r •■■••■•••••■•■•••■•■•••■•••••••••••••■•••••..■•■••••■•••■••■••■•••■•••■•••1111.•■••••••■•■•■•■•■•••■•■•+41.4.41.+4'0

• LOURDES CENTENARY YEAR IN • • • • ENGLAND TO OPEN WITH
; The Five Halls 1 . . Festival
A FIVE Halls Festival, to take place simultaneously in five of England's best-known halls, and planned to coincide with the vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11, has been announced to-day (Friday) as England's first contribution to the Lourdes Centenary Year.
FIVE HALLS
THE Sodalities of Our Lady have announced that the following Ilse halls have been booked for the Festival to mark the centenary of the Lourdes Apparitions:
The Albert Hall, London.
The Free Tr a de Hall, Manchester.
The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.
The Town Hall, Birmingham. St. George's Hall, Bradford.
THE OBJECTS
THE Festival will take place in all five halts simultaneously on the evening of February 10, 1958—the eve of the Centenary. It will be known as the " Five halls Festival."
THE objects of the festival are: 1. To initiate the Centenary Year of Lourdes in a memorable way.
2. By this means to honour our Blessed Lady.
3. To achieve a high artistic and cultural standard worthy as far as possible, of the occasion and of the Church.
4. 1R3, this means to attract the attention of non Catholics and remind them of Our Lady's special place in the story of the Redemption.
PROGRAMME
THE " Five Halls Festival " is already assured of: 1. The approval of His Grace the Archbishop of Westminster, His Grace the Archbishop of Liverpool, His Grace the Archbishop of Birmingham and their Lordships the Bishops of Salford and Leeds.
2. The services of prominent figures in the literary, niusical and theatrical worlds.
A noteworthy feature of the Festival will be that it will mark the first public performances of: 1. A Cantata " The Visitation of Our Lady " specially composed for the occasion by Dr. EDMUND RLTBBRA and 2. A dramatic representation of the story of Lourdes written by Mr. HUGH ROSS WILLIAMSON who is also responsible for the rest of the script.
AS far as the organisers can discover, this will be an historic occasion in that never before has a new musical composition had its first public performance in five places at once,