By Boston.com Staff, 07/30/03

1:45 p.m. - Archbishop O'Malley has asked to be addressed by his first name, in keeping with the practice of his Capucin religious order. After today, he wants to be known as Archbishop Sean. For the past week, he has been sleeping at the bishop's residence in Brighton, but has not made a decision about where he will permanently reside.

1:30 p.m. - The installation ceremony will be followed by a reception this afternoon at St. John's Seminary in Brighton. Archbishop O'Malley has barred fancy parties at downtown hotels, choosing instead to serve his guests sandwiches of chicken salad, tuna salad, sliced beef, turkey, and ham and cheese; apple strudel, cookies, potato chips, fruit, tonic, and bottled water.

1:24 p.m. - The Mass of Installation has ended, and Archbishop O'Malley -- wearing his bishop's miter and carrying the crozier -- is walking down the main aisle of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross to the applause of the congregation. He is preceded by the Metropolitan Cross, the symbol of the Boston Archdiocese and a symbol of O'Malley's new status as the Archdiocese's leader. The choir is singing "Lift High the Cross."

1:14 p.m. - As the ceremony draws to a close, the congregants are singing a hymn of thanksgiving, "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name." Archbishop O'Malley will then lead them in prayer, followed by a pontifical blessing.

1:08 p.m. - The site of today's installation, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End, is the seat of the Boston Archdiocese. Ground was broken for the new cathedral in April, 1866 when the congregation outgrew the previous cathedral on Franklin Street, and it was dedicated in 1875. Its neo-Gothic edifice was designed by Irishman Patrick Charles Keely, a native of Tipperary.

12:55 p.m. - Archbishop O'Malley is wearing sandals during his installation ceremony, symbol of the vow of poverty he took when he joined the Capuchin order. He also is wearing the hooded brown robe of his order under his archbishop's white vestments. The sleeveless white outer garment, called the chasuble, is designed after typical men's clothing in the 4th and 5th centuries. Its color matches that of the miter, the pointed headdress worn by cardinals, bishops, and abbots. The miter also dates to the 4th century, and may have been borrowed from that era's Roman magistrates. It is always worn when carrying the crozier -- the 6-foot-tall ceremonial staff shaped like a shepherd's crook -- but is removed for prayer.

12:44 p.m. - Communion has started in Holy Cross Cathedral. The choir will sing "Agnus Dei XVIII," "O Blessed Savior, Now Behold," and "Pan de Vida."

12:38 p.m. - Relatives of the new archbishop brought the gifts of bread and wine to the altar as the choir sang "Alleluia." Archbishop O'Malley has blessed the hosts and wine in preparation for Communion. The congregants have said the Lord's Prayer and are now offering each other signs of peace -- handshakes and hugs.

12:20 p.m. - Archbishop O'Malley's sermon has ended. The Mass continued with several congregants reading prayers of intercession in various languages, including one for State Trooper Ellen Engelhardt, a 22-year veteran of the force who suffered massive head trauma Saturday when a car driven by a recent Wayland High School graduate slammed into her cruiser at nearly 100 miles an hour in the breakdown lane of Route 25 in Wareham.

12:15 p.m. - "We must take care of each other," O'Malley told the congregation in pleading for all Catholics to make sacrifices and help the poor. He decried this society's emphasis on having "lots of money, to be popular, good-looking, and thin." Without such sacrifice, he said, Catholics become "spiritually disoriented."

12:09 p.m. - Addressing Boston-area Catholics directly, Archbishop O'Malley said, "To those who have stepped away, I invite you to return. Although we have lived through a sad chapter in the Church's history, we must remember that it is a chapter; it is not the whole book." He then recited a litany of successes of the Catholic Church: Millions of Americans have been educated in Catholic schools, 20 percent of all hospitals in the US are run by the Catholic Church, and many of the largest social service and relief agencies in the US are those of the Catholic Church, he said.

11:58 a.m. - In his sermon, Archbishop O'Malley begged forgiveness from the victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families, calling the abuse "sins that have obscured the church's mission."

11:49 a.m. - In his sermon, Archbishop O'Malley said that after 38 years, being a Franciscan brother "is still the great joy of my life. I wish after so long I were doing it better, but my community and my God have not given up on me." He joked about his postings in poor countries as his "lovely vacation spots" that prompted one of his fellow bishops to once teasingly ask him when he was going to get a real job. "Does this count?" the new archbishop of Boston asked as the congregation laughed and applauded.

11:43 a.m. - Sean O'Malley is addressing his flock from the pulpit of Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the first time as Archbishop of Boston. His first remarks were in Spanish; he then addressed the congregation in Portugese and French Creole, and now in English. His first comments were to express his loyalty and affection for Pope John Paul II.

11:35 a.m. - For the Mass, Archbishop O'Malley has chosen readings from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that reflect his Franciscan roots. One is from the Book of Isaiah, in which God admonishes, "Observe what is right, do what is just," and the reading offers a reference to the church as a welcoming place for foreigners. The liturgy reflects that openness, with Bible readings in Spanish and Portuguese and intercessory prayers in Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Nigerian, Vietnamese, and English. A reading from Philippians seems to counsel against arrogance, declaring, "Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.

11:32 a.m. - Attendance at the installation was by invitation only. The archdiocese set up a large-screen TV at neighboring Cathedral High School for spillover. O'Malley invited all of the priests of Boston and Fall River, representatives of religious orders, two laypeople from each Boston parish, civic leaders, and representatives of non-Catholic Christian and non-Christian religious demoninations.

11:25 a.m. - Sean Patrick O'Malley is celebrating his first Mass as Archbishop of Boston and leader of an archdiocese of more than 2 million Catholics. The 2,000 congregants inside the 128-year-old puddingstone cathedral are singing the Responsorial Psalm, "The Lord is My Shepherd."

11:20 a.m. - When O'Malley entered the cathedral, the archdiocese's senior auxiliary bishop, Bishop John P. Boles, presented him with the cathedral's cross, which contains a relic that the church believes is a piece of wood taken from the cross on which Jesus was crucified. O'Malley now has received the crozier, signifying his role as shepherd, and is greeting representatives of the archdiocese.

11:15 - Bishop Walter J. Edyvean, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Boston, has read aloud an apostolic letter from Pope John Paul II appointing O'Malley as archbishop. In his letter, the Pope spoke of his "spiritual affection" for O'Malley and said he wanted to "reiterate our esteem for you. Sustained by evangelical and Franciscan wisdom, you will be able to undertake initiatives...for the betterment of all the faithful."

11:10 a.m. - Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the pope's ambassador to the United States, is presiding at O'Malley's installation, and has started the ceremony. In his opening remarks, he addressed Boston-area Catholics directly, saying, "I call upon you to remember that your faith has always been strong; not only in words, but also in deeds."

11:05 a.m. - Sean Patrick O'Malley, a 59-year-old Capuchin friar, has entered the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End, where he will be installed as Archbishop of Boston. Scores of protesters are holding signs outside the cathedral urging O'Malley to quickly settle claims against abusive priests.

10:45 a.m. - The formal procession into the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End for the installation of Sean Patrick O'Malley as Archbishop of Boston has begun. Several honorary and fraternal organizations of the Catholic Church, such as the Knights of Columbus, Knights of Malta, and Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre, are leading deacons, priests, Mass servers, New England bishops, and archbishops into the cathedral.