145,000 PILGRIMS CROWD STADIUM FOR CEREMONY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17880, 23 June 1926, Page 1

145,000 PILGRIMS CROWD STADIUM FOR CEREMONY.

PAGEANTRY OF ANCIENT ROME SEEN IN VAST ARENA AT CHICAGO. 62,000 CHILDREN SING AT EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS By Telegraph.—Press Assn.-—Copyright. A us. and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received Tune 23, 9 am.) NEW YORK. June 22. A chorus of 62,000 children lifted their voices in praise and thanksgiving to Christ their Eucharistic King in the greatest religious gathering ever held on American soil, rivalling in splendour the ceremony and pageantry of Ancient Rome. One hundred and forty-five thousand persons gathered from all the nations of the world in the Stadium within half a mile of Chicago's busiest centre. Tiers of seats filled with pilgrims lined either side of the field, reaching up to Grecian columns, from which flew the Stars and Stripes and the Gold and Silver colours of the Papacy. The altar, topped by a cross, tower ed to the clouds. At the north end of the Stadium four huge bronze statues of angels faced in four direc tions bearing inscribed banners. Cardinal Bonzano and the other cardinals were seated under a canopy on the right side of the altar clad in robes of red. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets leading to the Stadium during the ceremonies.