DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 25, 25 June 1908, Page 14

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(From Our Own. Correspondent.) June 22. . At the ordinary meeting of the St. Patrick's branch of the H.A.C.B. Society, on last Monday evening, all the officers were present. The sick visitors' report was received, and sick pay to the amount of £7 16s. Bd. was passed for

payment. One candidate was initiated, and seven were proposed for membership. The "Very Rev. Father Clune, C.SS.R., is this week conducting a Mission at Kaiapoi. The Dominion Art Union, in aid of the Cathedral Fund, which has been promoted with considerable success by. the Rev. Father O'Hare, is to be drawn this week. News has been received here of the death at Geelong, Victoria, of Mrs. Kerley, sister of the Very. Rev. Father Mornane, of St. Mary's, Manchester street, and mother of the Rev. Father Keiley of this city. The deceased, who passed away on Sunday last, was seventy-eight years of age.— R.l.P. Mainly addressing the children at the half-past nine o'clock Mass in the Cathedral on Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Kennedy discoursed most appropriately on the life and characteristics of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of youth, whose feast day it was. The adult portion of the congregation, too, received from his remarks a fuller knowledge and much keener insight of the attributes of this striking example of holy purity. The solemnity of the feast of St. John the Baptist, patron of the diocese, and also of his Lordship the Bishop, is to be observed in the Cathedral on next Sunday. A panegyric of the Saint will be preached after Vespers on the occasion by the Rev. Father Hills, S.M.. Leeston. The solemnity of Corpus Christi, patronal feast of the Cathedral, was observed on Sunday last with impressive ceremonies. Owing to the recent inclement weather and the sodden nature of the surroundings, the intended outdoor procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which when possible is such a feature in the celebration of Corpus Christi here, had to be abandoned, and the procession took place within the Cathedral. The procession was composed as follows: — Crossbearer and Acolytes. Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart with banner, Children of Mary with banner, the Sacred Heart Confraternity, and other girls Confraternities with banners of Blessed Chanel and St. Philomena, the boys with banners of St. Aloysius and St. Joseph, flower girls and banner of the Infant Jesus, the canopy, and the H.A.C.B. Society with the green banner of St. Patrick. At the t front and rear of the canopy were carried two splendid outdoor processional lanterns recently procured from Europe, and used for the first time. A pleasing feature of the procession was the inclusion of a number of the little orphan children from Nazareth House. Solemn benediction of the Blessed Sacrament terminated the services of the day, at which the congregations had been uniformly large.