CALVARY BLESSED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 143, 13 March 1939, Page 10

CALVARY BLESSED

Memory Of Archbishop

Redwood

ATTENDANCE OF 3000 Annual Procession Of Lourdes The solemn blessing of the Calvary erected in memory of the late Archbishop Redwood and the animal procession in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes took place at the Star of the Sea Convent, Seatoun, yesterday afternoon. There was an attendance of 3000. The procession, the second since the grotto for Our Lady of Lourdes was erected last year, included representatives of al! the Roman Catholic schools 'in Wellington, Marist Brothers, Hibernians. Holy Name Sodalities and the Children of Mary Boy Scouts. The Hon. D. G. Sullivan represented the Government. After marching through the grounds to the sports field, the procession gathered about the Calvary, erected in a prominent place on the south side. Made of white marble brought specially from Italy and cut from one slab, the crucifix stood out well from the dark trees.

The dedication sermon was preached by the Very Bev. T. .McCarthy, S.M., Marist missioner. Afterward the gathering assembled about the grotto on the north side for hymns and the solemn Benediction by the. Rt. Rev. Monsignor T. F. Connolly, lhe ceremony concluded with the hjmn, “Faith of Our Fathers.” The deacon was Archpriest J. Kelly, the sub-deacon, Rev. Father Nolan, and the master of ceremonies, Rev. Father M. E. Uhlemberg. Brother Phidelis conducted the singing, which was mostly congregational. The procession wa's organized by Messrs. I*. and S. Hoskings, and Captain Duthic was chief marshal. The Artillery Band provided music. Dedication Sermon. “ -O Cross, my alone hope, all hail,’ this text emblazoned upon the escutcheon of the late revered Archbishop Redwood.” said Father McCarthy, "is an apt and succinct expression of the characteristic virtue of this remarkable man—a virtue that includes all others and from which each derives its being, beauty and merit —unswerving loyalty to the crucified Christ and unfaltering trust in the sanctifying and saving efficacy of His precious blood.

“For nigh 70 long years as religious priest, teacher, bishop and archbishop, Archbishop Redwood dedicated his exceptional talents, his energies, his whole being, to the ministry of souls, inflexible of purpose, indomitable of will, till having consummated his course, full of years and merits like the patriarchs of old, he fell asleep in the Lord. The heroic virtues of his own interior life, the merit of his constant and long-protracted prayers, the unreekonable works of his zeal through the years of his sacred ministry when he spent himself in the consolidation of the Kingdom of Christ in this young land, equipping it with churches, schools, colleges and seminaries, his preaching of the Word of God in season and out of season, and thus the countless souls he won for His divine Master, will never be known to angels or men till the Books are opened and the trumpets resound in the Valley of Josephath. “May the earth rest lightly on his hallowed remains, and may we not. hope that long e’er' this his spirit has been enthralled in the light and glory, of the Beatific Vision. Then what more fitting monument could be raised to his memory, to the memory of this worthy disciple of the Crucified, to this valiant soldier who fought the good fight for the rights of His beloved King than the one that has just been blessed with the prayers of Holy Church —the image of the Crucified'Christ. Thanks Expressed. “The thanks of the priests and the people of this archdiocese are due, ami are willingly accorded to the Sisters of Mercy for lhe kindly thought and the grateful love which prompted them to erect this chaste yet magnificent monument to the hallowed memory of New Zealand’s noblest son and her Church's most, gallant chief. On behalf of the Catholics of this city and -of all New Zealand 'it is my privilege and my joy to convey our scuse of gratitude, deep and ever-abiding to them for what they have so nobly done to perpetuate for future generations lhe memory of the zeal and the piety of our late Archbishop. And as a Marist, may I convey a further tribute of gratitude which the Society of Mary owes them for another splendid memorial they have erected here on these sea-girt heights —Our Lady of Lourdes —to the memory of a saintly priest and religious of the Marist Order, lhe lafe beloved Doctor Kennedy. “For what they have done to enshrine the memories of these two heroic men, I pray God's choicest blessings and graces may be showered down upon their institute, its works and its members. I pray that God s Holy Mother may take them all under Her special care. And I pray that these sacred shrines may stir in the hearts of countless generations of the pupils of their college of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. resolves as heroic as awakened in the virginal soul of Francis Redwood, ‘to fill up in their flesh what is wanting of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, which is the Church by the consecration of their young lives to the service of their divine Master in the religious and in the priestly state for the glory of God, for the extension of lhe Kingdom of Christ in this young land of ours and for the sanctification ami salvation of lhe spuls redeemed. by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Who has loved us unto death, even unto the death of the Cross.”