Tuesday, September 22, 2009

And you thought YOUR Ordination class was large...

The class one year ahead of me for the archdiocese was an unusually large one for us: six guys. It had been some thirty years since so large a class had been ordained for Louisville. Things returned to normal the following year, as I was the sole priest ordained that year. Thankfully, with vocations on the rise across the country, nowadays it is not all that unusual for several priests to be Ordained at once. Still, four or five at a time is a good number in most dioceses.

Well, try this one on for size: in 1952, in connection with the 35th International Eucharistic Congress in Barcelona, Spain, 842 priests were ordained at ONCE! Now THAT is a large Ordination class! Check out the story HERE from the NLM.

Ordaining ONE at a time:


Ordaining 842 at a time:


2 comments:

Katie the Librarian said...

ha! looks like a bullfighting arena!

biscuit cutter said...

what became of those bold and brave men ordained in the millennial year...I hear great things from men of that class!