The Henson Journals

[118]

Saturday, July 19th, 1924.

I received the Holy Communion at 8 a.m. in S. Agnes. The service was quite legal save for the celebrant's saying "Behold the Lamb of God &c" when he began the administration. At 2 p.m. the new Cathedral (i.e. so much of it as has been completed) was consecrated by the Bishop of Liverpool in the presence of the King & Queen, both the Archbishops, a large number of bishops from both Provinces, & a great congregation. The elaborate ceremonial was performed without any hitch, & a sermon (which I could not clearly hear) was preached by the Abp. of York. I could not but reflect as I witnessed the careful medievalism of the function how utterly dead the Protestantism of Liverpool really is. The crowds were vast & good tempered.