Holy Hour (Latin : hora sancta) is the Roman Catholic devotional tradition of spending an hour in prayer and meditation on the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, or in Eucharistic adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. [1] [2] [3] A plenary indulgence is granted for this practice. [4] The practice is also observed in some Lutheran churches and some Anglican churches. [5]
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Between 1673 and 1675, most probably 1674, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque stated that she had a vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament in which she was instructed to spend an hour lying prostrate with her face to the ground every Thursday night, between eleven and midnight, and to pray and meditate on the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. [6]
"You shalt, moreover, receive communion on the First Friday of each month. And every night between the Thursday and the Friday I will make you share in My mortal sadness which I accepted to feel in the Garden of Olives, and this sadness, without you being able to understand it, shall reduce you to a kind of agony harder to endure than death itself. And in order to bear Me company in the humble prayer that I then offered to My Father, in the midst of My anguish, you shall rise between 11 P.M. and midnight, and remain prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also to mitigate in some way the bitterness which I felt at that time on finding Myself abandoned by My Apostles, which obliged Me to reproach them for not being able to watch one hour with Me. During that hour you shall do what I shall teach you." [7]
This personal practice of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque later became widespread among Roman Catholics, who also began to perform it during an hour of Eucharistic adoration. [8] [9] In some regions of the world, that form of Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament is far more well known than the original form of practice. [10] Pope Pius VI granted a plenary indulgence for those who would visit the Blessed Sacrament on the first Thursday of the month. [11]
In 1829, the Archconfraternity of the Holy Hour was established by Père Robert Debrosse at Paray-le-Monial, Burgundy, France. [12] In 1911 it received the right of aggregation for the entire world. [13]
A similar society called "The Holy Perpetual Hour of Gethsemani" was formed in Toulouse in 1885 and was canonically erected in 1907. In 1909 it received indulgences from Pope Pius X. [14] [15]
Picpus Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1875-1960) promoted an at-home Holy Hour for those who couldn't make it to an oratory or chapel.
The inspiration for the Holy Hour is Matthew 26:40. [16] [17] In the Gospel of Matthew, during the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion, Jesus spoke to his disciples, saying "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me." (Matthew 26:38) Returning to the disciples after prayer, he found them asleep and in Matthew 26:40 he asked Peter: "So, could you men not keep watch with me for an hour?". [17] He did not ask for an hour of activity, but for an hour of companionship. [18]
Holy Hours are commonly done in Eucharistic adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but it is not mandatory to be in the presence of the Eucharist and can be practiced at any time: in a church, at home, or outside. [19] They are more traditionally done on a Thursday night, from 11:00 pm to midnight, usually on the eve of the first Fridays of the month, day of another devotion that came from the same private revelations of Margaret Mary Alacoque. As an example, the prayers of Margaret Mary intended to make reparations for the abandonment Jesus had felt from his apostles:
"...and that it was also to make amends for that hour of which he complained, in the Garden of Olives, that his Apostles had not kept vigil for one hour with him." [20]
And she herself seemed to practice it both in prayer and adoration:
"He told me at that time that every night from Thursday to Friday I would rise at the hour he would tell me to say five Pater and five Ave Maria prostrated against the ground with five acts of adoration that he had taught me, to pay homage to him in the extreme anguish he suffered on the night of his Passion." [21]
In the private writings of Mother Teresa « Come Be My Light », the Saint explains how she practices the Holy Hour:
“I make a Holy Hour each day in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. (...) Our Holy Hour is our daily family prayer where we get together and pray the Rosary before the exposed Blessed Sacrament the first half hour, and the second half hour we pray in silence." [22]
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen made a vow on his ordination to make a Holy Hour every day of his life. [23] [24]
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On Holy Thursday, the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church provides for the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament in a procession to a side altar or a sacrament chapel after the Mass of the Lord's Supper. [25] When the procession reaches the place of repose, the priest places the ciborium in the tabernacle and incenses the Blessed Sacrament, while the Tantum ergo or another eucharistic chant is sung. After a time of silent adoration, the procession genuflects and returns to the sacristy while the faithful continue the adoration.
This Holy Hour, during which the faithful remain in silent adoration for "a suitable length of time", is to last at least until midnight, but be without any solemnity after the dawn of Good Friday. [26]
The Holy Hour on Maundy Thursday commemorates the prayer and vigil of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, when he asked his Father to spare him his suffering in view of his approaching death, as well as the admonition to his disciples "Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matthew 26).
In his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor of 8 May 1928, Pope Pius XI mentioned Christ apparitions to Margaret Mary Alacoque and wrote about the Holy Hour, stating that "this pious exercise have been approved by the Church and have also been enriched with copious indulgences". [27]
In the Irish Free State and Republic of Ireland, the "holy hour" (Irish : uair bheannaithe) was the term applied to the closing of public houses between 2.30 and 3.30 p.m. on Monday to Saturday in the cities of Dublin and Cork. [28] [29] [30] It was introduced by Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins in the 1920s to curb afternoon drinking by workers. [31] The law only applied to the cities of Dublin and Cork and was removed in 1988; however, public houses throughout the country remained closed from 2 pm to 4 pm on Sundays until 2000. [32] [33] [34] [35] Pubs often merely locked the doors, allowing those in the pubs to continue drinking during the holy hour. [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is predominantly used in the Catholic Church, followed by high church Anglicans, and some Western Rite Orthodox. In the Latin Church, the liturgical Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated the third Friday after Pentecost. The 12 promises of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are also popular.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. According to the General Roman Calendar since 1969, it is formally known as the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and celebrated on the second Friday after Trinity Sunday Some Anglican Franciscans keep the feast under the name of the Divine Compassion of Christ.
