DUBLIN’S GREAT WEEK

Evening Star, Issue 21138, 25 June 1932, Page 13

DUBLIN’S GREAT WEEK

THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS NEW ZEALAND SECTION MEETS Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. DUBLIN, June 24. The principal event on the second day of the Eucharistic Congress was the celebration of pontifical high mass by the Cardinal Legate at the ProCathedral. The legato made another triumphal tour through chc. multitudes in perfect midsummer sunshine. The cathedral service was again marked by resplendent pomp, and was attended by many notables, including members of the present and former Ministries, while apart from the legate there were seven cardinals, thirty archbishops, 100 bishops, and clergy of all rations. The whole service was wirelessly relayed and heard through loud speakers. The legate, during the celebrations, used a magnificent gold chalice which the Pope himself used last Friday. The chalice, which is a present to the Archbishop of Dublin, is beautifully embossed, and depicts scenes in the life of Christ, and it is inscribed it Latin:. “ Presented to Irish sons in Christ in memory of the Eucharistic Congress.” The first meeting of the New Zealand section listened to a paper by Miss Eileen Duggan and Mr Paul Kavanagh on New Zealand’s pioneer Roman Catholic family, a moving story of the efforts of an Irish settler, Thomas Poynton, to obtain a priest for the pioneers. Poynton reached New Zealand in 182$, and twice perilously crossed the Tasman Sea in a whaling boat before -the Bishop of Sydney was able to supply a priest. Poynton had a thorough knowledge of the Maori language, and was able to dissuade the Natives from attacking the first Roman Catholic missionaries. The non-inclusion of Mr James M'Neill, the Governor-General, at the reception at Dublin Castle had a speedy sequel, as neither Mr De Valera nor any of his Ministers was invited to the Governor-General’s dinner at the Vice-Regal Lodge in honour of the Papal Legate. GREAT SCENE AT PHIENIX PARK 250,000 MEN LIGHT TAPERS AT DUSK. DUBLIN, June 24. (Received June 25, at 10 a.m.) The streets continue crowded day and night. Buildings are floodlit and searchlights are playing, throwing Latin texts on the skies. There was a great scene at Phcenix Park last night when 250,000 men marched thither and assembled round the high altar. As darkness came, at a given signal every individual lighted a taper. The vast park became a sea of lights as the Papal - Legate pronounced the benediction. Six cardinals and a hundred prelates participated in the service. The previous day’s splendours at the pro-cathedral were repeated in the morning when pontifical mass was celebrated. Another paper by Miss Eileen Duggan and Mr Paul Kavanagh, ‘ New Zealand’s Debt to Ireland,' was rend at to-day’s New Zealand session at the university college. The writers traced the early history of Catholicism from the landing of the French Bishop Pompallier in the North Island, when there were only-350 white Catholics on the island—nearly all Irish. The first Irish priest to arrive was Father O’Reilly, who preached at Wellington in 1843. Archbishop Redwood, now known as the “ Patriarch of the Pacific,” though an Englishman, was ordained in Ireland. New Zealanders of Irish descent were proud of the way that Archbishop Redwood had surrounded himself with Irish helpers. He had himself ever remained an outspoken friend of Irish nationality. '