Saturday, October 01, 2011

A huge, unforgettable procession...

... with an enormous crowd, far far larger than I had ever imagined possible, stretching down to the river as the Blessed Sacrament, borne aloft and surrounded by acolytes and candle-bearers and billowing incense, was carried out from Westminster Cathedral...

We sang hymns, we prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, we prayed in silence, we sang "O Sacrament most holy....". You can get a flavour of it all here, complete with some good pictures... We began in a well-filled Westminster Cathedral with Newman's "Praise to the Holiest in the height" with a glorious organ accompaniement, and slowly, slowly the crowd made its way out and turned down Ambrosden Avenue...by now it was abundantly clear that we had vastly underestimated the numbers attending and so not everyone had hymn-sheets, but it didn't matter, as the singing was fine and people joined in the Rosary with vigour, the voices going back and forth as we passed the Royal Horticultural Halls and Vincent Square and Marsham Street... We poured over Lambeth Bridge and I turned for a moment to look at the Houses of Parliament with the flag flapping under the clearest of blue skies. The splendid Knights of St Columba were stewarding the whole thing, and had mapped out the route and checked all the cross-roads - at each major junction we were allowed across in sections, bus passengers gawping, tourists stopping to take pictures. As we wound our way past Lambeth Palace and down towards St George's at Southwark it began to feel extremely warm - it must have been hard work for the clergy carrying the Blessed Sacrament and its big umbrella-canopy thing ( what's the official name?) and dressed in robes...at St George's every pew was filled to capacity and people still filed in at the back...and then Benediction began, with a splendid Tantum Ergo and then the roar of voices echoing "Blessed be God..."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ombrellino.

Anonymous said...

Why an ombrellino for the Most Holy when there is a baldacchino? Perhaps, next time only the grander of the two for our Redeemer? Did not manage to get hold of a hymn sheet but was extremely happy because it meant attendance exceeded expectation.

God bless.
Santi

Jay said...

I was glad that I caught notice of this event on your blog before it happened. We don't often get notice of these events in London 'out here in the sticks', and I usually find myself reading about an event often it has happened wishing I had known in advance.

The singing was great and as I wandered between various parts of the procession it was great to hear the Rosary being said. In some places it was almost in stereo, with two parts of the procession saying the mysteries, in others it was like an echo, hearing the same thing said a few metres back from what had just been said ahead of us.

The weather was an added bonus, and I also found time for a 'gentle talk' with the guys outside the Cathedral who were shouting out against Catholics!

Thanks for putting the details of the procession on your blog, it was great to be part of the day.