I long for the return of the Forty Hours Devotion, Quarant’ore. This devotion developed in time of necessity. It is not a kind of long Corpus Christi. It is not a long Holy Thursday. It grew up to beg God for relief and protection from plague and invasion and other calamities.
We need it today. more than ever.
Once, dioceses had Forty Hours going on somewhere every week. The year’s schedule for the churches where Forty Hours would be was even published in secular papers. The clergy would invite each other to participate and priests would come to pray and then to spend time together afterwards… serious and good clericalism! The final Mass was – and under the Clementine Instruction which is in play under Summorum Pontificum – – still is celebrated coram Sanctissimo!
In London, Brompton Oratory had its Forty Hours Devotion. Here is a brief video showing something of the ceremony.
