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Saturday 8 March 2014

Chaplain

One of the king’s chaplains, Dr Robert South, was in the middle of preaching before Charles II when he looked from his notes to find to his mortification that the monarch and his attendants had fallen asleep. Some of the attendants were snoring so South interrupted his sermon and called to one of the attendants, “Lord Lauderdale, rouse yourself. You snore so loudly that you will wake up the king.”

In 1903 the Unitarian clergyman Edward Everett Hale was appointed Chaplain of the United States Senate. He was asked in this capacity whether he prays for the senators, whereby he replied,  “no I look at the senators and pray for the country.”

During the Second World War the chaplain’s department had the highest casualty percentage in the British army. The chaplains were bringing Christ’s message from the front line. 1 in 10 didn’t make it back.

The first recorded casualty at 9/11 was Father Mychal Judge the Franciscan chaplain of the New York City Fire Department who was among the first on the scene at Ground Zero. While helping out and delivering last rites, he was struck on the head by falling debris.

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