cers in the Headquarters' dug-out when a German shell landed in
the doorway and burst. Captain Lord Desmond FitzGerald (brother of the
Duke of Leinster) was slightly hit. Colonel Madden was so severely
wounded that he died some days afterwards. Father Gwynn received as
many as eight wounds. One piece of the shell entered his back and
pierced one of his lungs. He was sent to hospital at Bethune, and died
there the next morning. In the Bethune cemetery his grave is marked by
a marble monument which bears these two inscriptions:--

"R.I.P.
REV. FATHER JOHN GWYNN, S.J.
Attached to the
1st Irish Guards.
He Died at Bethune on October 12th, 1915, from
Wounds Received in Action near Vermelles
on October 11th, 1915.
Aged 49 years.
This Monument has been erected by all Ranks of the 1st Bat.
Irish Guards in grateful Remembrance of their Beloved Chaplain,
Father Gwynn, who was with them on Active Service for nearly
twelve months from Nov., 1914, until his death, and shared with
unfailing devotion all their trials and hardships."

The wonder, indeed, is that many more Catholic chaplains have not been
killed. Father James Stack, of the Redemptorist Order--a County
Limerick man--had a narrow escape from being killed by German rifle
fire as he was attending to a dying Irish soldier between the opposing
lines. The soldier was heard in the British trenches calling for a
priest. Father Stack crept out to him, heard his confession, anointed
him, and lay by his side praying until he passed away. While he was
engaged on this sublime errand of mercy the priest was fired on by the
Germans, but he got back unhurt. He was mentioned in Sir John French's
valedictory despatch. A dramatic story is also told of another
dauntless Catholic chaplain. One bitter winter's night eight men left
a British trench to bomb the Germans. None of them returned. Their
comrades wore consumed with anxiety as to their fate. Were they
prisoners, were they dead, or were they lying wounded in the mud and
the slush? The Catholic chaplain of the battalion volunteered to go
out in front and try to learn what had become of them. After some
hesitation his request was granted. "Donning his surplice and with a
crucifix in his hand the priest proceeded down one of the saps and
climbed