“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.”
On the banners carried through Belfast, Sunday 18th OctoberOur Lady’s Rosary Festival closed on Sunday 18th October the way it always closes: with Belfast praying the Rosary on its own streets. The Annual Rosary Procession left St Malachy’s Church at half past two — Our Lady’s statue carried on a bed of lilies and roses, the altar servers and the festival banners at the front, and behind them parishioners, legionaries, sisters, families with prams and friends who had simply come to walk — and made its way across the city to St Peter’s Cathedral for Benediction.
This year the procession did something it had never done before: for the first time, it passed Belfast City Hall. The Legion has walked the Rosary through these streets for decades, but never before had the route taken it past City Hall, and the sight of Our Lady carried beneath the dome, with the decades of the Rosary prayed aloud on Donegall Square, is one we will not forget.
It was the last day of a full week, kept together with the Knights of Saint Columbanus: a lecture on the Penal Times, an evening of testimony, and a night of Adoration and Confession. Our thanks to everyone who walked and prayed, to the stewards who kept the procession safe, and to the police who held the roads for us.
A special word of thanks to Sean Harkin, who took some of the photographs in this album, and to Oliver McDaniel.
