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from providing military chaplains to financial the work of the Knights of Columbus in the trainingcamps, from supplying religious literature to the armed forces to safeguarding the morals of theCatholic troops.” 54The April 1917 issue of Catholic World, edited by Paulist John J. Burke—who had in additionto organizing the National Catholic War Council also founded the Chaplains’ Aid Association—anticipated the support offered by the American bishops to the government and to the mobilizationeffort. “War has been literally forced upon our country. … Our country did not desire war … and ifwar comes, Germany will stand guilty before the judgment of men and the judgment of God.” Littleover a year later, three American cardinals reiterated that sympathetic stance, telling Catholics that“America battled with unselfish motives for the welfare of men of every nation, that America askedno special indemnities or reprisals. ‘If we fight like heroes,’ the statement read, ‘and pray like saints,soon America will overcome force by greater force and conquer lust of power by the nobler powersof sacrifice and faith.’’ 55The endorsement of the war effort by the American Catholic hierarchy was determinativefor the fact that 38 percent of the uniformed chaplains during the war were Catholic priests, withcommissioned officers wearing regular military uniforms and the 165 Knights of Columbus chaplainsin dressed in officially recognized uniforms. (The Knights of Columbus was accepted by the WarDepartment in the summer of 1918 as “the official Catholic organization for war work” and theirchaplains “served without commission as civilians paid by funds from the Knights of Columbus,and were solely under the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical authority.”) On November 24, 1917, BishopPatrick Hayes, Auxiliary of New York, was appointed by the Holy See to be the prelate of the MilitaryOrdinariate, the present-day Archdiocese for the Military Services. Seventeen Catholic chaplainsdied in the war. 56The most famous American chaplain during World War I was Fr. Francis Patrick Duffy, theCanadian Irish immigrant and graduate of the Catholic University of America. Ministering to the“The Fighting 69 th ” (Gen. Robert E. Lee had coined the name during the Civil War) National GuardRegiment of New York, composed largely of Irish immigrants in France, Duffy risked his life tohelp snatch those wounded at the frontlines within earshot of the enemy, resulting in his winningthe Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Conspicuous Service Cross(from the State of New York), and France’s Legion d’Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. Lionizedby the troops for his leadership and bravery, his regimental commander, Lt. Col. William “Wild Bill”Donovan (who became the founder of the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, in World War II) saidlater that Duffy played a key role in bolstering morale among the troops. “Father Duffy was one ofthe great outstanding figures of the war,” he declared. “Without Father Duffy there would be no 69 thRegiment today.” Pvt. Tim Nolan of Bronx, “felt it was Duffy’s courage that inspired the troops tohang on. ‘Wherever things were the hottest there was Father Duffy, crawling around from shell holeto shell hole, telling us it was not as bad as it seemed, to stick it out a while longer.” 57During the inter-war period the number of Catholic chaplains declined somewhat, as the forcestrength of the Army and Navy was also reduced. Pope Pius XII designated Francis CardinalSpellman as his military vicar in the United States in 1939 at the head of a new military vicariateunder the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of New York, appointing Father John O’Hara as militarydelegate. Although the Vatican enjoyed warm ties with Mussolini’s Italy—as opposed to its tense55Elizabeth McKeown, War and Welfare; American Catholics and World War I (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1988), pp. 47, 4956“The History of Military Chaplains,” Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA @ http://www.milarch.org/history/index.html; “Eighty-nineChaplains Appointed,” The Christian Advocate, October 14, 1920, p. 1377; “Chaplains muse on war years: lasting bonds formed under combat stress- four Catholic chaplains talk about three wars – Interview,” National Catholic Reporter, December 15, 1995; Christopher J. Kauffman, Faith andFraternalism; The History of the Knights of Columbus 1882-1982 (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), pp. 209, 212, 214, 219, 222. See also, George J.Waring, United States Catholic Chaplains in the World War (New York: Ordinariate Army and Navy Chaplains, 1924).57“Bronx pays tribute to Father Duffy,” The New York Times, May 11, 1919; Stephen L. Harris, Duffy’s War; Father Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan,and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I, p. 353126Security and Defense Studies Review 2009/Edición 2009/ Edicão 2009/ Volume 9, Issues 1 & 2