# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1911_S198
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

198 Proceedings of the 28th General or

Walther Celebration.

This year's Synod convention was further distinguished by the
Walther celebration held in connection with it, which will remain
unforgettable to all who took part.

It was planned by the congregations in St. Louis, whose executive
committee sent out the following brief invitation in many thousands
of copies:

"Herewith an invitation goes out to all the surrounding
congregations in the vicinity of St. Louis to take part in the jubilee
celebration in honor of the memory of Dr. C. F. W. Walther, who
served the Lutheran Church of this land so faithfully and well. This
jubilee celebration will be held on May 14, at 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, by the congregations in St. Louis, in honor of Dr.
Walther's hundredth birthday, at the Coliseum, corner of
Washington and Jefferson Aves. As every Lutheran knows, Dr.
Walther is the chief founder of our Synod and the Luther of the
Lutheran Church of America, to whom the whole Lutheran Church
of this land owes so much. Every Lutheran should attend this man's
jubilee of honor. A magnificent program has been arranged for this
celebration. Noted festival speakers will deliver inspiring addresses
in German and English. A mass choir, consisting of more than 800
singers from the church choirs of the city congregations here, of 250
students, and of at least 2,000 schoolchildren, will perform fitting
jubilee hymns. A fine orchestra will accompany the choir and
congregational singing, and surely 15,000 Lutherans will sing 'A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God!' The collection at this celebration shall
form the foundation for a Walther Fund of the General
Church-Building Aid Fund. Please make this jubilee celebration
known everywhere! Tell your friends and neighbors about it! But
above all, come yourself to this joyful jubilee celebration and bring
your whole family and friends! — The Committee."

The success of these invitations justified all the expectations of
the St. Louis brethren, indeed far exceeded them.

All the leading daily newspapers across the country took notice
of the mighty assembly of Lutherans at the St. Louis Coliseum.
Reports of this unique celebration, in honor of a man whose
influence, even after his death, by God's providence, has continued
to bless the Church of the whole world down to this very hour, went
out through all the church papers of the land. — The heartfelt thanks
of the Synod were voted to the organizers of this uplifting
celebration and to all who took part in it. —

We give at this point the brief report which the diligent reporter
of the "Daily Report" published on the day after the celebration: