The battle for the ‘Soul of Europe’ is a perennial one. But it is perhaps never so clear as in the months of November and December, opening as they do with both liturgical memories of the dead and remembrance of the Great Wars, and ending with the birth of the Prince of Peace. During this period, consciously or otherwise, the ceremonial life of the continent is a tug-of-war between the legal Europe of atheism and immorality, and the real Europe.
Across the Catholic countries of Europe, candles light up the cemeteries in memory of the dear departed; even Sweden, Finland, and Estonia keep up the following day of All Souls, for all that it makes no sense in Lutheran theology. In both Protestant and Catholic countries, the hunting horns of St. Hubert blaringly and beautifully accompany Masses and services in his honour. Goose is served in St. Martin’s name weeks before his feast on November 11th, and processions of children in German-speaking regions following a figure on horseback on Martinmas night.
But, of course, that day is also the anniversary of the end of World War I on the Western Front, and of the day Bl. Karl of Austria, the last reigning Emperor of Austria thus far, was forced to yield control of government—although he refused to abdicate. If the first action brought relief of a sort even to the defeated Germans, the second opened the door to seemingly endless horrors for the saintly Monarch’s hapless subjects and their descendants, which have continued to the present.
From these have arisen the whole cult of Remembrance, as descendants of the bereaved don red poppies, blue cornflowers, forget-me-nots, or edelweiss (depending on where they are from) in memory of the honoured dead; tombs of unknown warriors and innumerable war memorials are suitably reverenced. Of course, two decades later, they were joined by the dead of the Second War and the victims of Communism, down to 1991—and the dead of the subsequent Balkan Wars, the Georgian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts, and the ongoing mess in Ukraine. But more on them presently.
November winds on to Advent, and the various Christmas Markets open up. Beautiful Nativity scenes emerge everywhere, and Europeans prepare, as they have for many centuries, to celebrate the birth of Him who chose our fathers to be the special practitioners and evangelists of His religion—first in their Continent, and then in the many lands across the globe where their sons settled. At last, His faith would take root in countries that were not colonized by Europeans at all.
But from Portugal to Russia (and allowing for the difference between Gregorian and Julian calendars), notwithstanding political differences, war, and much else, the ancient customs will continue to make the European winter nights bright. Innumerable tourist offices will call attention to the various customs enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. Even governments shall get into the act.
Of course, the war on Christmas that has become an annual part of the seasonal festivities in the United States have yet to join Halloween and Black Friday in the list of American customs that are becoming entrenched here. Although you won’t find the same level of hostility toward the word “Christmas” that is aroused in some places in the States—the hostiles call the period “holiday”—phrases like las fiestas have begun to emerge in deference to American cultural superiority.
Mourning and memory
But the truth remains that most European governments—and most especially those of Western Europe—as well as the managers of the European Union may well enjoy the various celebrations of these two months. But they as well as many of their indoctrinated subjects hold beliefs that are the opposite of those enshrined in the very customs they retain so doggedly. It is a truly horrible thing for an avowed or materially atheist head of government or state to wish those over whom he resides a Merry Christmas when every act of his government is a defiance of that very King whose birth is being marked. A government official whose hands are red with the blood of the aborted and euthanized has more in common with Herod than with the Christ he sought to kill.
Of course, there is also the question of just how appropriate the remembering of the glorious dead by such figures really is. When the gallant young men of all nations rushed to their respective colours in 1914, their hearts were filled with love for God, Monarch (save the French), and Country. But what would they make of the creatures who rule their countries now, and what those nations have been transformed into? Can a politician who wishes to drown his nationality under waves of outsiders really be a fit mourner for those who considered that same country worth dying for? What would the dead think of the continued prattle in academia and media against those Sovereigns who claimed their heartfelt loyalty, and their descendants? As with Christmas, what possible right can atheists in power have to mourn those who saw their supreme sacrifices as duty to a God said leaders do not believe in?
The same issue becomes grotesque when current leaders dare to praise the heroes of the World War II Resistance. While they have no difficulty with the communists (post invasion of Russia; they collaborated with the Nazis after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) and Socialists who fought the Nazis from within, the Monarchists, Corporatists, Conservatives, and Christians who did so—and in countries such as Germany and Austria in far greater numbers—are an embarrassment to those presently in charge. Well they might be. It is not just that those in charge would attempt to ostracize such paladins as ‘far-right extremists,’ it is that they themselves have far more in common with the Nazis in terms of basic outlook regarding Man, God, and the State than with their anti-Revolutionary opponents.
