The Eucharist in a Suitcase: The Chaplains' Aid Association and Catholic Material Culture in World War I

abstract: Throughout the United States' involvement in World War I, the Chaplains' Aid Association (CAA) furnished Catholic chaplains with portable Mass kits, providing for the spiritually fundamental and very physical needs of Catholic priests and soldiers in the trenches and at sea. The CAA served as a centralized body that streamlined multiple services to sustain the materially-based spiritual needs of chaplains. It sourced objects and money through donors, as well as established chapters and cooperated with other service organizations to supply chaplains' kits. Through these efforts, the CAA provided a way for Catholic non-combatants to participate in the uniquely religious material culture war effort.