Over 600 religious, clergy and lay people gathered in the Diocese of Cork and Ross to celebrate and pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
The celebration in word, song and silence began with the story of the life of faith beginning with St Finbarr and St Fachtna, the two diocesan patrons, through the coming of the monastic orders, the mendicants, the cloistered religious, the apostolic religious, the missionary societies and then the changes of Vatican II and the flowering of lay involvement.
As each order, congregation and society was included in the story a member took forward a candle in procession so creating a sea of light in the sanctuary.
Andrew O’Connell gave a reflection on “a future filled with hope” before Bishop John Buckley blessed the seeds of vocation and presented them to each parish to be planted in the church grounds in the coming weeks.