EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 149, 7 September 1928, Page 3

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS.

GREAT OPEN AIR GATHERING. IMPRESSIVE SPECTACLE. (Received This day, 11.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This day. Battalion niter battalion of young men of Roman Catholic societies man Ill'll into the Royal Showgrounds to participate in the most colossal religious demonstration ever held in Australia. Tiic solemn benediction under the open sky was given by Cardinal Gerdt ito 130,000 men. Onlookers at the time of the simple pageant of faith will never forget'the sight of over a hundred thousand human arms holding lighted tapers, as the deep toned responses of the worshippers preceded the triumphant thunder of the “Adoremus.” The huge tong legation sang Hie hymn “Of Sacrament Divine,” and then, before the benediction the rolling Latin of “0 Snhitaris” and “The Tantum Ergo" service ended with the grandest of Catholic hymns, “Faith of Our Fathers and Queen of Heaven.”

The vast sea of faces looked towards the papal throne at the far end of the ground and the official stand crowded with inter-State visitors. Cardinal Ceretti yesterday laid a heart-shaped wreath on the cenotaph in the presence of the Returned Soldier-' League. The officials were excited nt the gathering when they olisoved the Cardinal’s arrival. Archbishop Clunc, of Perth, also placed a huge floral cross on the cenotaph on behalf of the chaplains who served in the war.