...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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Twelfth day of Christmas
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