Mass with Arinze- The Setting

His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacrament. A priest of the Lord 48 years, Bishop for 41, and a Cardinal for the past 22.

It was along this note that I went along to join in the Eucharistic Celebration of Thanksgiving offered by this prince of the church on the occasion of his visit to the African Community in Dublin.

With the mass starting at 6.15pm, I arrived at 6pm at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, expecting a huge crowd already present, with only standing space available. To my amazement, the church was only littered with worshipers, with only the front 10 rows being fully filled. What a way to welcome His Eminence...

Anyway, I had time to take a few quick snaps of the church, which I have been desiring to do for a while now, but never really brought my camera to any of the services I attended there.

This is the interior of the Church, unfortunately there are more than 12 pillars supporting this church, maybe it was founded with some extra help?

The semi-dome above the sanctuary is of the Ascension and there are spotlights lining the balconies, as though a show is put up here every week, and there is.

You will also be able to see the tabernacle in the middle of the sanctuary. I regret to inform you again, that this is no longer used and was once converted to hold the altar list of the dead on All Souls' Day. The true tabernacle in which the Lord resides in behind the sanctuary (which is below his statue which you can observe in between the pillars on the right).

On the left of the sanctuary is the bishops Cathedra.


This is the pipe organ, located at the back of the Pro-Cathedral used by the Palestrina Choir for worship. Below it is a little gold cross with a blue circle. This is the cross of the 31st International Eucharistic Congress held here in Dublin in 1932, which was donated to the Pro-Cathedral after the end of that event.

This is the cupola of the cathedral which is located in the middle of the church, the two icons you see continue down to open into the semi-dome which I described above.

Now that I've shown you the front, back and middle of the Pro-Cathedral, lets focus on the sanctuary.

This is the altar, a simple marble altar which stand in the middle of the sanctuary. I think that this picture is very pretty and that it makes a good setting for a mass. The sanctuary is not overly decorated, there is a tabernacle in the middle, and a beautiful stain glass window behind to top that all up. No hanky-panky, itsy-bitsy, fancy things such as a giant crucifix dangling from the roof, or glowing altars...

So I've run out of time now, it's back to studying for me, but I will be blogging about His Eminence's homily and the impression I received of this prince of the church in the near future.

Just a little teaser so that you continue checking for updates.... the entrance procession of the mass, try to see if you can locate the parts of the church I described.