History in Colour: Remembrance Day

by Admin · November 13, 2022

In many parts of the world, including South Africa, November is Remembrance Month, in which we are called to remember those who fell in wars. The tradition goes back to the end of the First World War, which ended on November 11, 1918. The symbol of Remembrance Day is the red poppy, inspired by John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”, which refers to poppies growing among the graves of fallen soldiers. In South Africa, commemoration ceremonies are usually held on the nearest Sunday to November 11.

Seen here is a priest celebrating Mass during the 1914-18 war for wounded soldiers and staff at the Austrian Military Hospital in the Catholic Ratisbonne monastery in Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman empire. The monastery, near Jaffa Gate in West Jerusalem, was built in 1874 on a barren hill. It is now owned by the Vatican and is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco as a study centre.