The first International Eucharistic Congress owed its inspiration to Bishop Gaston de Ségur, and was held at Lille, France, 21 June 1881. The idea at first was merely local and met with few adherents, but it grew from year to year with an ever-increasing importance. The sixth congress met in Paris, 2–6 July 1888, and the great memorial church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre was the centre of the proceedings. Antwerp entertained the next congress, 15-21 August 1890; an immense altar of repose was erected in the Place de Meir, and an estimated 150,000 persons were gathered about it when Cardinal Goossens, Archbishop of Mechlin, gave the solemn Benediction. Bishop Doutreloux of Liège was then president of the Permanent Committee for the Organization of Eucharistic Congresses, the body which