100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Thursday, April 18, 1918. Rev. Edwin A. Shearer of St. Clement’s College is honored at a testimonial reception tonight before he leaves for Europe to serve as a U.S. Army chaplain.
A Connecticut native and a member of the Redemptionist order, Shearer joined St. Clement’s two years ago. He received a commission as a first lieutenant on April 13 and is scheduled to report for duty in Hoboken on April 21.
The Saratogian reports that “fully 300 persons” attend the testimonial at the Knights of Columbus gymnasium on Woodlawn Avenue.
“This is an occasion of great honor and congratulation to Father Shearer and should be an occasion of honor and congratulation to you and to all the people of Saratoga,” says St. Clements rector Rev. W. B. Kenna. “Father Shearer has been found worthy to receive this position by the greatest man in the land, our President.
“We Catholics all know very well that a noble work is to be entered into. Who knows? Before long he may be called upon to wipe the moisture from the fevered brow of some dying soldier; to moisten the parched lips; to receive the last message from the stiffening lips to be sent to some loved one at home; to prepare, amid the din of the battle’s roar, a soul for death.”
Grand Knight J. E. Roohan observes that 31 K of C members have joined the military since the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917. “Sometimes it pulls at our heartstrings, and then the thought comes that to fight for our country, when we have a country like this, is the greatest honor any man may receive.
“Sometimes we are apt to complain, to be restive under restrictions that are made, but we have only been in the war a year, and we can find comfort in the thought, ‘What must it be like for the Germans?’”
Germany has been fighting since the summer of 1914.
Shearer receives a money gift of $400, equivalent in buying power to just over $7,000 in 2018 money, as well as a comfort kit, an afghan and other knitted articles handmade by well-wishers.
“As an American citizen I am proud to be allowed to go to the front, to do my part,” Shearer tells the gathering, “As a priest of God I am not allowed to shoulder arms, but in my capacity I can work heart and soul for my country’s cause.
“I am especially glad that I am the first Redemptionist to go across, for what greater or better field can a priest have than saving souls on the firing line?”
— Kevin Gilbert