14 Inspiring Photos of Mass Celebrated in War Zones

Nothing is more important than the Mass and the Church is bound to keep celebrating it in and out of season. And that includes during a war.

Here are some photos of priests celebrating Mass in war zones, or at least out on the field for members of the military.

You can click on any image to enlarge it.

American soldiers in the bombed Cologne Cathedral (March 1945)

U.S. Civil War (~1861-1865)

A bombed chapel in Dommartin, France (WWII?)

U.S. 5th Marine Regiment at one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Tikrit, Iraq (April, 19th, 2003)

U.K. Royal Air Force in Central Burma (WWII)

111th Naval Construction Battalion in Normandy, France (June, 18th 1944; D-Day + 12)

First Catholic Mass inside a Japanese hanger (WWII?)

American soldiers from the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division (WWII?)

Soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment in Badula Qulp, Afghanistan (February 21st, 2010)

65th AAA Batallion at Bolo Point, Okinawa (July 19, 1951)

Sante-Barbe, France (WWI)

Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Münster, Germany (1946)

A Marine receiving the Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima (February or March 1945)

Father Emil Kapaun celebrating mass in Korea (~1950-1953)

Prayer for Our Military

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad.

Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.