Michael Commins
THE 2012 International Eucharistic Congress opens in Dublin next Sunday, June 10, and runs through until June 17, culminating with a special Mass in Croke Park which is expected to be attended by a capacity crowd.
Knock Museum has organised a special exhibition to celebrate this important event. Museum curator Grace Mulqueen says they are expecting a lot of interest in the exhibition over the coming weeks as it traces the origins and development of Eucharistic Congresses to date, and showcases unique objects, memorabilia and archival footage from the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932. John McCormack, whose rendition of ‘Panis Angelicus’ was the musical highlight of the 1932 Congress, is also featured in the exhibition.
The 1932 Congress commemorated the 1500 year anniversary of the arrival of St. Patrick to Ireland in 432 AD. It was among the largest public event in twentieth-century Ireland and was hugely significant in asserting the identity of the new Irish Free State as a leading Catholic nation.
The Knock Museum exhibition runs through to October is open daily, 10am-6pm, in Knock Shrine grounds. Contact 094 93 75034 or email: museum@knock-shrine.ie. The website is www.knock-shrine.ie