BENEDICTION SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 23492, 5 February 1940, Page 10

BENEDICTION SERVICE

LAST SCENE OF EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS 50,W0 WITNESS IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIAL PAPAL BLESSING CONVEYED IP*b United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, February 4. One of the greatest assemblages of people in the history of Welling* . ton witnessed the closing scenes of the New- Zealand National .Eucharistic Congress this afternoon, when there was the procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the city streets. The procession was so extensive that it took 45 minutes to pass a given point on its way to the Congress grounds, where solemn Pontifical' Benediction and the giving of a papal blessing l by the Papal Legate. Archbishop Panico, took place. Estimates of the crowd in the grounds and in the vicinty while the benediction service was proceeding gave the number at between'4o.ooo and 50,000. The procession at least numbered 10,000. The grandeur of the closing ceremony was a glorious conclusion crownffin«r the beautv and dignity of the week’s celebrations. The benediction concluded on. a stiyrinn' end impressive note when at the, fir M .blessing . silvertrumpets , rang out- -fi*om the top of tha college in salute to Christ the King. ; aLong before the hour appointed for the TTTQppssidn to move off, ■ Catholic ■ponnTe. of whom there are JR 900 in Wellington. 95.000 in the Wellington district; and 701000 in the archdiocese, came to the citv by tram,, train, bus. and motor oar from all parts. Crowds of several neople- deep ,• were formed on both sides" of .the entire route. Traffic. officers and police officials' were in charge at intersections and elsewhere in the'; city directing all traffic •nd ensuring 'the orderly control, of the great gathering. ! Along the . route were loudepeakers, through which were broadcast hymns sung hy a special choir at fit. Patrick’s College’ under Mr 1 ’M. : T’ernie, and with Mr;H. Mount at- thA' otgan. 1 Father"Gupwefl, S.M.. broadcast devotional interludes, and Catholic Boy Scouts distributed thousands of hymn sheets. Those who participated in the procession alone almost entirely fdled the Congress grounds, which has a seating capacity of 4.000, occupied hv women and girls alone, and n full capacity of more than 10,000. There was no section of Catholic life not represented. School children, primary and secondary, to the number of '2.500 took their part in the procession/ It took more than an hour for the participants in the procession to take their place 'in the Congress ground; There the scene was unforgettable. From the altar there was seen a vast ooncOurpo';. of _ Catholic •neonie —school girls and aspirants to Children of Mary in their white dresses. Children of Mary in, blue canes and veils, returned soldiers with their medals reflecting the brilliant sunshine. ' Maori children and adults in native costume, soldiers of the second echc l on in familiar khaki, Grail Girls ip I V‘ir effective uniforms. Hibernians in their preen and gold regalia, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in uniform, and thousands in other groups each with their distinctive badges, regalia, or otha r marks of their organisational affiliation. : On either side of the altar sisters of the various orders were given pride pf place to view the scene below, and onthesides of the amphitheatre formed by the rise at the altar end of the ground were more than 300 priests of all the orders represented at the congress and of many lands—American, Australian, Syrian, Chinese, and Euro-pean-—and missionaries - and ; priestly workers from the Pacific'lslands. .

The procession of clergy was headed hv a cross-hearer, whose v two a (■nlytf'S were Fijian Islanders!; Over 600"’ dfe* itnfned soldiers were' led by Lieiiten-. ant-coloneb J. A. Roachel D.S.O v Croix de, Guerre. and men of the. seeond ' ccheTnn "were in the eh a rye inf Colonel R. A-'RoweD.S.O officer commanding the Central M“itnry District, ; wl»'0 : had ; with; him T.ien+enant-ooloneli A.. ~'ipt v v.,WUHain< D.5.0.,T?.N Z.A- Afgreat reception was riven air along the route and at the .Conorresa wounds to the soldiers, the returned soldiers, and the Maori children and adults. The Legate was the eelehrant at the benediction' service. and. after he had read bn's farewell message and left the grounds, ho was accorded a tremendous ovation, the cheers of the men mingling with the clapping of Women and girls and the general cries of acclamation. THE WOMEN S SERVICE Archbishop Duhig (of Brisbane), in his sermon at St. Mary’s and All Angels spoke of women in both the Old and the New Testament as serving the Divine purpose faithfully and well. He referred to the great women in the history of the Church, and went on to •say that the daughters of New Zealand and Australia would be found just as ready to serve Christ and to carry the Cross as the sisters of centuries ago. “ Pere in the Pacific,” he said, “it may surprise you to know that there are no fewer than 14,000 nuns working in the cause of Christ.” New Zealand, he continued, offered many examples of illustrious women in both religious and private life, and he quoted particularly Mother Mary Aubert, founder of the Home of Compassion, and Mrs Mary Pointon, who in the early days of New Zealand undertook a hazardous journey to Sydney to have her two children baptised there. Two modern heresies that struck at the very foundation of society, he said, were divorce and race suicide. The later was depriving chi'rlren of life. God of His Creatures, Christ of. those who would profess the faith, and the nations of srns and daughters who would he a solace in the hour of need. He exhorted his hearers standing on the threshold of a second century of New Zealand’s existence to continue with the good example set bv the mmi and women who had to the •building up of the Church in New Zealand in the past 100 years.