity and human disorientation and moral The Pope referred to brotherhood. conscience to which some erring minds the appeals, gigantic in number, and have sunk." Referring to present miseries, Pope increasing hourly, which were reachPius 'said in the course of the year the ing His Holiness and to the painful horrors of war had come ever closer, inadequacy of "Our means, which the even to the Eternal City, and that economic barriers of warfare render hard suffering had been the lot of more scanty by the hour." He pointmany of the faithful in his diocese. ed out the difficulties and obstacles to Many of the poor had had their the exercise of his Apostolic Ministry, which were increasing daily and imhouses destroyed by aerial bombardment, and a venerable sanctuary had peding the normal exercise of this ministry at a time when the need of comreceived injuries difficult to repair. fort, brotherly love and justice was Ecoaomic Disorder. felt more keenly than ever, for united In the economic and spiritual sphere, efforts for relief and aid of the sufferHis Holiness continued, confusion and ing. Prelude to Dawn. disorder had spread in a disquieting The Pope then urged his spiritual If the interruption and manner. paralysis of the production of the children not to be disheartened by the necessities of life were to continue at present sad state of affairs. "f f it he allowed us to penetrate the the present rate, the Holy Father added, he feared that, despite the care vision of God's design on which the past gives light," His Holiness said, of competent authorities, the people of "the hard and cruel conditions of the Rome and a large part of Italy would in conpresent hour are nothing else than a in a short time find themselves ditions of want perhaps never in the prelude to the dawn of a new developmemory of man realised or suffered in ment in which the Church, with her mission to all peoples and for all this land already so sorely tried.
That the Holy See is aware of the identity of those responsible for the bombing attack upon Vatican City to wards the end of last year, was plainly indicated by Pope Pius XII in his address to the College of Cardinals on at The attempt Christmas Eve. anonymity by the pilot, said Pope
times, will find herself faced with tasks unknown to other ages which only courageous souls ready for anything can carry to a successful conclusion." Explosive and incendiary bombs dropped on the outskirts of Rome on December 28 caused a number of
The body of St. Cecilia lay in a cubicle next to the chapel of the Popes. (Martyred about 229 AD., Cecilia pro
sents one of the startling miracles ol history. Her remains were found in corrupt in her catacombs crypt in 831 and transferred by Pope Paschalis I to St. Cecilia's in Trastevere, Rome, deaths and casualties and damaged ex- where they still -are, In 1599, the retra-territorial property of the Holy See. mains were found still incorrupt by famot Damage was done in the sone of the Cardinal Sfrandoti. The catacombs of St, Calixtus, St. Praetex- statue of Maderno, showing the virtatus and St. Domitilla This was the gin saint's head, partly severed, k fourth bombing of Rome. Allied planes based on the official examination.) made raids on June 19 and August 1.8. After the first bombing of Rome Pius XII hurried out from Vatican A single plane, which General Eisenhower officially denied was Allied, City to comfort the afflicted. The dropped four bombs on Vatican City Basilica of San Lorenzo, near military objectives, was heavily damaged and on November 6. In the December 28 raid on Rome, there were a number of casualties. The bombs damaged the building housing Holy Father visited the area stricken the directorate of the catacombs, shat- in the second raid and received a large tered sarcophagi windows and a sky- bloodstain on his white cassock. light, and damaged the exterior of the The Church of Santa Maria dell' Orto ancient Basilica by the catacomb of was virtually destroyed and the Church was damage Greater A St. Domitilla. of Sant' Elena severely damaged. done in nearby areas, particularly in direct hit occurred on the convent the Garbatella quarter, and many were school of the Sisters of Notre Dame de killed or wounded. The chapel of the Namur, but the nuns, including four Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Egypt Americans, escaped injury. The Rev. Eyewas among the buildings struck, Rafael Melis, 0.M.I., pastor of Sant' witnesses said that incendiary bombs Elena, who had gone out during both were dropped by the last plane in a raids to help his people, was killed. large formation. The Romans rendered such striking The residential quarter at Garbatello, demonstrations of affection and gratinear the Basilica of San Paolo, was tude for the Holy Father that he apsaid to have been hit. According to peared four times to bless the throngs, His Holiness, in response to greetNazi claims, several houses were dedestroyed in the area, and numerous per- ings offered by the Cardinals, sons were killed or injured. The charge nounced the bombing of the Vatican and ah "deliberately planned as attack fifty Axis that the by was also made unsuccessfully and persons were injured by machine-gun dishonourably (Reports of the German DNB screened behind the anonymity of the fire. estimated that damage It was pilot." Outside that the Basilica of St. Paul the Walls, situated on the Ostian Way amounting to five million lire was caul" and containing the major part of the ed although no residences or art tree. body of the Apostle, was seriously sures were directly hit and no casualdamaged are indicated as untrue in ties resulted. The Allied bombings of Rome caused dispatches received by the N.C.W.C. world-wide sorrow and protest, though from Vatican City. great care was taken to single out only and The catacombs of St. Calixtus St. Praetextatus are on the Appian military objectives. President RooseWay: that of St. Domitilla is on the velt announced that the Allies would Via Ardeatina. These roads lead south make every effort to prevent damage from Rome. The catacombs were re- to Rome and the Vatican. He hoped opened in the latter half of the nine- that Rome could be freed from the teenth century. The walls of St. Cal- Nazis without damage to historic ac8. ixtus are lined with tombs of third cen- fices, but added that whatever damage tury Popes, many of them martyrs might result must be laid strictly at (bodies later removed to St. Peter's). the door of the Nazis. Physicial Cream
Black Indiana Sox, 1/11 and 4 coupons. Khaki Military -Type Sox, 1/11 and 2 coupons. Grey All-Wool Military Pattern Rugs, 27/6 and no coupons.
All-Wool
Blankets,
60x80, L2 25 6d; 76 x 86, £2 16s 6d,
E.LUISINI
and no coupons. Nursery Squares, 21/, and 6 coupons a dozen.
215-219 William St., Perth
Registered at the G.P.O., Perth, for transmission by poet as a newspaper.