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was electric. About thirty men ran out of the ranks and crowded round him, some grasped his hand and kissed it, others drew out little satchels which they had hanging round their necks which contained their certificates of baptism into the Catholic church.
The Chaplain asked the officer, who he now discovered to be a Protestant missionary from China who had come to Europe with the Labour Corps, to explain that he would say Mass for them in the neighbouring village on the morrow, that they could have general absolution and Holy Communion. He found it difficult to explain through his Protestant interpreter what was meant by general absolution. Eventually, the Protestant missionary had explained to him that the phrase the Chaplain required was 'Are you sorry for your sins?' which the Chaplain recorded phonetically in his notebook.
Next morning the Chaplain was at the church half an hour before the appointed time for Mass. The Chinese were already there, grouped around the confessional and it was only then that he realised what he had let himself in for and the difficulty of his task. A few words in English were received with a blank stare; the same in French got a similar reception. He pulled out his notebook and repeated the words he had written down the previous evening. The reply was a general chatter and a vigorous nodding of heads. Yet, when the Chaplain tried to explain by dumb-show that they would receive general absolution, he knew that he had failed ignominiously. They looked at him plaintively, almost reprovingly, and pointed repeatedly at the confessional. There was nothing else for it; he had to admit them individually. The men heard the Mass with every mark of attention.
When the Chaplain had removed his vestments he came to them in the church again. One of the Chinese whom the Chaplain judged to have been a Catechist at some time or other and had led the prayers offered the Chaplain, evidently in the name of himself and his companions, a ten-franc note. The Chaplain explained by dumb-show that he could not possibly accept it and this seemed to disappoint them so much that he had to do something to satisfy them. The Curé from the sacristy, having been told of the situation, provided a few altar candles and the ten-franc note was dropped into the collection box. Finally, as the Chaplain left the church the men crowded round him, and chattered and smiled their gratitude.
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