Sunday morning in Belfast is peaceful and serene. Most commercial activities have ceased, and only the major churches are entering their busiest time of the week. For many devout Irish believers, Sunday mass is an event not to be missed. Let us follow Ireland Immigration and step into the churches of Belfast!
Near the hotel where I stayed, there is the Gothic-style St. Patrick's Church. Since the church is located in a residential area, many local people arrived early today. The main congregation consisted of middle-aged and elderly women; judging by their attire, most were from lower-middle-income backgrounds, but their expressions revealed them to be genuine, devout believers. The church follows a modest path, simple rather than luxurious, and the bishop was very kind and moving.
In 1888, when Queen Victoria established the city of Belfast, she intended to rebuild a new cathedral on the foundation of St. Anne's Church, which was built in 1776. Thus, an Irish designer presented us with the beautiful Romanesque architecture we see today.
The nave of St. Anne's Cathedral is grand yet elegant, though it lacks the vicissitudes of history and is not heavily decorated. Its exquisite stained glass is a major feature, with themes primarily based on biblical stories. I focused on the glass windows in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit and discovered one commemorating the 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's mission to Ireland. The image depicts Saint Patrick standing at the bow of a ship, raising his arms to pray for God's blessing as he passed through the Mourne Mountains of Ireland.
Another window painting is a record from the biblical Book of Revelation: God asked Saint John to write a book, so he sat there accompanied by a divine eagle (the eagle symbolizes the Gospel). Saint John imagined the grand image of God: He was dressed in white, wearing a golden crown, surrounded by 20 elders amidst a rainbow, with a lamb ready for sacrifice on the altar...
The Chapel of Unity appears very modern. It features the logo of the World Council of Churches: a ship with a mast forming a cross, and a semicircle of Greek letters spelling "Oikoumene," signifying the entire inhabited world.
The baptistery inside St. Anne's Cathedral was built in 1924. Two sisters from the United Kingdom used 150,000 pieces of Italian glass fragments to create an incredibly exquisite mosaic dome; their work will be remembered for generations.
A church is both a destination for people's souls and a memorial for significant historical events and figures, which is why I make it a point to visit the main local churches whenever I travel to a place in Europe.
A beautiful blue memorial tapestry hangs in a prominent position inside St. Anne's Cathedral. It was created in April 2012 to commemorate the centenary of the maiden voyage and sinking of the Titanic in 1912. It was designed by two teachers from the Art Department of Ulster University and made of pure Irish linen, hand-dyed in indigo (symbolizing the sea). The golden cross in the center was hand-embroidered by 1,517 people, carrying profound significance.
The congregants attending the mass here were all dressed in suits, and the women were elegant and noble; one could tell at a glance that they were from Belfast's upper class. The church choir was even more professional, with voices that seemed to come from the heavens.
When I walked into St. George's Church, the bishop was preaching from the Bible. A middle-aged female believer guarding the door handed me a Bible opened to the correct page, pointed to an empty seat in the back row, and said: "You must sit to listen the lecture."
"Must," like "have to," means "compulsory." I obediently took the Bible and began to listen. After the bishop finished a section, everyone stood up, the organ played, and the young boys in the choir sang sacred songs with pure, childlike voices:
Jesus, I love you
Because you loved me first
You endured the torture of the cross for me
...
After the singing stopped, a believer went on stage to share her understanding of the Bible, and then everyone stood up again to sing hymns...
I listened for about the duration of a class. Seeing that it was getting late, I bit the bullet and quietly approached the middle-aged woman at the door, returned the Bible, pointed to my watch as it neared noon, and whispered to her: "I have to go back to hotel to check out."
Only then did she open the door to let me out, and she did not forget to say as I left: "Hope you come back."
There are many churches in Belfast, and churches can also be bought, sold, or converted for other uses. For example, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, built in 1905, is architecturally magnificent, resembling a Scottish castle. It was damaged by a bomb in 1970, and after being renovated in 1992, the upper floors were converted into residences and the ground floor into a shopping center. However, regardless of how its functional use changes, the building itself has always remained one of Belfast's major landmarks.