“If you wish to save your sons from the dangerous currents ensnaring them, dare to break their bonds, dare to lead them out where the gales blow, storms lash out, and the sun burns! If their feet bleed along the way, what does it matter? A song will spring forth to renew their energy, and make these conquerors stand tall. A beautiful goal indeed!”

Father Paul DONCŒUR (1880-1961)
Jesuit, military chaplain, author

“Do today’s Christians know that, in France during the 14th and 15th centuries, the roads of this country witnessed an astounding adventure? Do they remember that from the depths of the desolation born of wars that had lasted a hundred years, supplications arose to bring about this touching crusade? Men had sinned too much. Children alone could still intercede with the angels. And behold children from all over, twelve-year-old and even eight-year-old shepherd children came from the far corners of Europe and began their journey towards Mont-Tombe, Saint-Michel in the Peril of the Sea, where these hope-filled youths believed they would find safety. The call of the Archangel who had awoken a young peasant girl from Lorraine and torn her away from her village was still, then, making itself heard. After five centuries, wouldn’t it be fitting that this same voice send out an appeal once more to the boys and girls of France, to carry the requests of our country to this very Mount and gain the audacity needed to act? Let us make Saint-Michel the goal of our route. What a beautiful crowning to give to this Iter Britannicum where we would like to ask this land to share its tenacious faith which such a Christian past still influences and ennobles with wild yet gentle beauty!”

Father Paul DONCŒUR (1880-1961)
Jesuit, military chaplain, author