...you will fill me with joy in your
presence... - Psalm
16:11b
"In
1853 Neumann began the Forty Hours Devotion* on the feast of Corpus Christi in the Church of St Philip Neri
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
Alfred C. Rush,
CSSR
The Autobiography
of St
John
*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 80 churches,
wrote
2 catechisms, and a Bible History +++
Patron
of sick children and immigrants
FEAST DAY
- January 5
“Lord, teach me
how to live.” ~ St John Neumann
St John
Neumann, pray for us!
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