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COLUMBIA VISATONE AND PUBLICATION SERVICE
COLUMBIA VISATONE AND PUBLICATION SERVICE. With its offices in the ROSHEK'S DEPARTMENT STORE, Columbia Visatone and Publication Service was directed by Rev. W. G. KESSLER. He also edited its publications.
The company goal during WORLD WAR II was stated as being a morale builder of the armed services through the preparation and distribution of hundreds of thousands of prayer books. These were provided to Catholic men and women in every Army, Navy Marine and Coast Guard camp and station in the United States. Within the 80-page booklet were special prayers for victory, a prayer for peace by His Holiness Pope Pius XII, a prayer for the stations of the cross, and the holy mass.
The Service, which had been in operation for several years, had previously printed Catholic study guides. The first copies of the new military texts were printed in April, 1943. More than one million copies had been printed by December of that year. "Your Mass Visible," written by Rev. Kessler, showed dozens of pictures of a mass being held. This was also distributed to service men and priests. The priest shown in the pictures serving mass was Rev. Capt. John N. Kessler, the author's brother.
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Source:
"Prayer Books for Fighters," Telegraph-Herald, December 5, 1943, p. 8