Forty Hours

As the days before Lent were frequently spent in merry-making, Benedict XIV by the Constitution "Inter Cetera" 1 Jan., 1748 introduced a kind of Forty Hours' Devotion to keep the faithful from dangerous amusements and to make some reparation for sins committed.

Quinquagesima Sunday elena maria vidal 2009

This Prayer of the Forty Hours, practised often in one church or other at various times of the year out of devotion, was established for ever by Pope Clement VIII in 1592 for the whole course of the year, in a regular prescribed continuous succession from one church in Rome to another, commencing on the first Sunday in Advent with the chapel in the Apostolical Palace.

The Institution of the Eucharist 2009

Soon it will be Shrovetide, when most parishes used to have Forty Hours devotions in order to atone for the excesses of Carnival.

Carnival elena maria vidal 2009

One can see why the Church instituted the Forty Hours devotions in order to make atonement.

Archive 2009-02-01 elena maria vidal 2009

One can see why the Church instituted the Forty Hours devotions in order to make atonement.

Carnival in Paris elena maria vidal 2009

This Prayer of the Forty Hours, practised often in one church or other at various times of the year out of devotion, was established for ever by Pope Clement VIII in 1592 for the whole course of the year, in a regular prescribed continuous succession from one church in Rome to another, commencing on the first Sunday in Advent with the chapel in the Apostolical Palace.

Archive 2009-05-01 2009

The prayer of the Forty Hours was offered to obtain the direction of Heaven in the choice of the missioners, and on its conclusion, the selection commenced.

The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation A Religious of the Ursuline Community

By their principal work, the association, they strive to increase love for the Blessed Sacrament, by hours of adoration, grants of vestments to poor churches, the Forty Hours

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip 1840-1916 1913

The prayer of the Forty Hours was offered to obtain the direction of Heaven in the choice of the missioners, and on its conclusion, the selection commenced.

The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation Anonymous 1880

"We have determined", he says, "to establish publicly in this Mother City of Rome (in hac alma Urbe) an uninterrupted course of prayer in such wise that in the different churches (he specifies the various categories), on appointed days, there be observed the pious and salutary devotion of the Forty Hours, with such an arrangement of churches and times that, at every hour of the day and night, the whole year round, the incense of prayer shall ascend without intermission before the face of the Lord".

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913