Homage

Full account of the golden jubilee of the priesthood of Desire Mercier, Cardinal Primate of Belgium, was issued by the National Catholic Welfare Council.

To him, in the grand medieval Cathedral of St. Rumold, was paid the homage of King, nobles, clergy and people. "The Ministers, headed by the Premier, M. Georges Theunis, the Governor of the Belgian Provinces, the members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Presidents and Vice Presidents of both Chambers, a pleiad of army generals, the Burgomasters of the chief cities of members of the Courts of Justice, the Rector of the University of Louvain, surrounded by a brilliant array of professors in caps and gowns-were all in the church when His Eminence, accompanied by his Suffragan Bishops and preceded by Monsignori, Cathedral Canons, superiors of religious orders and clergy, marched up the main aisle, between a double row of clerics wearing over their cassocks white surplices trimmed with red.. The Cardinal, vested in cope and mitre, blessing right and left, by his imposing stature dominated the cortege and the crowds as he has dominated the history of the past years by the transcendant part he has played in it." After a quarter of an hour of silent prayer, His Eminence rose from the priedieu, and accompanied by the Ministers of the Mass, walked down the aisle to meet the Royalty. With the punctuality that is the courtesy of Kings, at exactly 10 o'clock, Albert, Elizabeth and the Royal children arrived. Said the National Catholic Welfare Council: "The Mass then commenced. The Cardinal, whose ardent devotion to the Sacred Heart is well known, had himself chosen for the occasion the Votive Mass of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, of which the text was distributed as a souvenir program at the church entrances. The French or the Flemish text, next to the Latin Words, gave to the faithful an opportunity to follow the ceremony in all its details and to seize its full meaning, which was a fervent outpouring of piety, of thanksgiving and supplication. The proprium of the mass was sung in plain chant by the admirable Cathedral choir under the direction of the Abbe Van Nuffel; the ordinary was the polyphonic Mass Resurrexti from Max Springer, particularly adapted for stately celebrations." At the public hall, Cardinal Mercier received the first instalment (1,200,000 francs) of a huge purse which is being collected for him. Most of the ambassa'dors paid verbal tribute. France gave him its highest decoration--cordon of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. The Pope sent Apostolic blessing.