14th September 2024
On the feast Of the Exaltation of The Holy Cross, hundreds of people attended a Eucharistic procession through the heart of Dublin. The procession was the culmination of an event titled Walk The Cross in which people from all over Ireland walked from Clonmacnoise to Dublin over 4 days.
The procession which was escorted by the Gardaí started at St Peters Church in Phibsboro and proceeded down O'Connell Street and Henry Street and eventually finished at St Mary Of The Angels Church on Church Street. As Our Lord processed through the streets many onlookers were prompted to bless themselves or kneel as He passed.
A group of people began the walk with mass in Clonmacnoise on Tuesday evening before walking from Mullingar on Wednesday morning. They then walked over 100km over four days whilst continually praying and singing in petition for the reversion of Ireland back to the One True Faith.
Karen from Wicklow who walked the entire 100km stated - "This year’s walk started with holy mass in Clonmacnoise celebrated by Fr Fergal Cummins for us walkers before we embarked on our 4-day pilgrimage walk of over 100km to Dublin City.
As we walked in the beautiful Irish countryside, we prayed rosaries, stations of the Cross, litanies of the Irish Saints and the St Patrick's breastplate prayer. We also sang uplifting hymns, followed by silence with The Lord. Many of us also made new friends and re-connected with people from all around Ireland.
In sum, it was so joy-filled and also an opportunity to go deeper with our Lord and make reparation as we walked along the beautiful Royal Canal in the amazing September sunshine.
Each day, we got mass in beautiful old churches of Ireland including Mullingar’s stunning Christ The King Cathedral.
We all walked in reparation for the sins against The Immaculate Heart of Mary and The Sacred Heart of Jesus for our own sins, and for the sins of our countrymen."
The Church where the Eucharistic Procession ended was historically significant.
St Mary of The Angels, Church St Dublin is where the capuchin friars of 1916 resided. Risking their lives, they gave holy witness to their Catholic faith and bravely heard the last confessions and administered the last rites to the men of 1916 in kilmainham jail.
These capuchin friars were honoured at the mass for the first time in over 100 years. Pictures of the friars were also carried in the procession.
The mass, celebrated by Fr Brendan Kiely, with an overflowing congregation, started with the hymn ‘Céad míle fáilte romhat, a Íosa’, and closed with ‘Faith of our Fathers’.
The Irish Uilleann pipes were played as well, by a member of the Thomas Ashe band of County Monaghan, which honoured our Irish heritage.
If you are interested in joining the event next year, you can keep up to date by visiting Walk The Cross website - https://walkthecross.ie/
Sacred Heart flags for sale here - https://www.irishnuntii.com/product-page/sacred-heart-flag
Thomas Ashe Corduff Pipe Band Co Monaghan -
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