The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-02-03
MIDNIGHT MASS IN FLORIDA.
Peculiar Mixture of People at Solemn
and Beautiful Service.

Now comes the best feature of all,
for the glorious and romantic celebra-
ton of midnight mass is to occur in
the old cathedral Without the streets
are already crowded with happy people,
and others are joining them from the
houses. To one who remembers vivid
ly the frosty, biting air and the snow
covered ground of a northern Christ
mas, it does not seem possible that this
can, indeed, be Christmas eve.
The soft, balmy air, the lightly clad
throngs and the golden color of the
oranges revealed in the moonlight
against the black green of the leaves,
scarce seem the appurtenances OF
Christmas. Everyone goes to mid
night mass, not only all good Catholics
but numbers of other denominations.
For the finest singers in the city will
be in the choir tonight, gathered from
all other churches, and the sermon will
be on a subject that lies within the I'M
derstanding of all creeds-the nativity
of our Lord.
Within the church the decorations are
beautiful in the extreme. The altar
and the shrine of the blessed virgin al e
ornamented with long tropical vines;
palms and palmetto branches are every
where; not the dollhouse products OF
our northern cities, but those gathered
from the fields and woods near by, for
this is the '.land of flowers" and per-
petual summer. The pictures, repre-
senting the stations of the cross, are
draped with festoons of gray Spanish
moss, and punches of holly leaves and
mistletoe are fastened on the wall be-
tween. Nature is lavish beyond all
comparison in this beautiful climate.
and the results of her bounty are finer
than an expenditure of hundreds OF
dollars would obtain in colder land.
Among the occupants of the benches
one may notice, with slight degree of
establishment, the black, kinky heads
Of the colored people bowed in prayer.
In all the south the Catholics is the only
church where white and black may wor-
ship together, and kneel in alteration OF
Him who made all men equal in the be-
ginning, as they shall be in the end.
A peculiar solemnity and devotion
seems to pervade the whole congrega
zion, from the somber-looking nuns in
the front pews to the negro boys kneel-
'ng in the furthermost corner of the gal
lery, with their big white eyes staring
with awe. The feeling grows more in
tense as the midnight hour approaches
and the grandeur of the greatest event
N the worlds history comes home to
every pious heart.
At the elevation, when all heads are
bowed in humble supplication, stimuli
aneously with the ringing of the altar
bell, the great bell in the tower booms
,ut its message of GLORY be to God on
high, and ON earth peace to men OF
good will" Out over the river, glitter
ing in the moonlight, the sailors on for
.ign vessels hear it and mutter half.
forgotten prayer of Christmas and the
Christ child. 1t stirs the leaves of the
giant live oaks and wakens the spirits
of those Catholic cavaliers of old Spain
who knelt beneath their branches in the
dead centuries of long ago. And then
the morning wind blows softly. The
hush of the worlds stiffness hovers over
all and the blessings of peace come down
to earth, for this is another Christmas
day!-Donahue's Magazine.