FORTY HOURS' ADORATION

Evening Star, Issue 23699, 5 October 1940, Page 8

FORTY HOURS' ADORATION

ANCIENT RITUAL BEING SOLEMNISED In all Catholic churches throughout the country at the present time the “ Forty Hours’ ” Adoration is being held. It commenced yesterday morning at 9,* and will conclude at 7 p.m. to-morrow. The Adoration is a period tor silent meditation and prayer in the churches—prayer for the triumph of good over evil. The Adoration had its origin away back in the twelfth century in the city of Zara, in Dalmatia, during Holy Week, but it was not instituted permanently until 1527 in Milan. In 1537 the city was threatened with war between Emperor Charles V. of Germany and Francis 1., King of France, both of whom were prepared to vindicate their claims to the duchy by force of arms. A Capuchin padre, famous for his eloquence and sanctity, drew the people to the cathedral The Adoration was proposed as the best means of appeasing the Almighty, and the people pledged themselves to devotion fo- a year There followed a truce between the warring monarchs, and six months later a treaty was signed. When the good news became known the citizens of Milan declared in gratitude to God that the Forty Hours’ Adoration should be maintained for ever in the form in which it had been instituted that year. “ In no other time or place,*’ Cardinal Wiseman has stated, “ is the sublimity of the religion so touchingly felt. No ceremony is going on in the sanctuary, no sound of song is issuing from the choir, no voice of exhortation proceeds from the pulpit, no prayer is uttered aloud at the altar. . . . Each heart and soul is alone in (he midst of a multitude” Sncli is the Forty Honrs' Adoration and its origin which is now being celebrated.