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Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 500, 19 August 1857, Page 5

Easter Sunday was celebrated in the Church of All Saints, Marylebone, in an extraordinary manner; much of the proceedings being clearly due to the recent decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council making crosses legal. " A high altar was erected at one end of the church, It was surmounted by a large brazen cross, and close to it stood two large candles, in golden candlesticks. The altar was covered with elaborately-wrought cloths of various colours, and flowers of every description ; indeed, every available space in the church was covered with flowers, and they were even bound round the pillars with red cloth. .Behind the cross on the altar were two paint ings representing the Crucifixion and other incidents connected with that solemn event, and behind that again an immense red cloth, extending, with two other cloths of a somewhat darker red, over the whole of that end of the church. In the corner stood a credence-table, surmounted with a cross. At the end of the church was a large cross wrought on white velvet, which being placed against a deep red cloth or curtain, presented a very striking appearance. The vessels for the celebration of the holy communion which were placed upon the altar had rich lace coverings. At eleven o'clock, everything being in readiness, the organ struck up, and a procession of priests and choristers emerged from the vestry-room. It consisted of ten or twelve choristers and four priests, including the Rev. W. Upton Eichards, incumbent of the district. Three of them, being Oxford men, wore the red and black Jiood, and the fourth, a Cambridge man, wore the black hood, and the white silk lining. All of them wore a metal cross at the back of their necks. The procession was headed by a chorister in a surplice, who held up a large silver cross, with which, on approaching the steps of the altar, he knelt, holding it up until the priests and choristers had finished the anthem in which they had been engaged while passing down the middle of the church. He then placed the cross near to the seat of the incumbent, where it remained during the remainder of the service. Prayers having been chanted, the time arrived for the coramen cement of the pre-comnxunion service, and the three priests who were to take part in it retired. During their absence, an ofiicial ascended the altar-steps, and lighted the two huge candles, which remained burning. When the priests reentered, they bowed revei-ently to the altar as they ascended the steps, and then knelt before the cross until the Easter hymn, which the people were engaged in singing, was finished. They then went through the service, standing on the steps of the altar, with their backs to the people, except during the Epistle and Gospel, when they turned round."