Evening star., 1924-09-22
100000 IN MARCH
Of HOLY NAME HERE
Rain Fails to Deter Catholic
Hosts-Thousands Hear
President Speak.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

! BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
| Legions in the name of Christ made
a victorious march through the
| Capital of the United States yester-
day. applauded and encouraged by
and creeds.
More than 100000 in numbers. from
| every State in the Union. from all
ranks of life-bankers, judges, pre-
lates. congressman and mayors. side
/ by side, with police and fremen and
postal worker, with the butcher. the
| baker and candlestick maker'-they
! knew common bond and one
supreme inspiring force-devotion to
| the Son of God
! They marched on and in their
Capital City not only Catholic
men, but as proud citizens of
/ the United States, thoroughly con-
| scious, as the Chief Executive of the
nation and the personal representa-
| tive of the Pope impressed upon
Z! them, that love of country is second
only to love of God and that religion
is always back of patriotism, giving
1t trde force and authority.
The National Capital is accustomed
to striking and impressive colorful
parades, chiefly of men in uniform
| stepping with mechanical precision
| led by officers resplendant in gold
trappings and astride prancing steeds,
| with a swing lent to their stride by
] stirring martial music. But never
! here before-or anywhere else on this
! continent-waS seen anything like
the out pouring of legions of men
hn Ct , iti~.a
! in unparalleled manifestation of
| religious as we'll as patriotic zeal.
Thousands Mt Mass.
/ After all night travel in special
! trains, they knelt by hundreds and
! thousands in the mud near Union
Station, at mass, fulfilling an obliga-
! tion of their religion. They trooped
down Pennsylvania avenue, after
standing in the rain for hours wait
| ing their turn to swing into line,
] through puddles, wet to the skin,
/ through a steady drizzle that damp
! ened everything but their ardor, dis
! playing the banner of the Holy Name
! in honor of which they gave this
public demonstration. They cheered
! the Chief Executive of their great
! government that guarantees religious
! freedom, and the personal representa-
| tive of the supreme pontiff of the
| Holy Catholic See that has held the
! faith unchanged through all the CEN
! turtles. They knelt on the drenched
| grass of the Washington Monument
grounds at the feet of these rulers
| of church and state renewing their
| solemn pledge of devotion to God
| and country, which was carried by
radio to unseeing millions. Then
these thousands as one great mass of
humans, knelt while as from the Pope
| himself they received the divine
| blessing through the most blessed
sacrament, in benediction, the apos-
! tolic benediction and a plenary in
| dulgence.
Reminded by their spiritual di-
| rectorS, the priests who led them in
their stride, that their sufferings
were as nothing to the hours of
agony in the garden of Gethsemane
spent by the Savior for five solid
hours, despite their own discontinue
| and fatigue, marched as crusaders
with a smile on their lips out of the
gloom and mist to give glorious evil
dence that theirs was not merely a
fair-day religious zeal but at its best
in times of adversely
Bands Play Sacred Music.
| Most of them did not march with
military order or step; their bands
pidyeu sacred, not martial, music,
| uniforms were the exception; vet the
slsht or these men coming, endless
ly, 1t seemed, out of the haze around
the Capitol, and their earnestness
drew tribute involuntarily from the
massed spectators, shamed the cynic
ana silenced the scoffer. Little imag-
lnation was needed to visualize these
men in shining armor, their little
blue -and-white pennants on lances.
coming silently, legion upon legion,
to battle for God and country.
| Darkness above and to right and
! left of them, they appeared. as they
| filed down Pennsylvania avenue, ap-
parently unconscious of the weather,
| a living flame of faith, burning
| steadily and brightly, unquenchabie
| either by rain or doubt or assault
The same spirit was evident as they
massed on the Monument grounds
and heard President Coolidge praise
| their aims and show, first by his ap-
pearance and then by his praise of
the Holy Name Society's aims ana
work and emphasis on the conStitu-
| tional guarantees of freedom of re-
| ligious warrants, his own uncompro-
missing stand against organization or
1 individuals attempting to infringe
! upon these standards by fomenting
racial or religious hatreds.
100000 Hear President.
| Addressing what veteran White
| House employees agree is the largest
audience ever assembled to hear a
presidential speech, following what
| the church authorities declare was
the greatest religious pageant ever
seen in the United States, President
| Coolidge told the more than 200, 900
crowded on the Washington Monu-
ment grounds that the Constructors
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