Wow Nearly 800 Years Ago On September 11th 1226 was the 1st Recorded Instance of Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Eucharist
The 1st recorded instance of Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Eucharist was nearly 800 years ago on September 11th 1226. On that day, in compliance with the wish of King Louis VII, who had just been victorious over the Albigensians, the Blessed Sacrament, veiled, was exposed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, as an act of thanksgiving. So great was the throng of adorers that the bishop, Pierre de Corbie, judged it expedient to continue the adoration by night, as well as by day, a proposal that was subsequently ratified by the approval of the Holy See. This really Perpetual Adoration, interrupted in 1792, was resumed in 1829, through the efforts of the "Confraternity of Penitents-Gris". It is said that there has been a Perpetual Adoration in the Cathedral of Lugo, Spain, for more than a thousand years in expiation of the Priscillian heresy. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the term "Perpetual Adoration" is broadly used to designate the practically uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The term is used in a truly literal sense, i.e. to indicate that the adoration is physically perpetual; and, more frequently, in a moral sense, when it is interrupted only for a short time, or for imperative reasons, or through uncontrollable circumstances, to be resumed, however, when possible, or it may indicate an uninterrupted adoration for a longer or shorter period, a day, or a few days, as in the devotion of the Forty Hours, or it may designate an uninterrupted adoration in one special church, or in different churches in a locality or diocese, or country, or throughout the world.
History of Perpetual Adoration
Exposition and consequently adoration became comparatively general only in the fifteenth century. It is curious to note that these adorations were usually for some special reason, e.g. for the cure of a sick person, or, on the eve of an execution, in the hope that the condemned would die a happy death. The Order of the "Religiosi bianchi del corpo di Gesù Christo," a Benedictine reform, united to Cîteaux in 1393, and approved later as a separate community, devoted themselves to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Philip II of Spain founded in the Escorial the Vigil of the Blessed Sacrament, religious in successive pairs remaining constantly, night and day, before the Blessed Sacrament. But, practically, the devotion of the Forty Hours, begun in 1534, and officially established in 1592, developed the really general Perpetual Adoration, spreading as it did from the Adoration in one or more churches in Rome until it gradually extended throughout the world, so that it may be truly said that during every hour of the year the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed is adored by multitudes of the faithful. In 1641 Baron de Renty, famous for devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, founded in St. Paul's parish, in Paris an association of ladies for practically a Perpetual Adoration; and, in 1648, at St-Sulpice the Perpetual Adoration, day and night, was established as a reparation for an outrage committed by thieves against the Sacred Host. The Perpetual Adoration was founded at Lyons, in 1667, in the Church of the Hôtel-Dieu. In various places, and by different people, lay and religious, new foundations have been made since then, the history of which can be traced in the valuable "Histoire du Sacrement de l'Eucharistie," by Jules Corblet (II, xviii). The last development that it is important to notice here is the organization at Rome, in 1882, of "The Perpetual Adoration of Catholic Nations represented In the Eternal City". Its object was to offer to God a reparation that is renewed daily by some of the Catholic nations represented in Rome, in the churches in which the Forty Hours was being held, as follows:
on Sunday by Portugal, Poland, Ireland, and Lombardy;
on Monday by Germany, Austria, Hungary and Greece;
on Tuesday by Italy;
on Wednesday by North and South America, and Scotland,
on Thursday by France;
on Friday by the Catholic Missions and Switzerland;
on Saturday by Spain, England and Belgium.
This society has affiliations throughout the world.
Exposition and consequently adoration became comparatively general only in the fifteenth century. It is curious to note that these adorations were usually for some special reason, e.g. for the cure of a sick person, or, on the eve of an execution, in the hope that the condemned would die a happy death. The Order of the "Religiosi bianchi del corpo di Gesù Christo," a Benedictine reform, united to Cîteaux in 1393, and approved later as a separate community, devoted themselves to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Philip II of Spain founded in the Escorial the Vigil of the Blessed Sacrament, religious in successive pairs remaining constantly, night and day, before the Blessed Sacrament. But, practically, the devotion of the Forty Hours, begun in 1534, and officially established in 1592, developed the really general Perpetual Adoration, spreading as it did from the Adoration in one or more churches in Rome until it gradually extended throughout the world, so that it may be truly said that during every hour of the year the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed is adored by multitudes of the faithful. In 1641 Baron de Renty, famous for devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, founded in St. Paul's parish, in Paris an association of ladies for practically a Perpetual Adoration; and, in 1648, at St-Sulpice the Perpetual Adoration, day and night, was established as a reparation for an outrage committed by thieves against the Sacred Host. The Perpetual Adoration was founded at Lyons, in 1667, in the Church of the Hôtel-Dieu. In various places, and by different people, lay and religious, new foundations have been made since then, the history of which can be traced in the valuable "Histoire du Sacrement de l'Eucharistie," by Jules Corblet (II, xviii). The last development that it is important to notice here is the organization at Rome, in 1882, of "The Perpetual Adoration of Catholic Nations represented In the Eternal City". Its object was to offer to God a reparation that is renewed daily by some of the Catholic nations represented in Rome, in the churches in which the Forty Hours was being held, as follows:
on Sunday by Portugal, Poland, Ireland, and Lombardy;
on Monday by Germany, Austria, Hungary and Greece;
on Tuesday by Italy;
on Wednesday by North and South America, and Scotland,
on Thursday by France;
on Friday by the Catholic Missions and Switzerland;
on Saturday by Spain, England and Belgium.
This society has affiliations throughout the world.
Excerpts from "Perpetual Adoration." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 11 Sept. 2022 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01152a.htm>.
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