EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21245, 27 July 1932, Page 8

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

DUBLIN'S GREAT PAGEANT SPECTACULAR CEREMONIALS ft _____ REMARKABLE STREET SCENES [from oub own correspondent] LONDON, June 24 Remarkable scenes have been witnessed fn Dublin in connection with the Eucharistic Congress. An enthusiastic welcome was given to the Papal Legate, Cardinal Lauri, and liis party on their nrrival from England, where they had had an /enthusiastic reception. The special correspondent of the News-Chronicle, in Dublin describes the ceremonies. The Legato was greeted, when his steamer, garlanded with flowers, hove into sight, by aeroplanes flying in the formation of a cross. On the quayside at Kingstown waited Mr. de Valera, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, with his Ministers. Guns of the Free State artillery from the pier-head crashed out a salute as the ship drew near, and stretching away for six mileg along the multi-coloured (Streets, with their decorations of Congress blue and the yellow and white of the Holy See, tens of thousands of people knelt on the dusty pavements to ;rcceive the Legate's blessing as he passed. Cavalrymen in green and blue, like soldiers in a romantic fairy story, galloped in escort about tho procession. Women pushed their little children forward so that they, too, might receive tho blessing, and crippled men wept with joy. The progress of tho Legate took over two hours to cover the six miles from quay to cathedral. A throng of 56,000 children lined part of the flowerstrewn path. Coach of Shining Gold In a coach of shining gold the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Byrne, drove to meet the Papal Legate at the city boundary. It is 25 years since the coach was used, and it is 200 years since it >vas presented to the city by William of Orarige. It was drawn by six grey horses .with postillion riders, dressed as in the days of the battle of the Boyne. In the sunlight stood the coach, waiting by the ceremonial gateway to Dublin, which has been built over the main road at Merrion, and there stood lines of mounted soldiers. -Their Hussar uniforms blazed with saffron and blue, and their bridles glinted. Cardinal Lauri's gentle face was alight with pleasure. He smiled at the people and raised his hand in blessing. Alderman Byrne was robed in scarlet and wore a three-cornered hat. Ihe City Marshal, the ma'ce-bearer and the sword-bearer—-but without mace or sword, for the ceremony must be Irish, not English, in all its characters—and the robed aldermen stood in the background. The town clerk read the address of welcome in Irish. After the welcome bv the Lord Mayor the Pope's Ambassador came at, last through the kneeling multitude to the deep solemnity of the pro-cathedral. Service in pro-Cathedral In/ the pro-cathedral tho first act in tho pageant was enacted. Assembled in front and at the sides of the High Altar, writes the Morning Post correspondent, were the archbishops, bishops and mitred abbots, y hundreds of them drawn from all parts of the world—tho archbishops and bishops in their purple, abbots in white, with Eastern prelates in lavender, deep blue and other shades, introducing a different note into this symphony ot colour. , . , Immediately behind the episcopal benches, in tho places of h° no «'', sat the Governor-General and Mr. de Valera, separated ouly by the width of the red carpet that ran along the centre of the nave. Beside Mr. de Valera sat the other members of the Government, and behind them the representatives of foreign States in Dublin. The procession of cardinals, in their scarlet robes, headed by Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, marched from the schools opposite across the carpeted roadway, and moved slowly up the nave to the High Altar. Four Hundred Loud-speakers A few minutes later came the Cardinal Legate, 'with his suite, ecclesiastical and lay, the Papal chamberlains in Elizabethan costumes, and wearing ruffles round their necks, and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, resplendent in uniform, with swords dangling by theirsides A« the Legato entered the pro-Cathedral the choir sang " Ecce Sacerdos Magnus. Led by Cardinal Lauri, the whole congregation intoned the " Veni Creator, and tho voices rang through the proCathedral and out through the 400 loudleakers placed along the main streets of the city to the waiting thousands of people in the streets. When the last strains had died away, the Cardinn Legate took his seat on his throne, and Monsignor Walsh, Chairman of the Congress Committee, entered the pulpit and read in Latin "the Papal Brief authorising the holding of the Congress. Lastly came the Papal Legate himself, speaking from his place on the altar. The ceremonies concluded with the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, givejn by Cardinal Lauri, and once again the voice of the whole congregation, singing the Latin hymns " O Salutaris Hostia and " Tantum Ergo " and " Adoremus ' rang out over the city, whe«e thousands of people knelt in the streets. A message was received from the Pope wishing the Congress success and congratulating the Irish people on their faith and loyalty. Searchlights and Beacons Picturesque scenes were witnessed throughout the night. Searchlights played over the skies, and buildings were illuminated, while on the hills surrounding Dublin.,/ beacons blazed to carry Ireland's message ot welcome to pilgrims still nearing her shores. During the night churches were packed with Roman Catholics of every nationality visiting the Blessed for adoration on the altars. Thousands unable to gain admittance for benediction at midnight mass thronged the streets outside, heedless of fatigue and inconvenience. Throughout the night traffic plied continually, and it was. dawn before the last of the churchgoers had returned home, many of them to snatch merely a brief rest before taking part in the endless round of meetings arranged for the coming day. Service in Phoenix Park Earlier in the evening (lie greater part of Dublin was in Phoenix Park for the first of (he great meetings of the Congress. The park was filled with thousands of people, from one end of the hundred acres to the other. Oil most of the roads leading to (he park, writes the Daily Mail correspondent, bishops and clerics in their purple robes and lace surplices came to the place of meeting. The service was t',e first of three. This was a mass meeting of men, whose numbers reached about 80,000. New Zealand is represented at (he Congress by about 100 people. They form a distinct section, and in the various ceremonial processions, two banners - brought from the Dominion are carried at the head of the party. / ■ Copies of photographs taken by New ££ aland ■ Herald and Auckland Weeklj u WB , a ', a " photographers may be pur ehased liom the Pictorial Department. JrSr-r Herald Buildings. Telephone «. ci V l6 °? 8 $ prints la w 6d each and half-plate la 6d.