Eucharistic adoration is a devotional practice primarily in Western Catholicism and Western Rite Orthodoxy, but also to a lesser extent in certain Lutheran and Anglican traditions, in which the Blessed Sacrament is adored by the faithful. This practice may occur either when the Eucharist is exposed, or when it is not publicly viewable because it is reserved in a place such as a tabernacle.
Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM was a French Visitation nun and mystic who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.
The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is an episode in the life of Jesus, which occurred after the Last Supper and before his betrayal and arrest, all part of the Passion of Jesus leading to his crucifixion and death. This episode is described in the three Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament. According to these accounts, Jesus, accompanied by Peter, John and James, enters the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where he experiences great anguish and prays to be delivered from his impending suffering, while also accepting God's will.
Eucharist is the name that Catholic Christians give to the sacrament by which, according to their belief, the body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and wine consecrated during the Catholic eucharistic liturgy, generally known as the Mass. The definition of the Eucharist in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as the sacrament where Christ himself “is contained, offered, and received” points to the three aspects of the Eucharist according to Catholic theology: the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Holy Communion, and the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
The altar of repose is a temporary altar where the Communion hosts consecrated on Maundy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord's Supper are placed, or "reserved", for use on the following day, Good Friday.
Forty Hours' Devotion, in Italian called Quarant'ore or written in one word Quarantore, is a Roman Catholic liturgical action in which continuous prayer is made for forty hours before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. It often occurs in a succession of churches, with one finishing prayers at the same time as the next takes it up.
The Mass of the Lord's Supper, also known as A Service of Worship for Maundy Thursday, is a Holy Week service celebrated on the evening of Maundy Thursday. It inaugurates the Easter Triduum, and commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, more explicitly than other celebrations of the Mass.
Thanksgiving after Communion is a spiritual practice among Christians who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Communion bread, maintaining themselves in prayer for some time to thank God and especially listening in their hearts for guidance from their Divine guest. This practice was and is highly recommended by saints, theologians, and Doctors of the Church.
Francis Xavier Lasance [F. X. Lasance] was an American priest and writer of Roman Catholic devotional works.
Reparation is a Christian theological concept closely connected with those of atonement and satisfaction. In ascetical theology, reparation is the making of amends for insults given to God through sin, either one's own or another's. The response of man is to be reparation through adoration, prayer, and sacrifice. In Roman Catholic tradition, an act of reparation is a prayer or devotion with the intent to expiate the "sins of others", e.g. for the repair of the sin of blasphemy, the sufferings of Jesus Christ or as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.
The Roman Catholic tradition includes a number of devotions to Jesus Christ. Like all Catholic devotions, these prayer forms are not part of the official public liturgy of the church but are based on the popular spiritual practices of Roman Catholics. Many are officially approved by the Holy See as suitable for spiritual growth but not necessary for salvation.
A number of prayers to Jesus Christ exist within the Roman Catholic tradition. These prayers have diverse origins and forms. Some were attributed to visions of saints, others were handed down by tradition.
The Scapular of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic devotional scapular bearing an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the front panel, and an image of the Virgin Mary as Mother of Mercy on the panel which hangs at the wearer's back. In its current form, the design and the formal church approval for its use are due to Estelle Faguette, a French domestic servant, who in 1876 claimed to have received a series of apparitions during which the Virgin Mary showed this scapular and spoke about its use.
The First Fridays Devotion, also called the Nine First Fridays Devotion or the Communions of Reparation to the Sacred Heart, is a Catholic devotion in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to offer reparations for sins to the Blessed Sacrement. It has its origins in the apparitions of Christ at Paray-le-Monial, France, reported by Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century. This devotion to the Sacred Heart was fully approved by the Roman Catholic Church and a "Great Promise" of final penance was made to those who practice the First Fridays Devotion.
Spiritual communion is a Christian practice of desiring union with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. It is used as a preparation for Mass and by individuals who cannot receive Holy Communion.
The Seven Churches Visitation is an originally Roman Catholic Lenten tradition to visit seven churches on the evening of Holy Thursday. Following the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Blessed Sacrament is placed on the Altar of Repose in the church for adoration. During the Seven Churches Visitation, the faithful visit several churches – traditionally seven, very rarely fourteen, sometimes no set number depending upon the particular practice – to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in each church. The Seven Churches Visitation has been done in an ecumenical context, involving Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Aglipayan, and Salvationist traditions, among others.
The First Thursdays Devotion, also called the Act of Reparation to the Wounds of Jesus and to the Holy Eucharist, is a Catholic devotion to offer acts of reparation.
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