Draft:Seventh National Eucharistic Congress

From September 23 to September 27, 1935, the Ninth National Eucharistic Congress took place in Cleveland, Ohio at multiple venues including the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, the Cleveland Public Auditorium, and Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The multi-day event, meant to encourage devotion to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, was hosted by the Diocese of Cleveland under the leadership of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs.

Background
The first International Eucharistic Congress owed its inspiration to Bishop Gaston de Ségur, and was held at Lille, France, on June 21, 1881. The initial inspiration behind the idea came from the laywoman Marie-Marthe-Baptistine Tamisier (1834–1910) who spent a decade lobbying clergy after the French Revolution in an effort to restore religiosity to France. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII established a committee to plan the first international Eucharistic congress. In the wake of these international congresses, national congresses sprung up in the United States. Prior to the 1935 event, there were six other National Eucharistic Congresses in the United States, as well as one international congress.

Following the Sixth National Congress in Omaha in 1930, the episcopate of the United States decided to set a planned schedule of Congresses and appointed Joseph Schrembs as the Promoter of National Eucharistic Congresses in the United States, as well as deciding on 1935 as the date of the next Congress.

Devotion to the practice of Eucharistic adoration had been brought to the Cleveland area by John Neumann during his missionary journeys in Ohio prior to his consecration as Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852.

Preparation
Msgr. Floyd L. Begin led the committee planning the congress.

Congress
The opening Mass was held in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. A civic reception on the first evening of the congress included mayor of Cleveland Harry Davis, governor of Ohio Martin Davey, and James Farley, United States Postmaster General, who represented Franklin D. Roosevelt.

On the morning of September 24, Mass celebrated in the Cleveland Public Auditorium included a choir of 3,000 local Catholics.

Speakers during the congress included Bishop Fulton Sheen and Al Smith.

A closing procession on September 27 ending in Cleveland Municipal Stadium was participated in by 20,000 people. Upon arrival at the stadium, the procession was addressed by Pope Pius XI via radio.