AS the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, held to mark the 1,500th anniversary of St Patrick’s arrival on this island, fades from living memory, that celebration can only be judged as an historical event.

French and history filled the timetable for Junior and Leaving Certificate students yesterday.

THE hope expressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, that next weekend’s Eucharistic Congress will begin a process of healing for a deeply divided Irish Catholic Church is likely to prove a vain one.