DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 50, 15 December 1904, Page 3

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(Fr<om our own eorrestpondetat,)

December 12. »r , ,, was Pirst Communion of the ohilJdren at St Mwry j Manaheater street, on the Keast of the ImnW late Conception, the young people being afterwards G>n x> g r h£i vi go. .

Tihe Rev. Father Pidgeon, C.SS.R., commenced a TSl S tnusSlo"t nusSlo " a f Tem-uka on Sunday, a mission at AshbHrton is to be commenced on Christmas Day by the Rev. fathers ODonnell and O'Brien USSR A meeting of the ladies of the congregation la qonveined Cor next Tuesday afternoon at the presbytery to arrange a suitable reception for the Sisters of Nazareth on tlheir arruval, and to provide requisites for the Nafrjareth House.

On last Sunday week members of the Catholic Club lin a body approached the Holy Table in the Pro-Cathe-dral at tihe 7 o'clock Mass. Otn the following Tuesday evening, at a specially cojiveped meeting, Messrs W S Malaquin and J. A. Shatnley were deputed to represent tihe Club at the annual session of the federation in Dunedin at Christmas.

Speaking m the Pro-Cat'hed,ral on Suntt&y morjiimg on the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, tjhe Rev. Father O'Brien, C.SS.R., contrasted the apparent apathy of m)ainy m regard tio assisting at Mass an Sundays and ihohidays a,nd the trivial excuses advanced for absence witjh the almost superhuman eftorts miade by the people in the penal days to assist at the Holy Sacrifice. The people of the Pro-Cathedral parish are manifesting great lervor in the mission of trtie Redem/ptonst Fathers, anl at most of the services the accommodation is all too small for the cr,owds which throng the church. Creat numbers daily approach the Holy Table and on the eve ot the Feast of the Immaculate Conception besides the missione-s, his Lords|ii|p the Bishop and 'all the resident clergy were engaged until a late hour in the confessionals.

T|he feast and jubilee of tihe Immaculate Conception were honored in the evening by the fine Monastery of the Sacred Heart being illuminated , tows of candled 1 gMeyi each window, whilst tihe iwiiLding, tihe cathiedral and griounis were brilliantly ilLurrninated witlh dolored fire. At times the Cathedral assiumed a beautiful irose color, the effect produced being strikingly picturesque. During the day tihe flag of the Marist Brothers' Schlool was llown over that building

Tihe Feast of the Immaculate Conception was observed with befitting solemnity in the Pro-Cathedral. The us-ual mission Mass was celebrated at 6 o'clock, wb.em almost the entire congregation approached the Holy Tabie At S o'clock there was Solemn Higji Masls, the Rev. Father O'Connell being celebrant.tiie Rev. Father O'Donjaell deacon, and the Rev. Father O'Brien subdeao&n. His Londship presided in the sanctuary, attended at the throme by the Very Rev. Father Le Menant des Chesnais, V.G. In the evening the chiurctfi was densely thronged. The Rev. Father O'Brien preached a powerful discourse on the Bles,sed Virgin and the swbject of the day's festival, and at the conclusion consecrated the parishioners to the protection of our Lady. TVie high altar and altar of the Blessed Virgin were tastefully adorned and brilliantly illuminated.

(Diocesan News comtimiued on page 6.)