Despite predictions for thunderstorms, the sun shone as roughly 7,000 pilgrims processed down Summit Avenue in St. Paul on the 4.5-mile Source and Summit Eucharistic Procession from The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul to the Cathedral of St. Paul on May 27.
After midday prayer and a reflection by Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, the crowd knelt for Benediction in the grass outside the seminary. Then, amid hymns and clouds of incense, Archbishop Bernard Hebda led the procession with Bishops Michael Izen, Joseph Williams, Andrew Cozzens, Bishop Emeritus Richard Pates and Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun of St. Maron in Minneapolis, as well as priests, deacons, seminarians and religious sisters and brothers.
Pilgrims pushed children in strollers and wagons while others in the procession rode wheelchairs or leaned on canes. Passersby knelt in reverence for the Eucharist or stared in awe at the massive crowd, which spanned several blocks of shoulder-to-shoulder pilgrims.
“Here we are so close to our God, filled with gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist, and really desiring that all would come to know the greatness, the closeness, the tenderness and the compassion of our God,” Bishop Cozzens of Crookston said shortly before the procession began. “The Lord has accompanied us all these years, and today we are accompanying him. This pilgrimage reminds us that we are on our way with him to the Father’s house.”
The procession was part of the northern Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage (NEP), which launched May 19 from Lake Itasca. On the same day, three other processions departed from the East, West and South. All four groups will converge in Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21.
The Ninth National Eucharistic Congress was held in 1941 in St. Paul. The Eucharistic procession at that congress drew 80,000 people, Bishop Cozzens said, and processed from the Cathedral of St. Paul to the Minnesota Fairgrounds. The monstrance used at the 1941 procession, which features a scene from the Transfiguration, was the same one used May 27.
While members of the public accompany the Eucharist at various points on each of the four routes, including like the May 27 procession, a group of 24 perpetual pilgrims — six on each route — are tasked with accompanying the Eucharist for the entirety of the pilgrimage. They travel by foot or in their support vehicle when walking is not possible.
One of the perpetual pilgrims on the Marian route, Kai Weiss, said that he was shocked at how many people participated in St. Paul and that the rain held off until just after the pilgrimage ended.
“This was so amazing. It was incredible,” he said in the Cathedral of St. Paul. “The whole thing was just difficult to put into words, how beautiful it was.”
Megan Zaleski, another perpetual pilgrim, had the unique role of driving the NEP support vehicle behind the pilgrims, which helped her to see the mass of people on Summit Avenue.
“We had so many families, and people carrying babies on their backs and shoulders, and people who needed assistance walking, whether that was in wheelchairs or walkers, and they were still making the effort. It is just incredibly beautiful,” Zaleski said.
It was fitting that the procession took place on Summit Avenue, said Father Tim Tran, associate pastor of St. Stephen in Anoka and the archdiocesan “point person” for the three-year National Eucharistic Revival. Vatican II referred to the Eucharist as the “source and summit of our faith,” he said.
“We are just spreading Christ’s fragrance right now, and that itself is just powerful enough to attract those who are hungry and thirsty for something deeper in their life,” he said on the March 8 “Practicing Catholic” radio show. “They are hungry for God truly present in the Eucharist.”
On the morning of May 27, Erin and David Wee put rain jackets on their five children and headed to Summit Avenue from their home in Savage. Although the walk was difficult — Erin pushed a double stroller with her 4-month-old baby Frederick swaddled to her chest as David pulled two kids in a wagon — Erin said the opportunity to teach her children about the Eucharist was worth it.
“We are trying to raise our kids to love the faith,” Erin said as she pushed the stroller. “If Jesus was able to die on the cross for us, I think we can handle it (walking the 4.5 miles). We are just trying to show them (the kids) how much we love our faith and hoping that by witnessing that they will want to have their own relationship with Jesus.”
Greg Kaiser, who attends All Saints in Lakeville, walked with his three daughters. His daughter Betsy, who attends grade school at All Saints School, said the pilgrimage was unlike anything she had ever seen.
“I think it (the monstrance) is really beautiful,” Betsy Kaiser said as she walked. “You look around at Mass and think ‘this is a lot of people!’ but you don’t realize how many people actually are Catholic … it is just amazing.”
Betsy Kaiser said she was offering the pilgrimage for her fifth-grade teacher, who has cancer.
Others also offered their participation in the pilgrimage for a special intention. Melanie and Mike Gooley, 72 and 70 respectively, parishioners of St. Mary in St. Paul, said they prayed for their daughter’s success in her PhD program. Melanie Gooley said she had been training for months for the procession.
Others, like Tom Vittitow, 63, who is from Ramsey and attends Epiphany in Coon Rapids, were drawn to the procession because of the transforming power that the Eucharist has had on their lives. Vittitow, who recently retired from his job at an air filter factory, said that he was indifferent to his family’s Catholic faith growing up before he had a conversion experience, which left him with a strong devotion to the Eucharist.
“Sometimes, it (adoration) just overwhelms you,” he said, tearing up with emotion. “Let’s make amends for all of those who receive him in holy Communion with indifference.”
