Cross-posted between Rorate Caeli and LMS Chairman. Photos by me.
Fr Gwilym Evans FSSP celebrated his First Mass on Sunday 18th, the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi. Although Corpus Christi is a public holiday in Bavaria, and a public procession had taken place on the day in Munich, on the Sunday another procession took place, organised by one of the parishes, the Peterskirche. After his Mass, Fr Evans and his congregation joined this procession.
His Mass took place in the small but extraordinary Baroque 'Asamkirche', which has relics (in a waxwork) of St John Nepomuk above the altar. It was a Low Mass.
In the procession, Fr Evans was vested in a cope and gave one of the three Benedictions which took place at the outside altars created for the occasion outside various churches. He also gave the general blessing at the conclusion of the event, in the Peterskirche.
The procession was extremely impressive, with hundreds of people taking part and a huge amount of preparation involved, not just in the procession itself but with these outside altars, which had the footpace laid out with flowers. The Peterskirche, where we ended up, is a truly magnificent church, with its Baroque furnishings intact (unlike the nearby cathedral, which has suffered over the centuries, not least from war damage).
Fr Evans will be celebrating 'First Masses' in various locations in England, and will also be on the Walsingham Pilgrimage, so for people in England there will be many opportunities to see him and receive his First Blessings.
