The octave of prayer began in 1908, at the behest of Father Paul Wattson, an Anglican from the United States and founder of the Society of the Atonement, which later became the Franciscan Sisters and Friars of the Atonement.
He set the dates of the annual prayer octave for Jan. 18, which was at the time the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and Jan. 25, feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
“One hundred years after the first call to pray together for unity,” continued the Holy Father, “this Week of Prayer has now become a consolidated tradition.”
“Prayer is at the very heart of all Church life,” continued Benedict XVI, commenting on the decree of the Second Vatican Council on Church unity, “Unitatis Redintegratio.”
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Prayer is at the Heart of the Church Says Pope Benedict XVI
The octave of prayer began in 1908, at the behest of Father Paul Wattson, an Anglican from the United States and founder of the Society of the Atonement, which later became the Franciscan Sisters and Friars of the Atonement.
He set the dates of the annual prayer octave for Jan. 18, which was at the time the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and Jan. 25, feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
“One hundred years after the first call to pray together for unity,” continued the Holy Father, “this Week of Prayer has now become a consolidated tradition.”
“Prayer is at the very heart of all Church life,” continued Benedict XVI, commenting on the decree of the Second Vatican Council on Church unity, “Unitatis Redintegratio.”
Read it all.