Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-08
The Feast of the Blessed EEIchar-
ist Close of the Forty Hours
Devotion in ST. .gOseDIl's Church.

Last night was celebrated one of the
] most imposing and most solemn ceFemo-
| nies which comes within the province
of the Roman Catholic Church. 1t was the
end of the awful forty hours. The blesst
sacrament had been exposed for that time
and had been adored. The people kneeling
in that church OF ST. Joseph's were inspir-
ed with a new. 1t was evident to the eve
OF the most careless observer an era in their
existence. They could not choose but wol =
ship. -3i
Every one knows, of course. the origin of
| this celebration, the object and cause of its
| continuance, and the awfulness of its i'm
port. All history tells of such celebra-
tions, but few histories chronicle a finer
spectacle than was witnessed at the church
of St. Joseph's last night.
| All around the altar was ablaze with
| light. Tier over tier, and column over col
umn, line after line, and pyramid over
| pyramid, rose up to the ceiling of this
magnificent church, one glowing blaze OF
! light. Never was there in so small COM
pass of space so much accomplished as re-
CARDS effect. In the center of all this almost
magical illumination, was the figure of our
| Savior, and underneath the blessed sacra-
ment, and before these every knee was bent,
and every eye was eloquent with prayer
And while the people devotedly knelt.
uttering their devotions rather from the
| heart than from the lips, slowly uprose the
splendid lave Marie" of Luigi Luzzi
sung by Mr.. Bisehoff, giving a new, a
deeper impressiveness and significance to
| the scene. The children were kneeling
praying; and the Christ hung before them
| on that great shining altar. The very
church seemed to tremble under the strong
emotion of the moment. '5@-l
Father Louis, pastor of the church, then
entered the pulpit and dlivered in German
Ion dlA fhn RI VSKyS, Nf
Christ and the blessed sacrament. The ad-
i dress was listened to with most earnest at
tention, and at it's conclusion Mr.. Charles
Rancker, the or9anist of the church, played
in style selection appropriate for the oc-
casiOn.
Then came the procession. Beautiful it
was to see the children sitting in front of
the altar rails, each with light in hand,
each seeming to innocently estimate how
much, or what significance there was in
that little ray. Uprose as they knelt there
the o Maria" volumed forth from the
splendid bass voice of Peter Bahlens. On
and on, thunderouS at times, but ever
musical. rolled the great volume of song
and praise, but lovelier, sweeter far to the
eve than was that to the ear, came the
, fairy-like apparition of numberless little
girls, each holding a lighted candle, and
; each as she advanced kneeling reverently
before the wasted, awful, yet beautiful fig
ure which hung upon the cross. t..3
Father Louis, assisted by Father Leon as
deacon, Father Competition as sub deacon,
and Father Mainhart as master of ceremon-
les, delivered the prayer to the blessed sac
!, rament. Then followed the procession.
The long isles of the church were filled
: with little girls, all dressed in white, all
gushing forth, as it were with love and de-
votiOD, all with their long white wells trail
ing behind them, and each bearing a lighted
: candle as she passed along. Any one look
ing at that procession must have been in
deed cold of heart, who could have failed to
: admire and love these beautiful children.
The procession finished, several exguis-
ite selections were sung by Messrs. Spoo,
Bullens and others, and the proceedings
were closed by the benediction, pronounced
by Father Louis Chicago Times, Aprtt Sd.