The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-22
DAY OF REJOICING.
Catholic Church Cele-
brates the Feast
Of Pentecost.
THE DAY is MEMORABLE.
Local Churches Observe
the Occasion With Most
Elaborate Ceremonies.

Yesterday was day of great festiv-
ity and rejoicing in all Catholic
churches wherever the light of Chris
tianity has been carried
It was the feast of Pentecost, next
in magnitude to the feasts of Easter and
Christmas, for this feast marks the
founding of the Catholic church near
ly 1900 years ago in the city of Jerusa-
lem. From this date the church makes
all its dates as it's beginning and its
children take cognizance of the fact
and each year as the feast comes round
on the calendar of the liturgical year,
the day is observed with especial SER
vices and ceremonies.
Besides marking the beginning of the
church and its organization as body,
the day is memorable for the fact of
the descension of the holy spirit, the
third person of the Trinity, upon the
apostles gathered together in a cave
at Jerusalem, taking upon itself the
form of tongues of fire, which descend
ed upon the heads of the apostles, upon
which the apostles chosen by Christ to
!
| in divers languages.
And it was from that moment that
the apostles, taking strength from the
spirit with which the holy spirit had
| fired them, went forth and began the
teaching of Christs doctrine On that
day there were gathered together in
the city of Jerusalem peoples from all
over the world and so successful were
the apostles in their sermons delivered
in all parts Of the city. that over 5000
people were converted.
With the full ritual of the church the
feast was solemnly observed in all the
| Catholic churches of Worcester. The
sacrifice of the mass was offered up at
early morning hours, at which the con-
gregations attended in large numbers
Later in the morning high and solemn
high masses were chanted by the clergy
assisted by the choirs, and in the eve
ming vesper service was sung, followed
by the benediction of the most blessed
sacrament.
At st. Johns church, the mother
church of Worcester, the feast was in
special manner observed. The high
altar was beautifully decorated with
| flowers and plants, with background
of palms, from amidst which shone
countless lighted candles and tapers
while various colored lighted lamps
Solemn high mass was sung with Rt
Rev DR.. Mgr Thomas Griffin, rector
of the church, as celebrant. He was
assisted by Rev. M. T. O'Brien as dea-
con and Rev. j. A. Hurley as sub-dea-
con. Rev. c. A. Sullivan was master
of ceremonies The choir of the
church sang pretty mass, in which
D. ]. Kelly, formerly director of the
choir and now studying medicine al
Philadelphia, assisted, singing in duet
with John F. Mccartney an Ave
Maria" at the offertory. Within the
sanctuary railing were seated the sane
tuary choir and altar boys, to the
number of 100 all robed in white sur
plices and garnet soutanes. The other
| officers of the mass were Michael Car
ney, first master, and Charles Reagan
second master, of ceremonies, Harry
Fitton and John DAILY, censor bearers
and George Fitton, boat bearer. The
first acolytes were William Raymond
and Florence Donohue, the second AGO.
| lytes being Thomas Delaney and James
Gaffney. Torch bearers were John
Forehand, Francis Mara Michael
Welsh, Martin McDonough, John Mon
gavan and Frederick Swan.
FIR Sullivan preached the sermon Of
the day after having read both the
gospel and epistle of the feast. He took
| for his text the following passage of
the gospel: These things have l spok-
en- unto you, being yet present with
you. But the comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all
things and bring all things to your re-
membrance, whatsoever | have said UNI
to you" John xiv, 1920.
He spoke of the event which was
commemorated by the services of the
day, and after reading the epistle, that
! the congregation might the better I'M
derstand what was to follow, spoke of
| the mission of the holy ghost upon
EARTH of the persons by whom the holy
! ghost had been sent, namely. the IA
Their and the son and to whom the holy
| ghost was sent The apostles, he said,
was the special objects of the visit of
the spirit and his descent upon them in
the form of fiery tongues was signifi-
cant. For Immediately, upon appear
ing in the room where they were as
senbled, the apostles began to speak in
] tongues and languages which to them
1 before had been a closed book. The
task before the apostles was an ardu-
Gus one and all the world was their
work, for Christ had told them, go
forth and teach all nations" and the
! fact that they were only simple fisher
men made them weak and the task
seemed too large for them, and they
| feared the undertaking.
| But being stirred within by the spirit
| and conversant each with the language
| of the people, amongst whom they
were to labor, they left their place OF
! concealment and went forth into the
| city of Jerusalem, where were assem-
| bled people from all over the then
| known universe, and began their work,
which was marked by the conversion
| of over 1000 on the first daV.
| He spoke of the divinity of the holy
! ghost. proving that the third person
was of the father and son and co-equal
with them in powers. He told of the
| first heresy against this particular dog
ma of the church, which was known as
Arianism. because it had been started
/ and prOpagated by one Arius OF the
east. who held that if the holy ghost
was sent by the father and son, because
| of that fact, the holy ghost could not
be equal to either the father or son,
and therefore he was not God.
In the evening at 7.30 o'clock vespers
were chanted, followed by the benedic-
ton of the most blessed sacrament.
Collections were taken up in all the
Catholic churches OF the diocese yes
| terday for the support of students
studying for the church, and in the
Worcester churches the contributions
were very generous.
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are
ember days in the church, and there
fore days of fasting.
Next sunday the church Will observe
the feast of the trinity, which also
marks the close of Easter tide, within
which ali Catholics are obliged to re-
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