Irishmen who died in WW1 with ‘courage and valour’- Archbishop Martin

Irishmen who died in the First World War should be remembered as having fought with great courage and valour in the pursuit of an ideal, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.

The Archbishop of Dublin made his remarks during a memorial Mass at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral for the Irishmen who died in the war.

“We remember the idealism and the valour and the courage of those who served in that war.  We remember in a particular way the thousands of young Irish men who fought and we remember especially those who fell in the pursuit of an ideal,” the archbishop said.

Dr Martin described the young soldiers caught up in the war as men and women of courage and valour and idealism.

Ideals

“The ideals they defended were noble ideas, but war itself is always horrible and leaves all those who become caught up in war marked for life by the inhuman experiences they endured,” he said.

Dr Martin said our remembering the First World War and those who gave their lives in it, must challenge all of us to do all in our power to work for peace.

He said every Christian is called to bring peace, to build lasting peace and to restore peace in a wounded world.

“War damages the harmony among people and with nature which God originally designed,” he said.