Mangaluru (TNN): The annual feast of St Lawrence will be held at Church of St Lawrence at Bondel here on August 10. As part of this feast, Novena prayers will be held twice a day - at 10am and 6pm from August 1 to 9. Mangaluru city south MLA JR Lobo will kick start the feast by hoisting the flag on the church premises on August 1. Mayor Jacintha Vijay Alfred will be the chief guest. Rev Joseph Martis, director, St Joseph Seminary will conduct the mass on this occasion.
Rev Fr Andrew D'Souza, parish priest said Most Rev Aloysius Paul D'Souza, and Most Rev Henry D'Souza, Bishops of Mangaluru and Ballari diocese respectively will lead the Eucharistic Celebrations at 10am and 5.30pm respectively on August 10. The church authorities have organized for mass feeding of the devotees who attend the morning Novena prayers on all days, he said, adding the parish committee expects large number of devotees to do so on each day.
Yet another fascinating part of the feast will be the reinstallation of the sacred particles that are from the wood of the Most Holy and True Cross of Lord Jesus Christ that Cardinal Priest Archbishop of Paris gifted to the church on April 18, 1894 or 121 years ago, Fr Andrew said. The sacred particles of the True Cross of Jesus Christ had been relegated to the store room of the church and was discovered on June 6. "We came to know of its true import based on available records," he added.
