THE GREAT LOURDES CONGRESS

New Zealand Tablet, 12 November 1914, Page 13

THE GREAT LOURDES CONGRESS

: ■ ♦ . ' 'v THE . GATHERING DAY BY DAY. A FULL AND VIVID DESCRIPTION. ' (For the N,Z. Tablet, by His Grace Archbishop - i- r > Redwood.) ‘ , (Concluded.; Sunday, July 26.—T0-day was memorable for the Solemn Pontifical High Mass celebrated in the open air, in front of the splendid porch of the Rosary Basilica, by the Cardinal 'Legate, in the presence of about fifty thousand people, amongst whom a vast crowd of priests Over 5000 priests were in Lourdes on this Sunday, and f, la^ e P art _ of them were in the grand procession of the Blessed Sacrament. A beautifully decorated altar had been erected before the entrance of the Rosary Basilica On its left (viewed from the audience) was the Cardinal’s throne, richly adorned; on the right, opposite the throne and partly under a canopy, sat eight cardinals in their crimson cassocks and cappa magna—a great sight in itself. Then, on the right and left, fronting each other, were rows of tapistried benches .tor the archbishops and bishops, about two hundred, clad in purple cassocks with rochet and mantelletta! Right opposite the altar, but slightly further back sat about twenty French deputies wearing their official scarfs from the Parliament in Paris.' The vested assistants at Mass, besides the deacon and subdeacon, were very numerous, many of the priests wearing chasubles. The grand choir, on the left under an arch of the caches to the Basilica, was composed of boys and men to the number of two hundred, with forty violins to steady and sustain the voices, and some musical instruments producing perfectly the effect of an organ. Being well trained and ably conducted, the singing of this v select choir was splendid, and loud enough to be heard for almost a quarter of a mile, the wall behind’ the arch acting as a large sound-board. Two most solemn and soul-moving moments, in this grand pageant, were when the whole multitude knelt. at the elevation, and when, at the end, the Cardinal Legate gave the ’ Pontifical Benediction, to which was attached a Plenary Indulgence. The whole scene and its surroundings was one never to be forgotten. " But the grandest function of all, the great Eucharistic triumph, was the last procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament through the town of Lourdes. Flags and banners and streamers adorned every point of the Esplanade, and the whole extent of the way, as far as the bridge, was festooned with ivy and flowers from pole to pole. Where the Esplanade proper ends, a stretch of ground about 300 yards long is fenced off with low iron rails and fitly planted with beds of choice roses (being in front- of the Rosary" Basilica). In this groundwhich has a fine broad avenue on each side bordered with deep belts of large and shady trees, chiefly magnificent horse-chestnuts, first you see, a large marble statue of our Lady of Lourdes, being, with its pedestal 'over fifteen feet high, arid richly Crowned, looking towards the Basilica ; next a fine marble 1 statuary reproduction of the Apparition of the : gacred Heart to Blessed Margaret; finally, near the bridge across the rushing Gave,, a fine marble work , of the triumph of St. Michael over Satan, of the same height as the other groups. The length of the procession was about;, a; mile and a-half. Two altars, under splendidly decorated arches forming chapels, were erected at about equal distances from each other in the town, for the purpose of giving two solemn benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament in’ the procession. The -order of the procession was .as follows: —A squad of Pyrenean Guides on horseback, . then thq crossbearer with two acolytes and candles; the Pyrenean Guides on foot, bugles, drums the * Lyre Montaguarde,’ a musical society l of Lourdes, ;in Pyrenean .costume; the ‘' Cantadous V del Labata, a - ' - . '

