St Swithun Wells Pupils Attend Chrism Mass

The Chrism Mass at St John’s Cathedral Portsmouth

By Kathryn, Martha, Sheldon & Arthur

On the Tuesday of Holy week we went to St John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth. It took a little while to get there but it was worth it because it was very enjoyable and we were joining in with the Mass with people from all over the diocese! When we got there we sat down and admired the amazing church. There were huge stations of the cross and the Easter story was also shown on the stain glass windows.                                                                                                                                                                                                 All of us kept on staring at the glorious cross with Jesus hanging from the ceiling. At the start of the Mass, the priests, Deacons and Bishops walked down through the middle aisle and up onto the altar. There was at least one Deacon or priest that each of us knew! It was also fascinating seeing the oils being blessed. It was so interesting to learn about the different types of oils, like the oil of the Sick, the oil of  Catechumens and the oil of Chrism. And the Bishop was also breathing onto them, it was so loud .

It was also fun singing Christ Be Our Light because it was the only one all of us knew. It was different to normal Mass at church,  we sang more  things than usual,  we also sang the Our father.

As a bonus we also got a picture with the Bishop, as well as postcards of the cathedral to take home.  It  was surprising to find out that the west window was under repairs!                                                                  We couldn’t believe how old it is!                                                                                                                                    We think the most fun part of the whole thing was when we were singing and when we waved to Father Raffaele as he processed out at the end