40 Hours of Prayer Launched in Rome for RP Elections

ROME, May 7, 2010-The Philippine Embassy to the Holy See in coordination with the Pontificio Collegio Filippino and the Sentro Pilipino Chaplaincy has launched the "Quarant'Ore" or forty hours' prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for honest and peaceful elections in the Philippines.

The Quarant'Ore devotion was launched May 6, with a Eucharistic celebration at the Basilica Santa Pudenziana, Sentro Pilipino Chaplaincy in Rome.

The Rome launching was timed to synchronize with a Eucharistic celebration held at the EDSA Shrine in Manila organized by the Center for Peace, Asia which is following the Quarant'Ore prayer for their members and other religious groups in Metro Manila.

After the inaugural mass at the Basilica Santa Pudenziana, the Quarant'Ore prayer will be continued by different religious congregations/communities who belong to the Association of Filipino Priests, Religious and Seminarians in their respective oratories. Some Filipino migrants' communities and individuals have also signed up to join this activity in their respective churches.

Josephine Bantug, assistant to the Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See, has encouraged the participants to pray the Holy Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the "Prayer for Philippine Elections" from May 6 at 6:00 p.m. to May 8, 9 p.m.

The Quarant'Ore devotion was started in Milan and spread to other parts of Italy in the middle of the 16th century. In the context of threats against the Church that time, Pope Clement VIII commended this practice of unwearied prayer in the different churches in Rome.

It is in the same spirit of prayerful supplication before the Blessed Sacrament that Mercedes A. Tuason, Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See; Fr. Romeo Velos, CS, Chaplain of Sentro Pilipino; and Bishop-elect Ruperto Santos, Rector of Collegio Filippino; have invited all Filipinos in Rome to ensure that this chain of prayer will not be broken, so that, in the words of Pope Clement VIII "the incense of prayer shall ascend without intermission before the face of the Lord".

Filipinos in Rome are also invited to attend the Eucharistic celebration at the Basilica Santa Pudenziana on May 9, to pray for honest, peaceful and credible elections in the Philippines on May 10. (Fr. Jose V.C. Quilongquilong, S.J.)