Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary Observes the 40 Hours Devotion

The clergy and seminarians of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska, made a Lenten act of adoration to Our Lord in observing the Forty Hours Devotion.  The Forty Hours Devotion is of particular importance to the Fraternity not only because of the spirit of reparation and devotion contained in it, but because the devotion was central to St. Philip Neri, who began offering it in the year 1550 in the FSSP parish in Rome – Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini.

The Forty Hours Devotion can be offered in a single parish or series of parishes where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and adored for a consecutive forty hours.  When offered as a series, as the Forty Hours ends in one church, a Forty Hours commences in another church.

Three Masses are typically offered during the Forty Hours: a solemn Mass of Exposition begins the devotion, a solemn Mass for Peace is offered during the second day, and the devotion concludes with a Mass of Deposition.

A good explanation of the purpose of the Forty Hours is offered by Pope Paul III in granting his approval of the devotion, and its first indulgence:

“Since … Our beloved son the Vicar General of the Archbishop of Milan at the prayer of the inhabitants of the said city, in order to appease the anger of God provoked by the offenses of Christians, and in order to bring to naught the efforts and machinations of the Turks who are pressing forward to the destruction of Christendom, amongst other pious practices, has established a round of prayers and supplications to be offered both by day and night by all the faithful of Christ, before our Lord’s Most Sacred Body, in all the churches of the said city, in such a manner that these prayers and supplications are made by the faithful themselves relieving each other in relays for forty hours continuously in each church in succession, according to the order determined by the Vicar … We, approving in our Lord so pious an institution, and confirming the same by Our authority, grant and remit…”

Enjoy a gallery of pictures from the Forty Hours in Denton.

March 21, 2014