ON WE GO! : The use of Processional Banners in the Church

On we go to Jerusalem, the city of the house of God. Pilgrim people we seek the Lord, the Lord of the house of rock!

As the entrance hymn echoes the air, the processional cross bearer, the thurifier, the altar servers, the ministers of the Word, the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, the co – celebrants and the main celebrant march forth onto the altar at every high Mass. Symbolically this serves to remind us that the Church (read people) is a pilgrim Church on a journey to an eternal destination, here symbolized by the altar.

Processions as such are not just restricted to the Eucharist but form an integral part of the Catholic faith and liturgy. The origins of this expression of faith can be traced to Pope Liberius (352 – 366 AD) who encouraged this form of community manifestations in Rome. In Mumbai (then Bombay) these walks of faith earned Bandra the appellation of ‘the land of processions.’ This was magnificently witnessed during the first Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in 1912 wherein more than 20,000 people treaded the streets of Bandra. (Ref: Fernandes, Braz, Bandra, Its religious and secular History, 1927)

Popular till the 1900’s and dubbed ‘ladainhas’ (litanies), processions were organized to mark any and every special event. This included liturgical feast like Corpus Christi, Candelmas, Thanksgiving Sunday, Palm Sunday, 40 hours Eucharistic devotion, Passo services, Parish feast days etc. They were also organized for certain purposes such as to intercede for rain, to drive away storms, pestilence, famine, wars etc. Many occupational guilds and confraternities, sodalities, leagues, societies, religious orders, educational institutes also organized processions on the feast day of their patron saint.