Our Lady of Lourdes 1918

Cardinal Bourne leaving the Cathedral on 26 May 1918, on a procession of intercession to Our Lady of Lourdes. It was given a particular urgency by World War, then raging. The Cathedral Chronicle paints the scene:

"As an outward manifextation of devotion to our Blessed Lady, a more striking and impressive procession than that of Sunday May 26 would be idfficult to surpass... All the contingents from the various London parishes of the diocese were ready in their appointed places when this fine demonstration of Catholic faith in our Blessed Lady of Lourdes, and in the efficacy of prayer as the final death-blow to this appalling war. The procession took exactly one hour and twenty minutes to pass a given point. The route through the streets, in parts crowded with respectful onlookers, in the vicinity of the Cathedral was exactly a mile long, but the leaders got back to their starting point by the time the last of the processionists (averaging four abreast) passed the Cathedral door.

"The streets were filled with a living stream of colour; blue, of course, predominated, but there were splashes of vivid reds, the rainbow hues of the little Italian girls in national peasant costumes. The Cardinal walked in his flaming scarlet cappa magna, followed by the Bishop of Brentwood, and a number of Monsignori, Canons and priests, with a rearguard of able and wounded soldiers."