Forty Hours Devotion

Annual Forty Hours Devotion
Held annually in honor of the 
Solemnity of Saint John Paul II

October 24-26, 2024

Begins with Mass at 5:00pm on Thursday, October 24 and concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at 9:00am on Saturday, October 26

Saint Maximilian Kolbe Church
 150 Black Point Road
 Scarborough, Maine 04074

Sign up to be a dedicated adorer
 

The Forty Hours Devotion involves 40 consecutive hours of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar for Eucharistic Adoration. The devotion finds its origin in 16th Century Milan and Vicenza, Italy with Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, and was later promoted by Saint Ignatius Loyola and his fellow Jesuits. Saint John Neumann, then-Bishop of Philadelphia, first introduced the Forty Hours Devotion in the United States of America in 1853. Saint John Paul II Parish adopted this tradition in 2022.

The number forty draws on a number with varied layers of significance: forty is the number of hours Jesus spent in the tomb, the number of days it rained while Noah was on the arc, the number of years the Israelites spent in the desert, and finally the number of days spent by Jesus fasting and being tempted in the desert.

Our parish patron, Saint John Paul II, wrote, “Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and contemplation full of faith.” By hosting the Forty Hours Devotion in Saint John Paul II Parish, we desire to foster and increase the love we have for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as we strive to live and proclaim the Gospel.