1932 International Eucharistic Congress Hymn Book
click above to read in full (pdf)
I’m very grateful to Jaykay (whose mother attended the childrens’ Mass in the Pheonix Park) for sending me this Hymn Book from the 1932 International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin. Jaykay notes that:
My mother would have been 12-13 at the time of the Congress. She had just started secondary in a convent school where they had a very good choir. They used to take part in Gregorian chant competitions for children and regularly won (now who says that there was no “participatio actuosa” prior to the new springtime in 1965??). Anyway, they had been prepared for months beforehand to take part in the children’s Mass in the Phoenix Park where the “Missa de Angelis” was sung, which was easy peasy to them – she told me they had about 4 other of the chant settings of the Mass which they sang regularly as well as the Te Deum and of course all the well-known ones such as Adoro Te and Veni Creator Spiritus etc. – not to mention the Dies Irae for the requiem.
So they went to Dublin on the train, in their confirmation dresses, and processed solemnly out to the Park for the Mass. Just imagine, thousands of kids – all immaculately disciplined – singing the Missa de Angelis!
I’m sure next year’s event will have something similar… NOT!!! We’ve definitely sung a new church into being 😦
Online photographs:
UCC Gallery (takes a minute to load; click on the photo subtitles to enlarge)
NLI Gallery (click on the photos on the right to enlarge)
Newsreel:
THE PAPAL LEGATE’S GREAT WELCOME!
A MILLION PEOPLE KNEEL IN WORSHIP
FOR IRELAND’S GREAT EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
See also:
Festival of Faith – Fr Matthew Record
De Valera’s speech to the Papal Legate, Cardinal Lauri (extract)
Cardinal Lauri’s address to the welcoming crowd (extract)
Rory O’Dwyer, a young historian at UCC, recently wrote a very good book on the Congress — which you can purchase here. He has an interesting overview of the Congress in History Ireland here.
Posted on April 23, 2011, in Cardinal Joseph MacRory, Catholic Education, CATHOLIC PAMPHLETS, Catholic Social Teaching, Eucharist, Images, International Eucharistic Congress, 1932, Irish History, Irish Language, Liturgy, Mass, Media Archives, Music, Papacy, Persecution, Processions, St. Patrick. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Lux Occulta 
Actually, Shane, now that I recall a bit more, they were probably in their Children of Mary dresses and veils, rather than confirmation dresses, since they were 13 or so. It was a Mercy Sisters school so membership was pretty much compulsory. But I think it looked the same. My father was also there as he was in the scouts, with the Baden Powell hats! He was about 14. They’re both dead for some years but used to talk about it a lot. Many memories!
Thanks Jaykay, most interesting. Incidentally, if you’d like to share any of those memories, you’re always more than welcome to do so.
My father grew up in the Oxmantown Road area, where I did also, very near the Phoenix Park. Indeed our parish, Holy Family, Aughrim Street, includes what is now Áras an Uachtaráin that was then still, I think, called the Viceregal Lodge. The Zoo is also within the parish boundaries! So is the Depot where recruits to An Garda Síochána did their training up to 1964. They used to march to the 11am Mass in Aughrim St every Sunday, sometimes with the band.
My Dad was 19 when the Eucharistic Congress took place and was proud of a photo taken in the Phoenix Park, probably after the Mass, of himself and some of his pals. That event was one of three public events that were memorable for him. The second was the FA Cup Final in Wembley at which Manchester United, with Jackie Carey, a ‘Dub’, as their captain defeating Blackpool 4-2. The third was the visit of Pope John Paul II, which he reluctantly agreed was on a par with the Congress!
We used to have a Corpus Christi procession around the parish on the Sunday evening after the feast and many homes flew the Congress flag, right up to the 1960s.
Maisie Ward has a delightful story about the Congress in her biography of GK Chesterton, who attended the event. It seems the weather was glorious for the duration but looked as if it might break towards the end. Chesterton was highly amused when he heard a Dublin ‘shawlie’ say, ‘If it rains He’ll have only Himself to blame!’ (‘Shawlie’ was the term for women, usually poor, who wore a shawl, a common sight up to the 1960s, as I recall.)
The Eucharistic Congress next year won’t be anything like that in 1932 and I can’t imagine Enda Kenny, or the new president whoever he or she may be, greeting the papal delegate in the kind of terms that De Valera used, especially what he said in Irish. But I hope and pray that the event and the preparation for it will be accepted by people as a time of special grace for Ireland.
Again, thanks for the stunning comments Father. Chesterton’s description of the poor’s devotion is fascinating:
Pingback: Letter of the Bishop of Danzig « Lux Occulta
Pingback: The Bad Old Days…. « Lux Occulta
Pingback: The Arrival of the Papal Nuncio (1930) « Lux Occulta