The reappearance of the Diocesan processional cross at major ceremonies has led to a lot of interest in its origins. The first occasion the cross was used was at the televised Midnight Mass in the old Cathedral in December 1980, when the principal concelebrant was Bishop Augustine Harris. On that occasion, the crucifer was John Loughlin, then a Diocesan seminary student and now parish priest of St Clare’s, Middlesbrough. The cross was also used at the official opening of the Cathedral in May 1987.

Its history is rather interesting. It is described as ‘early Victorian Italianate’ work made with copper overlaid with gold. It came originally from the Langdale family with their deep rooted Catholicism in Houghton and Market Weighton. Mrs Ursula Birch, nee Langdale, granddaughter of Charles and Henrietta Langdale, gifted it to the Sisters of Mercy at Endsleigh as a centenary present in 1957. It remained in the reception room at Endsleigh until spotted by Bishop Harris, who commented on its beauty and distinctiveness to the Sisters, who then gifted it to the Diocese. So its origin probably goes back to well before the Diocese was established in 1878 and almost certainly before the hierarchy was restored in 1850. It gives us a link with our recusant past.