GREAT DEVOTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3889, 25 September 1928, Page 66

GREAT DEVOTION.

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. i PAGEANTRY AND COLOUR. (Photographs in This Issue.) (Fbom Ouk Own Correspondent, i SYDNEY, September 13.Last Sunday’s memorable procession, •with its pageantry and its glowing colour, marked the conclusion of the most remarkable religious congress ever held in Australia, and even in the Southern Hemisphere—the great Eucharistic Congress for which preparations had been made over a period of more than 12 months. This processi~n down the sunlit harbour and on to the just-completed cathedral, was a fitting finale to a religious demonstration i.hich displayed to a remarkable degree the great solidarity of the Church of Rome—a solidarity which imp -essed even the non-Catholic section of the community. . . . On all sides there has been a truly remark able display of toleration and generosity, and it must be admitted that Sydney emerged from the week with glory, and with a religious fervour greater than at any period of its history. The spectacle of vast crowds .kneeling in the dusty streets, of thousands singing as though suddenly in pired by some great unseen force, of simple devotion, must have moved thousands who, previously, had given little thought to religion. Here was a lesson to the other churches, and it was a lesson the value of which is not likely to go unheeded. For the purpose of the final pageant the .Manly ferry steamer Burra-Bra had been transformed in a night to a ship of white and gold, and on each side of the high funnel there as an immense white cross. People waited for hours on the picturesque harbour shores until this holy ship bearing at its prow the Host on a small altar behind vhich sat the Papal Legate, came into sight Rever entially the people dropped to the knees either sang enthusiastically or muttered some devotional prayer. On board were all the dignitaries in their multi-coloured robes, and a choir of students clad in black and white surplices. From the scores of smaller craft which immediately surrounded the BurraBra. the decks must have appeared like a gigantic kaleidoscope as the bishops, archbishops, monsignors, and priests moved to and fro in the brilliant sunshine. The hundreds of black-hatted Knights of the Southern Cross who were assembled at the Manly wharf sang “ Star of the Sea ” as the vessel moved out into the bay. Overhead a number of aeroplanes formed the Southern Cross, and then —the Cross. As the vessel slowly wended its way to Circular quay the harbour became animated, and looked as gay as on a festive occasion. The procession from the quay to St. Mary’s Cathedral provided an opportuntuqity for a remarkable gesture of worship. If every individual of the cnorm ous assembly had been tutored in his small part, trained to make a certain gesture at a certain time, the people could not have behaved more convincingly, spectacularly. The fervour, the abandon, the emotional dis. lay, the voiceless awe. and then the outburst of singing, the tears, the prostration before the great mysteries of religion swept through the crowd in a passionate shock of worship. It was almost telepathic. One moment they would be talking—an obliterating gabble of voices in the next all that c« uld be heard was the heavy breathing of the highly-strained multitude. Then suddenly thousands burst out singing. This was, perhaps, the most impressive part of the whole affair. The people were just standing around waiting, as they had been waiting, some of them, since early in the moniing. They were thoroughly tuned to that pitch of nervous intensity which makes the mind like a dry straw for the incendiary fingers of suggestion. Some of them were so tired that they hung limply on the barriers which had been erected all along the route by the police. Round the cathedral they fainted so quickly that the ambulance men could scarcely deal with the cases. The voices of the people were hoarse and dry and their eyes were scarlet with strain and exhaustion. It was a pitiful spectacle. Then somebdy started to shout, in' a tense falsetto, the first bars of “ Hail, Queen of Heaven,” and 100,000 voices crushed down, like the waters of a crumbling dam, and drowned him. They sang the hymn three times, and, as suddenly as they began, they were silent. It is estimated that 100,000 people waited around the cathedral, and the route of the precession was so thickly lined that it seemed as though at least one half of Sydney’s population watched the pageant. Perhaps there has been a greater crowd in but never before a crowd bound together so securely,, so intimately, by common emotions of worship. The procession itself was enormous. It is said that 18,000 people marched, but when it is realised that the Children of Mary had reached the cathedral before the papal delegate had left the wharf carry the Host, the estimate appears to oe a moderate one. The priests alone were marching past for 15 minutes. Then came the bishops, stiffly robed in ferola Rnd cope and mozetta. They were more splendidly ornate than they had been in any other procession during the week. The golden traceries upon -the Vestments of those who. surrounded the *Sost, mystically significant designs,

