Security and Defense Studies Review - Offnews.info

eing killed themselves—the idea that they go in a blessed state to their death.” Offering legitimacyto the war effort the military chaplains’ country was engaged in is a constant throughout the historyof the chaplainry. 19In classical Rome, rites associated with the state religion were meant to bring victory to Rome’slegions, and the generals who led them did not concern themselves with the spiritual health ofindividual warriors. “(I)t was usually the military leader who also had religious functions. The ideawas that somehow God or the gods were extremely important forces behind military success, butit was usually one and the same person, a general or a military commander, a leader who also hadreligious responsibilities and duties.” 20 From that time to this, a key preoccupation of the military and,if it existed, the ruling civilian political elite, was ensuring soldieries’ basic needs were addressedin order keep morale high. It was not until the 5th century and the Christianization of the enfeebledempire that some Roman armies included clerics offering the solace of faith to address soldiers’personal worries. 21The name “chaplain” emerged at the end of the Roman Empire. According legend dating tothe fourth century, Martin of Tours, a pagan Roman soldier encountered a beggar shiveringfrom the cold and gave him part of his military cloak. That night he had a vision of Christdressed in the cloak. As a result, Martin was converted to Christianity. He devoted his life tothe church, and after his death was canonized. Martin of Tours later became the patron saintof France and his cloak, now a holy relic, was carried into battle by the Frankish kings. Thiscloak was called in Latin the “cappa.” Its portable shrine was called the “capella” and itscaretaker priest, the “cappellanus.” Eventually, all clergy affiliated with military were called“capellani,” or in French “chapelains,” hence chaplains. 22In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church required soldiers confessing their sins and receivingpenance to leave the military for, as stated by Pope Leo I (d. 261), “it is completely contrary to allthe rules of the church for a soldier to return to duty after receiving penance.” However, by the 7 thcentury, the influence of Irish missionaries helped sweep away the concept of a once-in-a-lifetimepenance, replacing it by repeatable atonements that allowed the sinner to return to the Christiancommunity. “This major development in Christian doctrine fundamentally altered the need for andduties of clerics serving with Christian soldiers,” David S. Bachrach noted. “It was now necessary toprovide thousands, and in some cases, tens of thousands, of soldiers with the opportunity to confesstheir sins before they went into battle.” 23In the late eighth century, a Carolingian military chaplain issued a sermon in which he equatedthe importance of individual soldiers in holding the battle line, and thus keeping the whole forcetogether, with a soldier’s obligations to Christ as a way of maintain the strength of that union. Inthe ninth century, Benedict the Levite mustered arguments against the improper use by secularauthorities of church resources and personnel, and enumerated why chaplains were indispensable toa war effort. The “purpose of providing pastoral care to soldiers, particularly the celebration of themass and saying prayer for them, was to secure God’s aid in obtaining victory.” In the 12th century,Bishop Ivo of Chartres (1090-1115) set out the canonical duties of military chaplains in the armiesof the West, reaffirming their sacramental functions. In the Anglo-Norman campaign in northernEngland in 1138, army troops were rallied by religious ceremonies conducted by chaplains, whoseuse of sacred relics was complemented by a plaque that reminded them: “The task of soldiers is toconquer or die.” And, by the 13 th century, Pope Gregory IX (1227-41) was openly advocating thatchaplains in the service of the Hungarian ruler provide encouragement to the soldiers, reconcilingthem with their duty as fighters for a leader in the service of God in the battle against the heretical19“Military chaplains: a rich history of more than just blessing the cannons,” an interview with Ret. Col. John W. Brinsfield, U.S. Army ChaplainCorps historian, in Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2007, p. 25.20“Military chaplains, a rich history,” Christian Science Monitor, op. cit.21Doris L. Bergen, The Sword of the Lord, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), pp. 3,5.22Hourihan, “The Military Chaplain” (found at http://www.chaplain.us; accessed December 1, 2007).23David S. Bachrach, “The Medieval Military Chaplain and His Duties,” in Bergen, op. cit, p. 75Security and Defense Studies Review 2009/Edición 2009/ Edicão 2009/ Volume 9, Issues 1 & 2 119