2-913-555 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ceremony of the Blessing of the Sea, at Ostend [in Belgium], 1854. '...the annual ceremony of Blessing the Sea...is usually performed on St. Peter's-day...the procession started from the church to make its tour of the town, offering prayers at divers altars, erected (temporarily) at different points on its route. The procession was very long, representing the history of Our Saviour, St. John, the Virgin Mary, &c.; the whole being followed up by the priest, bearing the Host under a canopy. Arrived at the ramparts, the priest left the procession, and, with a few others, ascended them, mounted an altar put up for the occasion, and, after a few prayers, faced the sea, and gave it his benediction, amidst a salute of 21 guns...The Sketch represents the elevation of the Host at the time of the Benediction'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.