Eucharistic Adoration was held in the Church from 11:00am until 3:00pm. In many other photos you will see on this blog of Adoration, you'll notice that the Seat of Wisdom statue directly behind the monstrance is covered. However, on Marian feast days, it is not covered, as seen here.
At 3:00pm, the Blessed Sacrament is processed out to the Grotto.
A living Rosary is then led by Fr. Perrone. People line up and one by one they step up to a microphone and recite the first half of the Hail Mary, and the people follow with the other half.
After the living Rosary, the priests annointed the sick and the elderly. This was not a blanket access to the Sacrament for anyone wanting it. Rather, it was explained that certain conditions must be met for people to present themselves. They must be properly disposed and confessions are heard earlier in the afternoon. While some were sick with things like cancer, or other life threatening conditions, many of the elderly were annointed, as they are permitted, even though they may not be sick. Not pictured this year, is the Benediction which followed before the procession back to the Church, of the Blessed Sacrament.
A visiting priest from the Oxford Oratory in the UK who was staying with a Grotto family. Read about the the Congregation of the Oratory here.
Be sure to see the first of three photoposts from earlier in the day, and photos of the climax of the day - the 7:00pm Mass with Archbishop Vigneron and candlelight procession in the final photo post. The last post also contains links to more of the 180 photos. These posts reflect only a sampling.