musical society of the v town of Lourdes, in Pyrenean ■costume; the cure and clergy of the town of Lourdes, the children of Lourdes, the corporations of agriculturists, slaters; stone-masons; gardeners, guilds of the Holy Ghost, of the Good - Shepherd, of - St. Michael, St. John*: St. James, and St. Peter, of the parish of Lourdes ; the members of the i Confraternity of St. Vincent de Paul or Tarbes, of Lourdes, and of , Bagneres-jae-Bigorre; men of . various third Orders; six - hundred : members of the ; Association of i the Nocturnal Adoration of Spain, with a - hundred Banners ; other ; foreign ; delegations; delegations ■ of French; Catholic chemists, with “about four hundred banners; different penitents from the south of France; a delegation of the Pilgrimages of Penance in Jerusalem; priests in black; the Mayor, and the members of the municipal council of Lourdes; priests in surplices; canons of all the dioceses.; the canopy or pavilion of bur Lady of Lourdes; prelates in mantelletta; priests in sacred vestments ; the representatives or delegates of the bishops; the mitred abbots in mantelletta; the venerable chapter of the Cathedral of Tarbes; i- bishops . and archbishops in mantelletta or purple; bishops and archbishops in cope and mitre, and crozier; the town band of Lourdes; the chantry of our Lady of Lourdes; the ministers of the Blessed Sacrament ; acolytes; the dais over the Blessed Sacrament carried by the Cardinal Legate. The most eminent cardinals in cappa magna ; the diocesan Bishops of Tarbes and Lourdes in cappa magna, with his vicars-general ; the ; bishops and archbishops in purple cassocks, with rochet and mantelletta; the diplomatists accredited to officially represent their Government at the Eucharistic Congress; the Knights of the Order of Malta ; the wearers of the Pontifical Orders in their costume ; . Orders of Christ, of the Golden Spirit, of St. Gregory, of Pius IX., of St. Sylvester, of the Holy Sepulchre; chamberlains of his Holiness in costume ; members of Pontifical Orders not in costume, but wearing their decorations; chamberlains of his Holiness not in costume, but wearing their insignia; the members of the Permanent Committee of International Eucharistic Con-, gresses, headed by Bishop Heylen, of Namur, the permanent president, in mante]letta ; the priests of the committee in black; the members of the diplomatic body; the Senators and Deputies; the academicians’; the physicians of the ‘ Bureau des Constatations medicales de Lourdes ’; the representatives of the general committees of Catholic works ; the members of the Hospitality of , our Lady , of Lourdes; Pyrenean Guides, on foot. The effect of the eight cardinals in cappa magna held up by choir boys in single file with side attendants was superb. Also the effect of the archbishops and bishops in cope and mitre, many . with, the crozier— , all, 80. The other bishops and archbishops, to the number of about 120, in mantelletta, were conspicuous, as contrasting with the prelates in cope and mitre. The cardinals, prelates, and clergy formed a line of about ope thousand yards in length. . The great body of priests in surplices looked in the distance like, a pretty bed of lilies or daisies. Space does not allow of a detailed description. '-The. weather all day was fine, rather too sunny during the Pontifical Mass, and requiring the grateful shade of many umbrellas, but the sky.TsWaS;rOYercast,, during the, final procession, ; in fact, perfect. But the most magnificent spectacle to be ever re- v membered was when the Blessed Sacrament ascended by the right inclined plane to the top of the grand portal pf the Rosary Basilica on a level with the higher .Basilica, and was placed upon an altar brilliant in gold, Overlooking all" the vast. Esplanade and grounds, now ‘ Containing 1 one hundred thousand people. Prior to the Inst Benediction, preceded by the Tan turn Erffp, splendidly sung by the select choir, the -various acclamations began, entoned ~ By an admirably clear ■ and ‘ ringing ■ §ioe, and takefi rip, again and again, with the mighty ioar of the vast multitude. It would thrill a-heart * of Ifcone, Then came the most impressive - silence of theiifairienso crowd—you could have heard a pin drop—to. receive the final Benediction, thus bringing to a

triumphant close this grand -jubilee International Congress. •mII c \i, tx7 m ' s I - 7 Sincerely yours in Christ, , , ;7 s .'7>i« Francis'Redwood,' S.M., j? XJ--7 . Archbishop of Wellington, Bayonne, August 1914. ' N.B.— began this letter at Lourdes and finished it ' here. , <