On the Threshold of the Apocalypse

On the Threshold of the Apocalypse, 1913-1915, is the seventh volume from Léon Bloyʼs personal journal begun in 1892. This volume begins one year before World War I began, but ends, like the author (who passed in 1917), before the great war ended. Often prescient when it comes to the European stage, and particularly the imminent threat posed by Prussia, with respect to France, "the Eldest Daughter of the Church," - Bloy had been predicting a terrible cataclysm as far back as the early 1870s. In fact, Our Lady of Salette, whom Bloy was familiar with, provided the religious explanation for the war, if purely human reasons were not enough.

In this journal, the bloody writing on the wall is seen as early as January, 1913: "When one wants to change a banknote, one is bombarded with one-hundred sous pieces. The Bank has returned all the gold coin to its vaults, in prevision for some dreadful war." In late July, 1914, he writes, "Universal disquietude caused by the menacing attitude of Austria toward Serbia takes shape all of a sudden. That war being able to have a European conflagration for effect... Are the announced cataclysms close finally?" On July 31, 1914, he writes: "Austria has just begun its war with Serbia which will infallibly unleash everything."

What follows is a nearly daily account of the war as seen from Paris, Chartes, Rennes. But with all the cataclysm and apocalyptic gloom that one would expect, from a man like Léon Bloy, there is also, for all that, the optimism, and good faith, in a good God: "All that happens in life is perfectly adorable, because nothing happens that is outside the divine plan."