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HIS Devotion, known in Italy as the Quarant' ore, continues for Forty Hours, in memory of the forty hours during which the Body of our Lord remained in the Sepulchre. It was begun at Milan in 1534, and was introduced into Rome by St. Philip Neri in 1548, and sanctioned by Pope Clement VIII., who issued a solemn Bull respecting it, November 25, 1592.

The devotion owes its origin to Father Joseph, a Capuchin friar at Milan. In the year 1534 the city of Milan was suffering all the horrors attendant on war, and was reduced almost to despair, when Father Joseph called upon the citizens to raise their eyes from the miseries around them, and look up to heaven for succor, assuring them, on the part of God, that if they would give themselves to fervent prayer for forty hours, their city and their country would be liberated from the devastations of their enemies. The citizens obeyed the call. The Forty Hours' Prayer commenced in the Cathedral, and was taken up by the other churches of the city in rotation. The people meanwhile attended with fervor at the appointed prayers, and approached with great devotion the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. Heaven did not delay to fulfil the assurance given by the pious servant of God; for in a short time the Emperor Charles V. and Francis,