Michelle Gamino, 23, from Richfield, also said that she was drawn to the Eucharist after her conversion. When she was a teenager, she said that she “landed with the wrong crowd,” and ended up in jail. Her faith, which was formed in part by her youth group called “The Good Group Lifts” helped pull her out of what she described as “dark times.” She and her 1-year-old son walked with the group, which is based out of the parish cluster of Assumption, St. Richard, and St. Peter in Richfield.
At the halfway mark, the procession briefly paused at St. Thomas More in St. Paul for adoration hymns and some words from Bishop Izen.
“In the monstrance he (God) reveals himself to us, so it is up to you and me to show him to our neighborhoods and to our world,” Bishop Izen said. “He not only shows himself, but he gives himself to us in the Eucharist.”
The pilgrimage paused about a mile later at Summit Overlook Park, where Bishop Williams reflected on the miracle of the loaves and fishes and encouraged prayers for seminarians and priests, including 13 men ordained for the priesthood May 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul.
“As we walk this final leg of the pilgrimage, perhaps we can pray for our seminarians, many of them who are here today,” Bishop Williams said, “that they would persevere with God’s grace to the altar of God, that we might have this great miracle, the Source and Summit, until Jesus comes again in glory.”
Even though Alex Dang, 25, from St. Paul, is not Catholic, he attended the Eucharistic procession because of the witness of some of his Catholic friends, who invited him to the event. He was impressed with how many people were there and how welcoming they were to him.
“I think this is really great, it is a really big community,” said Dang, whose parents immigrated to the United States from China when he was 5 years old. He attended a non-denominational church in the past but is now interested in the Catholic faith and has attended RCIA classes at St. Mark in St. Paul. “The focus should be on the Eucharist,” he said.
Brother Damien Joseph Novak, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, 37, said that he hopes the pilgrimage will be a way for people to have a “head to heart” transformation in their relationship with God.
Full schedule of NEP events
“This pilgrimage is really a pilgrimage for America to go from what they think they know about the Eucharist to having a personal relationship with Jesus,” said Brother Novak, who is from Ham Lake but now serves with his religious community in the South Bronx in New York. “These people he is choosing for relationship, and I think that is what this is all about. It is not about what we can know about the Eucharist; it is about how we can experience his love.”
Thousands of pilgrims packed the Cathedral of St. Paul at the conclusion of the pilgrimage, where Archbishop Hebda delivered a homily before a final Benediction.
“How beautiful to see this Cathedral filled and to hear you singing in praise of our Eucharistic Lord,” he said. “We need to leave this Cathedral convinced of God’s love.”
Earlier on May 27 the pilgrims on the Marian Route visited the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, where Mass was celebrated; St. Stephen in Minneapolis, which held adoration of the Eucharist; and St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis, which also held adoration.
Pilgrims on the Marian Route will remain in the archdiocese through May 31.
Archbishop Hebda: ‘Source and Summit’ procession is ‘tip of the iceberg’
Just two days after some 3,500 people packed the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul for the priestly ordination of 13 men, the Cathedral filled to overflowing again May 27 at the last stop of the “Source and Summit Eucharistic Procession,” a flagship portion of the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda presided at adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction, which followed on the heels of a more than four-mile procession with the Blessed Sacrament under a canopy from The St. Paul Seminary to the Cathedral.
People knelt — not just in the pews but on the hard floor of the Cathedral — filling the aisles and other areas of the narthex.
“My sisters and brothers, you are a sight for sore eyes,” the archbishop said, opening his homily. “How beautiful to see this Cathedral filled, and to hear your singing in praise of our Eucharistic Lord. I hope, brothers and sisters, that we can remember the sound of that beautiful O Solutaris with a Cathedral filled with believers.”
The archbishop described the walk that passed The University of St. Thomas, St. Thomas More church and school, and ended with a view of the Minnesota State Capitol from the Cathedral.
“I found myself praying constantly for the different needs that we would encounter,” the archbishop said. “So, whether it be praying for our seminarians, or praying for our Catholic universities, or praying for our Catholic schools and parishes, or praying for our governor and legislators, praying for the good faithful of this archdiocese.”
Keeping eyes fixed on the Lord, sharing the love of Jesus present in the Eucharist with one another, “we know that we’re going to be able to give credible witness to the good news of Jesus Christ,” the archbishop said. “How significant that on this Memorial Day, we’re able to remember certainly those who have served our country, but also all of those who have been motivated throughout their lives to imitate our Eucharistic Lord,” pouring out their lives for the service of their brothers, he said.
Thanking all those who made the procession possible, the archbishop proclaimed: “But it’s only the tip of the iceberg, brothers and sisters. We heard at the end of the Gospel today (the account in Mark’s Gospel of the Last Supper) that after Jesus gives his body and blood, they all go out. Brothers and sisters, we need to leave this Cathedral, convinced of God’s love when we witnessed the Eucharist, convinced of his presence among us, his desire that we would abide with him and that would abide with us in the Eucharist.
“Let us ask for that gift of growing in our Eucharistic faith,” the archbishop said. “And let’s ask for an ever-deepening sense of gratitude.”
Joe Ruff
