Rooted in the Eucharist

 

"In 1853 Neumann began the Forty Hours Devotion* on the feast of Corpus Christi in the Church of St Philip Neri.  The Forty Hours Devotion was known three centuries before Neumann's time.  ...  What Neumann did was to inaugurate it on a diocesan level.  A schedule was made calling for the devotion to be held in designated churches so as to cover the entire year.  Neumann gave great edification by the way he joined in these devotions whenever possible.  To Neumann the Forty Hours was not merely the pious practice of making visits.  To him it was the way of seeing that Catholic life in Philadelphia was rooted in the Eucharist."

Alfred C. Rush, CSSR

The Autobiography of St John Neumann, CSSR

*Forty Hours Devotion is a devotion in which continuous prayer is made for forty hours before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. It commonly occurs in a succession of churches, with one finishing prayers at the same time as the next takes it up. The number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years, our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional "forty-hour period" from our Lord's burial until the resurrection.

St John Neumann

Bohemian - 1811-1860

Redemptorist missionary - Bishop of Philadelphia

Bishop motto:  “Passion of Christ strengthen me”

Multi-lingual; Promoter of Forty Hours Devotion

Opened over 100 schools, built over 50 churches,

wrote 2 catechisms, and a Bible History +++

FEAST DAY - January 5

 “Lord, teach me how to live.” ~ St John Neumann

St John Neumann, ora pro nobis!