burned in the sunligh( as though they were embroidered with fire. The cardinal walked slowly. Above him was the canopy of heavy slik, embroidered with gold. He clutched to his breast the monstrance, the heart of the ceremony, the beginning and the end of this great faith, the very Presence. It was a great star of gold a star that had engrossed hundreds of other less brilliant stars in its shooting rays—hundreds of jewels. The sunlight poured into the monstrance, as though the light was seeking to find its source. The metal seemed to live, definitely to give off fire. It was magical in its influence on the crowd. Many knelt in the streets and worshipped. The priests were murmuring prayers, chanting the offices of the mass. They did not raise their voices. One could scarcely catch their words. The priests crossed themselves and the people crossed themselves and bowed their heads down to the roadway. The air was heavy with incense, which left behind a blue, vague haze. Little boys went before in suits of white and gold, with satin knee breeches and silk stockings. They paved the path for the cardinal with rose petals, giving up a new perfume to enrich the air through which the Host would go. The murmuring chant of the priests, the overpowering scent of the insence, the slow movement, the hush of’ the crowd, broken by the mutterings of someone pouring out her heart in prayer, the heavy breathing of devotees strained to emotional crescendo—all this created an atmosphere of ecstatic devotion. It was a spectacle one might never hope to see again in this life. Thousands upon thousands knelt before the resplendent monstance, and remained kneeling long after it had passed. ° ° In a speech which he delivered at a banquet the following night the Prime Minister • (Mr Bruce) expressed in appropriate terms the general impression which the procession had conveyed to the Protestant section of the community. “In your great ceremony on Sunday,” he said, “ everyone must have been struck with the great spirit of reverence. It showed that in this young, free land of curs we have also that spirit of tolerance, consideration and recognition of faith which characterised the older countries of the world. This’ is a good thing to have in our nation. I trust that in the future we will go forward in this great community, having a respect for each other’s beliefs, and a spirit of tolerance which is a vital necessity. One thing the Congress has done is to have turned our thoughts and our minds towards the ideals of those higher spiritual things which are so necessary to every nation.” At the same function Cardinal Cerretti, the Papal Legate, and the most striking personality at the Congress, said that he was labouring under a profound impression of the marvellous manifestation of faith and devotion. Ipart from the spiritual side of the Congress, the remarkable spirit of goodwill and brotherly love throughout the country, that had made Australia, its culture and its people, known to the world, had been the most outstanding feature of the deliberations. He de = scribed Archbishop Kelly, of Sydney, as the moving spirit Of the Congress. Visitors have been astonished at the religious feeling of the people of Sydney, and one prelate said that it was not equalled anywhere in the world. It is certain that never before have there been witnessed in Australia such displays of devotion as those which characterised the Eucharistic Congress during eight days. The events went to prove, hoXvever, that the English and the Australians were much less demonstrative than the foreigners, but that the Irish girls had few equals in this regard. The Irish saints are very much like the Italian saints, personally benedictory. In the great women’s demonstration the Australians and the English did not pray aloud like the others, whose lips moved continually over the revolving rosaries. Not that they were any less pious for all that, but they did look a little uncomfortable in’ the crowd.

There were.some beautiful Aragon lips and Andalusian eyes in this vast assembly of women—a Spanish group of women who prayed to their good Santo Marie d’Agreda to whom, it is said, the Virgin dictated the story of her life. They were fervent, absorbed in their devotions, praying for nearly two hours. People hustled past them, stirring up the dust and stumbling „ over them. But they wove themselves into a remote world of prayer which the heat and the noise did not penetrate. A Maori woman, heavily veiled in black was- almost as devout." She knelt at the end of the press tables, her face turned up to the altar, where the four angel women seemed to have been frozen in a moment of stupendous ecstacy. Her dark eyes, .fired with the inward, consuming zeal that seems more common with women than- with men, moved quickly, absorbing every gesture of the celebrant and his deacons. Hers was a very personal adoration. Some oliveskmned Italians prayed with that fermakes the Latins such good children of the church. For them, too, religion is something very personal, a gift from a benignant God whom they reverence unreservedly. The citizens of Sydney have been magnificent,” was the comment of the Commissioner of Police at the end of the week.