The Grand Master’s visits - Spring 2018
Cardinal O’Brien – accompanied by the Governor General Visconti di Modrone and the Vice Governor General Moroni Stampa – officiated at the handing over ceremony for the new Lieutenant for Switzerland last May.
After the Easter celebrations and the autumn meeting of the Grand Magisterium, on April 25 Cardinal Edwin O’Brien presided at Mass in the ancient basilica of Saint Mark in Piazza Venezia, Rome, to mark the homonymous feast day of the evangelist known as “the interpreter of Peter”. At the invitation of the parish priest, Fr Renzo Giuliano, many faithful – both parishioners and pilgrims eager to “become disciples” – gathered in the heart of the Eternal City around the Grand Master of the Order – to pray together.
At the beginning of May, the Grand Master went to the ancient abbey of Casamari, in the province of Frosinone, to celebrate the Investiture ceremony of the Lazio Section of the Lieutenancy for Central Italy and then, the following weekend, he travelled to Lucerne to meet the members of the Swiss Lieutenancy and preside over the Investiture of new members and the installation ceremony for the new Lieutenant, Donata Maria Krethlow-Benziger, who succeeded Jean-Pierre Marie de Glutz- Ruchti to this vital office.
On May 17, Cardinal O’Brien took part in the meeting of Latin American Lieutenancies in Buenos Aires, also celebrating 130 years of the Argentine Lieutenancy and presiding the following day at the Investiture Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Buenos Aires. His journey continued with a visit to the Brazilian Lieutenancies. This meeting gave him the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, after which he celebrated the Investiture ceremony of the new Brazilian members in the Rio cathedral. In late May he arrived in Washington, DC, to officiate Mass together with members of the Lieutenancy USA Middle Atlantic at the shrine of St. John Paul II, where many American pilgrims venerate a relic of this illustrious Pope.
His Eminence also presided over the important meeting of the Lieutenants of North America in Toronto, from May 31 to June 2. Furthermore, he welcomes new Knights and Dames within the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, celebrating an Investiture ceremony in Brussels during the second week of June. Later, he will return to Rome for the meeting of the European Lieutenants, on June 13 and 14.
Pauline Bourgogne
(June 5, 2018)