Being made by his grace partakers of the cross, may we have a share also in his Resurrection and in his life.
from the Palm Sunday Lectionary
St. Ignatius, Julius Bell, Christ-like Wounds, and New Births
No wound? No scar?
Amy Carmichael, “Hast Thou No Scar?”
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound nor scar?
Sharing in the Wounds of Christ
It is a valuable spiritual practice to kneel before a Crucifix and reflect on the wounds of Christ. Our human trials, if endured sacrificially and prayerfully, can become a sharing in His Sacrifice. Should we have an injury or pain in our side, hands, or feet we can take special comfort that in a more specific way we are sharing in the suffering of Jesus on the Cross.
[Christ by His Cross has] in some way united himself to everyone “the possibility of being made partners… in the paschal mystery.” He calls his disciples to “take up [their] cross and follow [him],” (Mt 16:24) for “Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] and example so that [we] should follow in his steps.” (1 Pet 2:21)
Catechism of the Catholic Church #618
Ignatius of Loyola, a minor 16th century Spanish aristocrat and soldier, was determined to find meaning and glory on the battlefield. At age 30 he suffered a leg wound in combat, and during his recuperation he was inspired by reading books about Jesus and the saints. Though he walked with a limp for the rest of his life, his wound birthed a legacy of faith. Ignatian Spirituality is a “spirituality for everyday life that is based on the conviction that God is active, personal, and—above all—present to us.”
Our ancestor Julius Bythewood Bell (1834-1897), while not of noble birth himself, lived and socialized with a now-vanished aristocracy: the wealthy sea island cotton planters of 19th century coastal South Carolina. Julius was a volunteer militiaman-turned soldier who sought not glory, but a return to a southern way of life that by November 1861 was already “Gone with the Wind” At age 30, after almost four years of guerrilla warfare, minor battles, and garrison duty, Julius too suffered a Christ-like wound. He would soon become a convert to Catholicism, and raise his children and their children in the faith.
The Battle of Averasboro
The March 16, 1865 battle of Averasboro, North Carolina was a delaying action intended to allow Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston an opportunity to gather his 30,000 troops in a last ditch (and ultimately unsuccessful) effort to stop the juggernaut of Union Gen. William T. Sherman‘s March through the Carolinas.
Cpl. J.B. Bell was a “Chief of Caisson” in Capt. H.M. Stuart’s Beaufort Light Artillery Battery (misspelled “Stewarts Batty” in the service record document), and attached to Col. Alfred Rhett‘s Brigade (Interestingly, the colonel was captured during the battle of Averasboro). The document states that two days after the battle Julius was at an army hospital in Raleigh, about 40 miles north of the skirmish. Within two days, probably due to the clear and present threat to Raleigh from Sherman’s advancing army, Julius was transferred to Salisbury, NC.
V.S. left foot
I originally read the complaint as “N.S., left foot.” What in the world can “N.S.” mean? An inquiry to the nice folks at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine resulted in this reply:
“I suspect the complaint is actually “V.S. left foot” rather than “N.S.” It could have been transcribed incorrectly considering the variability of script writing during the 19th century. We often get queries about the term vulnus sclopeticum, occasionally abbreviated V.S. This is a Latin medical term which means “gunshot wound.”
New Births
Thus we see that our ancestor Julius Bell received a Christ-like wound at Averasboro on March 16, 1865. For him, the war was over. The final battle of the Carolinas Campaign was fought three days later and 20 miles to the east near the town of Bentonville. Within three weeks, the war was over for everyone. A week after that, President Lincoln was assassinated. So many wounds. So many scars. So much suffering. On May 2, 1865, Julius received his parole at Salisbury NC. His parents were apparently both dead, and their family home long ago confiscated for “failure to pay taxes.” Where was he to go? Just as the sufferings of the Cross gave birth to new life, so can our sufferings, if endured sacrificially and prayerfully. We look back in time at this 30 year-old unmarried man – orphaned, homeless, crippled – literally and figuratively limping into an unknown future. We each bear our own unique wounds, and in a way we share in his suffering as the same blood he shed now courses through our bodies. In memory of Julius and all our ancestors let us strive to limp forward into new life. “I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
Adapted from A String of Bells: Stories of a Southern Family © 2020 by Nick J. Guevara, Jr.
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