Life on the battlefront forced the men to live constantly in the presence of death. At any time of the day or night, suddenly, a bullet or shrapnel could take one's life. In the midst of this unreal situation the presence of religion, lived either as faith or simply as superstition, appears as something quite natural.
This necessity in the daily life of soldiers was resolved by the presence of military chaplains in the army and the widespread distribution of holy pictures and other devotional material.
Military chaplains, who were banished for the army after the unification of Italy, were readmitted in 1915 by Cadorna in view of the outbreak of war. As a result more than 2,200 military chaplains swelled the ranks of the army; and to these were added several other priests and seminarians who were enrolled behind the frontlines. In all, therefore, the religious presence on the frontamounted to about 20,000 men.
In some museums it is still possible to find examples of devotional material that was distributed in large quantities on the frontlines. Millions of holy pictures, postcards and prayer books were printed thanks to the work done by several religious institutions such as the Holy Eucharistic League and the Movement for the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Religious images, allegories, prayers and supplications were the main subjects that soldiers could see and read every day.
Printed on these cards there were, for example, the prayer for peace by Pope Benedict XV and images of Mary as the Queen of Peace who urged respect for the enemy after death. These cards also tried to reassure soldiers with words of acceptance for death that was considered as inevitable but aware that Our Lady would still be watching over them. The more superstitious ones instead hung a card with the word "Stop" in front of their heart. It was a kind of supplication (and hope) that was addressed to a possible enemy bullet.
After the defeat of Caporetto even the holy pictures and devotional material changed when compared to the past: censorship was applied vigorously with the result that only religious images that had a clearly patriotic message could be distributed. The prayer by Pope Benedict XV was considered too pacifist and was therefore prohibited while in their sermons military chaplains could no longer mention the word "peace". Nevertheless, this type of material still managed to get into the hands and to reach the eyes of soldiers up to the last battle of the First World War.