How then is a sane European to treat these two months? On one level, as his fathers would have—that is to celebrate them and what they symbolize as well as he possibly can. To join in these customs of home, parish, town, province, and nation to the best of his ability—partly to add to the glory of those bits of geography, each of which he should take part in. But most especially to show his own acceptance of what they mean: the continuing Kingship of Christ over Europe, it nations, provinces, cities, towns, and parishes, and the nobility of those who offered their lives in His service and that of their Sovereigns and nations, to which he must rededicate himself.
It would be good if someone made bunches of poppies, cornflowers, forget-me-nots, and edelweiss in a sort of Paneuropean mourning bouquet, suitable for wearing on the lapel. This could emphasise the fact that World War I was really a sort of civil war, in which young men killed each other over patriotism rather than one soul-killing ideology or another. To that end, much more could be made of such episodes as the Christmas Truce of 1914, and the attempts on the one hand of Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm II to head off the War (not just in 1914, but as early as 1905), and on the other of Benedict XV, Bl. Karl, Albert I, and Victor Emmanuel III to end it early. It must be pointed out repeatedly that these efforts were continually frustrated by the political and military leadership, who were, after all, the forerunners of what we have to-day.
So too, this period should be used to explore the personalities and beliefs of the heroes of the Resistance of the Second War, which the modern authorities find so problematic. It is precisely from these qualities that their heroism arose. If the current leadership has problems with them, the fault is not that of the heroic and often martyred, but of the faceless and loveless bureaucrats who dominate and corrupt the nations of Europe to-day. Truly, the peacemakers of the First War and the Resistance of the Second for the most part offer a remarkably consistent Christian and European worldview that needs revival as the yardstick with which to judge the worthiness of leaders for power.
The recent riots in Dublin underline another threat that the attitudes dominant since 1968 have created—an opposition which is neither Christian nor Conservative. The current rulership have in many places created whole groups of young people who, while rightly seeing those who shaped them as the enemy, have no idea of anything positive with which to replace them. They only know that they must be destroyed, and their hapless minions with them. This makes it all the more incumbent on making the heroic figures we have referred to better known among the young. They need role models who stand head and shoulders above the moral midgets who for the most part rule them.
Turning heavenward
But if the commemorations in November make us think of greatness in this world, December’s should make us turn our eyes heavenward. Let us as well keep all the feast leading up to and past Christmas with every bit of solemnity and joy we can muster. From Christmas Masses to Mummers’ Plays to Rorate Masses, let us enjoy it all and encourage all of our young people to take part. Let us remind them that these are not simply folkloric motifs, but reminders of important spiritual realities which are ignored by society at its own peril.
Father Christmas, the gift bringer in England, has in recent decades been fused with the very different American Santa Claus (himself a distorted version of Central Europe’s St. Nicholas). But his origins are utterly unlike those of the genial New Yorker. He was originally conceived of by the 17th century Cavaliers as a personification of the good old customs of Christmas which had been banned by the Puritans. He was seen as a sort of ally. An overtly political figure, he might well be seen as one again to-day by those of us who trace our ideas to those Cavaliers.
In any case, celebration of Advent and Christmas customs across the Continent needs to be done with the reconversion of the Continent in mind. The fact is that all that was best in the Old World revisits the place for the Christmas season. Processions, bonfires, public prayers, and songs in praise of the Christ child re-enchant the European countryside. Moreover, they do so in a way that the vast majority of people—often enough uncaring the rest of the year—are happy to join in.
Above all, this should be a time to remind ourselves that all of our efforts on behalf of our countries, our culture, and our Faith should themselves be gifts to the Newborn King; in this, way we can avoid the idolatry of the things themselves that is always such a huge temptation for human beings. In the figures of Bl. Karl, Charlemagne, St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, or any of the other great heroes and saints of our peoples, we must see individuals who themselves saw their position as being one of pointing believers to Christ.
As things stand to-day, Europe and her daughter nations are for the most part ruled by unbelievers who, having cut themselves off from the source of all authority, can only blindly wield power. But Christmas has ever been a time when Rightful Authority has reasserted itself. In Malory, we read: “Merlin said that since Christ, king of mankind, was born that night, he should show them by a miracle who should be the rightwise king of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury sent for lords, gentlemen, and men of arms, to come to London by Christmas in order to pray. During the mass, a sword in the stone appeared in a Churchyard.” As we know, eventually Arthur would pull that sword from that stone; it was on Christmas day that Clovis, St. Ethelbert, Bl. Charlemagne, and a host of other Monarchs were crowned. Let us never forget that.
