Minnesota Catholics recall crowd of 80,000 in Eucharistic procession for 1941 congress

ST. PAUL, Minn. (OSV News) -- When Sue Taylor started on a Eucharistic procession from Como Regional Park in St. Paul to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds with her seventh-grade classmates and 80,000 others on a hot June day during the 1941 National Eucharistic Congress, she thought that Pope Pius XII himself was under the processional canopy, carrying the Blessed Sacrament in a silver monstrance.

"I now know it was St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop (John Gregory) Murray processing in with all these priests and all the pomp and circumstance," said Taylor, 95, a parishioner at St. Peter in Mendota.

Archbishop Murray undoubtedly was grateful for the canopy when, early in the procession, an unexpected downpour drenched Taylor, the other procession participants, and the roughly 170,000 spectators who lined the route on June 26, the final day of the congress.

The day "wasn't stormy but (the shower) was a gully washer and it didn't last long," Taylor told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "I think even (with us) getting all wet, we didn't care because it cooled us off."

Although Taylor and her classmates from the now-closed St. Bernard Grade School in St. Paul didn't know all the details about the ninth National Eucharistic Congress -- which drew about 475,000 people to the fairgrounds and other Twin Cities locations over four days -- they knew it was a remarkable event.

The congress also included religious ceremonies, civic events, clerical and lay conferences, historical and educational exhibits, youth rallies, and literary and musical programs.

More than 80 years later, as Catholics around the country gear up for the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21, Taylor and several other archdiocesan Catholics shared memories of the 1941 congress, whose theme was "Our Eucharistic Lord Glorified by Sacrifice." (The last Eucharistic congress in the United States was an international congress held in Philadelphia in 1976).

In talking about their childhood experiences of attending the National Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before the U.S.'s entry into World War II, the local Catholics saw a connection with this year's National Eucharistic Congress.

While they won't be attending the congress in Indianapolis, they participated this May when the Marian Route, one of four Eucharistic pilgrimages passing through the country on their way to the Indianapolis congress, made stops in the archdiocese for prayer, adoration and processions.

After the sudden downpour during the 1941 procession, Taylor remembered seeing "a sea of white" from the Minnesota State Fair grandstand bleachers during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. She and other attendees had worn white to the congress, including many nurses in uniform.

Christian Brother Paul Grass -- of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, known also as the De La Salle Brothers -- likely also was in the bleachers that final day of the 1941 congress.

A 6-year-old who had just finished kindergarten, Brother Grass, now 89 and a resident at the Little Sisters of the Poor's Holy Family Residence in St. Paul, said he doesn't remember the procession because, "I was a little too old to be carried the whole time, but too young to be walking that whole distance."

He did recall being at the Benediction with his parents who were active in their parish, Sacred Heart in St. Paul. The family, except Brother Grass' baby brother who was at home in the care of his aunts, probably sat with their parish group. The parish had a "vivid collection of badges, flags and banners that parish organizations wore or carried in processions and on major feast days," he said, adding that the congress would have been an occasion to display these items.

Rosemary Hayes, 88, who was a year younger than Brother Grass when she attended the 1941 congress with her parents and older sister, does have a vivid memory of it.

Hayes, who requested dispensation from her vows as a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet 12 years ago but is now a non-vowed consociate who participates in the community's mission, ministry and prayer, remembers that soon after arriving at the congress, her parents left her and her 7-year-old sister for a moment to seek information. Her sister, charged with looking after Hayes, was distracted by something and left the 5-year-old alone in a large crowd of congress-goers.

"I'll never forget it, my sister had a checkered coat and a matching checkered hat, and she was supposed to watch me for the minute that my mom and dad had to go find out more information about what and where things were," said Hayes, who attends Maternity of Mary Church in St. Paul and lives in a New Hope assisted living facility. "My sister meandered away and so I got panicky, and I started to cry."

A police officer spotted the scared little girl with blonde curls and bought her an ice cream cone. She ate the ice cream while sitting on the officer's lap near a large window visible to many congress-goers and her sister saw her.

"I had my pretty pink coat on, and I was so proud of that."

The girls' parents soon arrived and from then on, Hayes' mother kept a close eye on her. "I was with her for the rest of the procession," she said. "Whatever went on, I'm not aware because I was with my mom. I think … that's all that mattered."

The family had traveled from Jamestown, North Dakota, because Hayes' mother decided that she and her husband should take the two youngest of their nine children. Since Hayes' father and several of her brothers worked for the Northern Pacific railroad, they had free passes for the trip, which was eight hours one-way. The family likely joined parishioners from St. James Catholic Church, (now St. James Basilica) in Jamestown, she said.

Hayes' mother told her family, "We have no excuse, we have free passage on the railroad train. We could make it down to Minneapolis to be there for the Eucharistic congress … this was an opportunity because it was probably as close as it would get."

The trip remains in Hayes' memory because of her mother's determination. "Even at 5 years old, I knew that was the Eucharist."

She is especially excited as she watches preparations for the 2024 congress on Eternal Word Television Network. Hayes couldn't walk far during this year's Source and Summit Eucharistic procession May 27 along Summit Avenue from The St. Paul Seminary to the Cathedral of St. Paul, both in St. Paul, but she was in the front pew at the cathedral for the prayer service afterward.

"It's kind of exciting, then, to see this coming together," she said, adding that she may also watch the congress on EWTN. "It's all very much a big deal. I'm not going to ever see it again. I mean, my life is nearly over, and we look at it that way."

Like Hayes, Brother Grass wasn't able to participate in the procession on Summit Avenue and he was happy when, on May 28, the perpetual pilgrims brought the Blessed Sacrament and the procession to the Little Sisters of the Poor where they prayed the rosary with the residents during an adoration hour.

Brother Grass told The Catholic Spirit he sees a connection between the 1941 congress and the upcoming Indianapolis congress.

"The Mass is the key and the one in Indianapolis will have notable (bishop and cardinal) celebrants."

"I'm anticipating great things coming out of the 2024 Eucharistic Revival and congress," said Taylor, who plans to watch the congress on TV. "I don't know if it's going to be a mass conversion but it's going to get people to think and … maybe it'll wake them up to just the power there, the power of God."