Item 30 - Annual Corpus Christi Procession at Rochestown

1 p.; clipping

A clipping from ‘The Cork Examiner’ dated 30 May 1910, detailing the public turnout and liturgical order of the annual Corpus Christi procession held the previous day at the Rochestown Capuchin Franciscan Monastery. The first section outlines the logistics of the pilgrimage, noting that the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway Company ran special trains and a twenty-minute service to accommodate the thousands of faithful arriving from Cork, Douglas, and surrounding regions. The text reflects on the historical growth of the event over two decades, quoting the spiritual writings of Father Faber on the unchangeableness of God.

The second section describes the solemn procession winding through the decorated monastery grounds, paths, and adjacent fields lined with flags and temporary altars at the Shrine of St. Anthony. It provides a lengthy record of the participating groups, listing them in marching order: the religious of the monastery, the brothers of the Third Order, the boys of the Passage Industrial School, the Children of Mary of the Passage Convent, and the orphans of St. Patrick’s Orphanage (Cork), accompanied by both the Orphanage Band and the Catholic Boys’ Brigade Band. The text documents that the Sacred Host was carried beneath a magnificent canopy by Father Kevin (the Superior), assisted by Father Columbus as deacon and Father Berchmans as sub-deacon. It concludes by detailing the singing of the ‘Tantum Ergo’ by the Third Order, the alternate musical verses played by the bands, and the final imparting of the solemn Benediction from the church steps.