Who is this arising like the dawn?

December 5th, 2018

‘Who is this arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, terrible as an army arrayed for battle?’ This passage of scripture (Song of Songs 6: 10) is often thought to refer to Our Lady whose manifestation in our human history paved the way for the Incarnation of the Son of Man.

Following the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, how beautiful that under Bishop Serra’s administration in 1855 the Cathedral in Perth was renamed and dedicated to the Immaculate Conception becoming one of the very first Cathedrals in the world to carry this title of Our Lady.

And so we at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth proudly claim her as our Patroness under this title: the Immaculate Conception.

In music we celebrate and salute her on this very special day – ‘You are all pure Mary…you are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honour of our people’. (Tota pulchra – Maurice Durufle), ‘Hail Queen of Heaven the ocean star…remind thy Son that he has paid the price of our iniquity…pray for your children…pray for me’. And Olivier Messiaen’s tremendous organ work ‘Dieu parmi nous’ (God among us) celebrating her through whom God came to be among us. This echoes the Communion antiphon of this Solemnity ‘from you arose the sun of justice, Christ our God’.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Mass of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth, Western Australia

Saturday 8th December, 2018

11am