October 30, 1939
Devout Pilgrims Climb to Peak For Ceremony
Barefooted,
with shoes under their arms, women with infants in arm, men, women and
children, some 12,000 of them – they marched for hours up the sinuous
path to the top of Mount Cristo Rey
to honor Christ the King, to witness the dedication of the great
monument in His honor, and around again His words spoken to another
multitude on a mountain, 2000 years ago – “Blessed are the Peacemakers.”
The
pilgrims began the ascent shortly after noon, and five hours later,
when the dedication ceremonies were over, they still formed a chain up
the mountain slope, passing those descending.
Mothers led
toddling youngsters. Fathers carried infants. The aged and infirm
labored up the graded path, pausing at the Stations of the Cross lining
the way, to rest and to pray. One elderly woman, with her shoes
inconspicuously wrapped in paper walked barefoot and smiled in reply
when asked if her feet hurt. “Malisima de as piernas,” she said, and
continued on her way, hoping this penance would help to affect a cure
of her rheumatic legs.
Behind the first thousands to make the
ascent came the formal procession of clergymen, religists, veterans of
American Legion Post 36, and the pilgrims, parish by parish, singing
hymns and reciting the Rosary. The procession wound into the heavy
shadows of the mountains and out into the glaring sunlight of early
afternoon.
Pilgrims Are Blessed
Most Rev. A.J. Schuler,
S.J.D.D., L.L.D., Bishop of El Paso, who officiated at the dedication,
carried in the sidecar of a motorcycle up the slope, passed through the
pilgrims blessing them as he went.
Soon after 3 p.m., the rocky
summit of the mountain, westward of the 40-foot monument, swarmed with
people, seeking points of vantage to view the ceremony at the altar at
the base of the cross. The salute of Christ was on the other side of
the monument, overlooking El Paso, and Mexico to the southeast; but on
that side the mountain fell away too precipitously to hold the great
mass of people for the services.
It was the sixth annual
pilgrimage up the mountain in honor of the Feast of Christ the King,
which comes on the last Sunday of October. Six years ago the first
cross, a wooden one, 12 foot high was placed on the summit.
Amid
the awesome grandeur of rugged mountains, low mesas and desert sweeping
more than 100 miles away, and almost 1000 feet below, the throng knelt
before the glaring white cross as Bishop Schuler raised the golden
Monstrance, containing the Blessed Sacrament, afire in light of the
setting sun, and blessed them then turned toward Mexico and blessed
that country.
Presents National Emblem
Dr. Ralph Homan, of
American Legion Post 36, presented the National Emblem of the monument.
It was raised on its staff by Sgt. Leo Camplin, another veteran, his
chest heavy with medals won in the World War. Rev. Father W.A.
Swinburne, assistant pastor of St. Patrick’s cathedral, said the
invocation.
Bishop Schuler accepted the monument from a
delegation of 12 workers, headed by the foreman. Domingo Placentia,
representing the 125 workers on the project. Rev. Father L.F. Costa, of
the Smelter Church, and Urbiel Soler, sculptor, completed the
unveiling, and Bishop Schuler blessed the monument.
Father Costa
read a poem, written by himself, honoring Bishop Schuler, who Saturday
observed the 24th anniversary of the appointment as a bishop. The poem
also thanked the bishop for his interest and making the monument
possible.
Rev. Father Emeterio Diego, assistant pastor of
Guardian Angel Church, spoke on the history of the Feast of Christ the
King, who always advocated peace among men. The new monument, near the
international border, he said, replaced the 25-foot statue to Christ
the King on Mount Cubilet, near Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. That statue
was destroyed in 1926 by an aerial bomb upon the order of the Mexican
government, he said.
During the exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, Bishop Schuler read “The Act of Consecration to the Sacred
Heart” in English, and Rev. Father G. Garcia, S.J, assistant pastor of
St. Ignatius Church, read it in Spanish.
The Franciscan Choir,
composed of nine priests and 23 scholastics from St. Anthony’s Seminary
in Austin Terrance, sang a hymn to Christ the King.
Bishop
Schuler officiated at benediction and was assisted by honorary deacons,
Rev. Father J.M. Llovet, C.M.F., pastor of Gordian Angel Church, and
Father Garcia.
At the foot of the cross during benediction were
Sisters of Loretto, Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul, Sisters of St.
Joseph, Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Sisters Catechists,
Christian Brothers, 25 priests and the Franciscan Choir.
The
committee of the Monument to Christ the King Diocesan Project included:
Bishop Schuler, chairman; Father Costa; A.J. Slogeris, engineer;
Cleofas Calleros; Urbiel Soler, sculptor; the late Right Rev. Monsignor
Salvador Uranga, former pastor of the Juarez Church, who died in
Canutillo six months ago, and Very Rev. J.C.M. Garde, S.J.
vicar-general.
The committee requested that the many persons who
took photographs during the ceremony telephone Mr. Calleros, at Main
7262 or Main 2764. The committee would like copy of the photographs, or
the loan of the negatives, so that prints can be made from them. A
complete photographic library of the project is being made. More than
5900 pictures have been filed already by the committee.
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