A COURAGE WORTHY OF IMITATION

The famous preacher Fr. Sarabia relates the following event:

“We were then living in the midst of the communist revolution. Socialist strikes had poisoned our workers, and every day the number of those marching under red banners increased. They were many and very bold... because liberal governments did not defend the rights of order and truth.

Few processions went out into the streets at that time; in some regions, the few that did rarely returned peacefully to the church without being harassed.

One day, in Bilbao, Catholics organized a most solemn procession. All the Catholic groups, carrying their banners and standards, were to ascend to the sanctuary of their Queen and Lady, the Virgin of Begoña.

And those endless rows of fervent Catholics marched on, to the sound of magnificent religious hymns, with heads held high and hearts at peace... they marched like those exercising a right and representing truth and glory.

Suddenly a shot was heard... There was a moment of confusion... Another shot rang out... then another... There was no doubt: the fierce socialists were hidden behind balconies, firing their weapons with impunity upon the Catholics...

For a moment the lines broke, and some ran to hide in the entrances of houses. But it lasted only an instant.

Soon the brave people of Bilbao regrouped and continued climbing toward the church behind the holy image of their Queen and Lady. And not a few courageous men entered the streets and houses in search of the cowards who sought to hinder the triumph of the Virgin.

Yet the shooting increased... The preferred target was the banner of the Immaculate carried by the president of the Daughters of Mary... It had already been pierced several times by bullets...

At that solemn and tragic moment, some Marian young men approached the president and said:

— When bullets whistle, women go home or to church, and men remain on the battlefield...

They wished her to hand over the banner of the Immaculate, so that they might defend it.

But the Daughters of Mary gathered around their banner, and the heroic president replied:

— You shall carry this banner of the Virgin when I and all the Daughters of Mary have died at her feet.

And the communists, fierce enemies of religion, could not prevent the majestic procession from reaching the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Begoña.

With what motherly tenderness must the exalted Queen and Lady have received them!”