LAST SOLEMN ENTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 292, 10 December 1929, Page 8

LAST SOLEMN ENTRY.

RITES BEFORE THE ALTAR. BLACK AND GOLD DRAPINGS. The tolling of the cathedral bell and the chanting of Latin prayers propci to the occasion marked the last solemn entry to St. Patrick's Cathedral of tin body of Bishop Cleary at two o'clock this afternoon. His Lordship, Bishot Liston, and Father P. McKeefry rode before the hearse in the slow procession from Bishop's House, Ponsonby, to tlic church. A double row of priests vested in surplice and cassock stood in the porch, and they formed in procession, reciting prayers for the dead, as the coffin was borne to its resting-place before the high altar. There were moments of great solemnity, the bell tolling and the organ pealing as the coffin was placed in position. The top of the coffin was removed, revealing the body of the deceased prelate, robed in Eucharistic vestments of violet. Bishop Liston, vested in a cope of violet and gold, led the clergy in intercession, and performed the ceremonies with which the lying in. state of a distinguished churchman begins. The interior of the cathedral has been draped with black and gold in a most effective manner. All the coverings on the high altar are of those colours, and the only bright spots in the austere, funeral cathedral are the altar and shrines of the Blessed Virgin, it being the octave of a festival in her honour.