Sunday, May 5, 2013

Closing of the Octave 2013 *

Sadly, only a relatively small number of members of the Grand Ducal Family came out today to participate in the closing procession of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg; Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa as well as Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie got all dressed up to show up at one of the two major annual events of the Grand Ducal Family (national day being the other one). Shame on the rest of them for denying us the oppurtunity to see them... (Yep, I'm totally playing the guilt card here.)

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

On a brighter note, the Hereditary Grand Duchess looked très chic while her mother-in-law seems to have forgotten the top part of her hat. (A classic Fabienne Delvigne move, I might add.) In addition, the lack of numerous attendance by the Grand Ducal Family was made up for by the sheer number of Luxembourgers in general and clergy in particular. There was the current archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich and the former archbishop Fernand Franck. In addition the archbishop of Paris Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Riga Zbigņevs Stankevičs as well as three suffragan bishops from Germany were in attendance to celebrate the closing of the octave.

The closing procession let the pilgrims from the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Luxembourg via the rue Notre-Dame, the rue Philippe II, the avenue de la Porte-Neuve, the rue Beaumont, the rue des Capucins, the Grand-rue, the rue du Marché-aux-Herbes in front of the palais grand ducal, where they stopped for the Eucharistic blessings, and the rue de l’Eau back to the cathedral.

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu
After the ending of the Octave celebrations, the Grand Ducal and the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couples made their way back to the palais on foot and then appeared on the balcony. The Harmonie Municipale de Luxembourg-Limpertsberg played some march and the national anthem and then all was over.

Pictures of the closing procession can be found at RTL, Wort, Tageblatt, Manuel Dias and the cour grand ducale. RTL also has a video report about the event.


Source: CGD, Église catholique à Luxembourg.

1 comment:

  1. I think that Alexandra and Sebastien can be forgiven since they are both in school in the USA. Most schools are still in session right now, mine being one of them.

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