WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 74, 30 March 1910, Page 11

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL.

CONSECRATION NEXT JUNE*. A. GORGEOUS CEREMONY PROMISED. [raoii otra owv cobrespondenx.] LONDON, 18th February. The ritual to be observed at tho consecration of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster, in June, will be of an elaborate and impressive character, and is stated to bo identical with the service followed at the consecration of Westminster Abbey on Holy Innocents' Day, lOC3. The Westminstei Cathedral was first projected in May, 1865, as a memorial to Cardinal Wiseman, first Archbishop of Westminster, who died that year. The first stone of the building was laid in June, 1895, in the presence of Cardinals Vaughan and Loguo. The architectural style (from the designs of the late Mr. J. F. Bentley) is Byzantine, in use throughout Eastern Europo from A.D. 325 to 1450. The high altar is of grey Cornish granite, and weighs 12 tons. It is the gift of tne Hon. George Savile. There is a handsome cenotaph to the memory of Cardinal Vaughan, at whose funeral tho building was opened for worship, June 1903, and in the crypt lie the remains of Cardinal Wis» man and Cardinal Manning. Over £.253,000 has been spent on tbc buildinfi, and there is still a debt of £7000. THE SERVICE. The consecration service dates back to the earliest days of Christianity. Ihe eonsecrator must be either the bishop of the diocese or his deputy. The consecrating prelate, who should be fasting on the day before, solemnly sets apart in an adjacent tent overnight tho relics to be used in tho ceremony. These are placed on an altar with lighted candles, while tho choit oiiants Matins and Lauds in honour of the saints whose relics they are. Twelve crosses are marked on the walls of the church, and tho candles beturc them aro lighted at the beginning of the consecration ceremony, a "use" which, according to Rabanus Maurus, the liturgist (788-856), recalls the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem. (Rev. xxi., 14.) The bishop and clergy then go in procession round tho outside of the church three times, sprinkling the walls and boundaries with holy water. The bishop knocks three times with his pastoral staff at the main entrance while repeating tho words (in Latin) : "Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." Alter tho deacon at the porch has asked, "Who is the King of Glory?" and received foi reply, "The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," the door is opened and tho bishop with his assistants enters the church, leaving the rest of the procession outside. The consecratoi describes on the oshstrewn nave a cross composed of the letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets, arranged saltire-wise. This symbolises the union of the Latin and Greek Churches.