St. Francis of Assisi parish will hold a 40 Hour Eucharistic Devotion beginning with morning Mass on March 14th and closing with a solemn Benediction on Thursday early evening, March 17th. The daily schedule will be:
- Morning Mass (8:45 am)
- Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (from after morning Mass until 7:30 pm each day).
- Hour long segments with a small prayer service and extended periods of silence. Materials in support of prayer will be available.
- Each day will close with the Repose of the Blessed Sacrament at 7:30 pm
- On Thursday the closing Benediction begins at 18:15 pm
What is the history of the Forty Hours Devotion? The exact origin of the Forty Hours Devotion is not known. The first clear attestation for its celebration comes from Milan in 1527. In its inception it was celebrated as reparation for the sins of the community and was motivated to offer prayers to God for protection during the crisis of war. The practice of celebrating Forty Hours Devotion spread rapidly from this point. This may be attributed to various reasons such as the quick approval granted to it by Pope Paul III in 1539. Furthermore, the support of St. Anthony Maria Zaccaria and Saint Philip Neri, who introduced its celebration into Rome in 1550, helped to extend its celebration beyond Milan. Finally, as it was introduced to more places this practice rapidly became popular with the lay faithful.
In time the purpose for celebrating Forty Hours Devotion started to be transformed. This change is witnessed in 1560 by the bull promulgated by Pope Paul IV. He states that the devotion is an imitation of the forty days of fasting of the Lord in the desert, and the time of unceasing prayer called for in scripture and by the early church. This transformation continued such that by the time of the eighteenth century this devotion became primarily eucharistic in nature and centered on thanksgiving for the mystery and gift of the eucharist.
From the eighteenth century onward the rules for celebrating the Forty Hours Devotion were heavily influenced by Pope Clement XII who published in 1731 the Instructio Clementina. This document gave detailed instructions for how this devotion was to be celebrated in the city of Rome. The Instructio became the basis for the further development of Forty Hours throughout the Church whose instructions are now found in the Order for the Solemn Exposition of the Holy Eucharist.
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