CHRISTMAS AT MAILKING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 14, 5 April 1900, Page 4

CH RISTMAS AT MAI LKIN G.

Rputcr's c aOlafeking give*- the following account of how Chri-tmas wn> observed by the Catholics of the beleagured town —

Christina 1 - L\o was celebrated by theTtoman Catholics in Maf eking with a Midnight Jh^. The whole town was enveloped in Stygian darkness, and I could only find my road by the aid of flashes of sheet lightning reflected from an oncoming storm. The scene was indeed impressive. At the far end of the room six great tapers

gleamed through the darkness. The windows had been covered with the veils of the nuns, lest the enemy, seeing the light, should be tempted to open fire. Around the altar the black-robed figures of the kneeling Sisters contrasted strangely with the white silken vestments of the priest. Father Ogle, who officiated, and with the hangings of the altar itself. Behind the nuns a motley group, mostly of men, and numbering some forty, was gathered. Most of us were booted and spurred, and if one had looked into the passage outside the chapel he might have found the rifles and bandoliers of the woivhippers ready for u«e at any moment. As the Mass comir^noj evvr nnrt n";nn vivid flashes of liffhtninir illuminated the whole room, piercing the veiling of the windows, hailstones rattled on the roof, and <ru«t« o f wind rushed through the passages?, causing the tapers to flicker. A few who had the opportunity made confession and communicated. Then the priest gave us his blessing, and we went out into the early morning.