The high altar.
was packed. It was the annual feast of St. Publius, an
occasion marked by a week of festivities, in this instance
the first of the spring to summer season. He must have
known that he had risen to the occasion, during the past
three years having embraced the office of President,
infusing it with a vitality, meaning and prescience.
Presided over by Archbishop Paul Cremona, the scene,
comprising dozens of clergy, including monsignors,
archpriests, priests, monks and nuns, altar boys, a large
choir and sizable orchestra, all in a vast church covered
in floor to ceiling panels of rich red large scale Italian
damask, presented a picture that Franco Zeffirelli OBE
HYLAND
