FORTY
152
FORTY
the details cannot be traced exactly. Already before
the year 1550 this, or some analogous exposition, had
been established by St. Philip Neri for the Confra-
ternity of the Trinita dei Pellegrini in Rome ; while St.
Ignatius Loyola, at about the same period, seems to
have lent much encouragement to the practice of ex-
posing the Blessed Sacrament during the carnival, as
an act of expiation for the sins committed at that
season. As this devotion also commonly lasted for a
period of about two days or forty hours, it seems like-
wise to have shared the name "Quarant' Ore"; and
under this name it is still maintained in many places
abroad, more especially in France and Italy. This
form of the practice was especially promoted by the
Oratorian Father, Blessed Juvenal Aneina, Bishop of
Saluzzo, who has left elaborate instructions for the
carrying out of the devotion with greater solemnity
and decorum. It seems that it is especially in con-
nexion with these exercises, as they flourished under
the direction of the Oratorian Fathers, that we trace
the beginning of those sacred concerts of which the
memory is perpetuated in the musical "Oratorios" of
our greatest composers. Elaborate instructions for
the regulation of the Quarant' Ore and for an analo-
gous devotion called "Oratio sine intermissione " (un-
interrupted prayer) were also issued by St. Charles
Borromeo and will be found among the " Acta Medio-
lanensis Ecclesiae". However, the most important
document belonging to this matter is the Constitution
" Graves et diuturnae" of Pope Clement VIII, 25 Nov.,
1592. In the presence of numberless dangers threaten-
ing the peace of Christendom and especially of the
distracted state of France, the pontiff strongly com-
mends the practice of unwearied prayer. " We have
determined", he says, "to establish publicly in this
Mother City of Rome (in hac alma Urbe) an uninter-
rupted course of prayer in such wise that in the
different churches (he specifies the various categories),
on appointed days, there be observed the pious and
salutary devotion of the Forty Hours, with such an
arrangement of churches and times that, at every hour
of the day and ni^ht , t lie wliole year round, the incense
of prayer shall ascend without mtermission before the
face of the Lord ". It will be noticed that, as in the case
of the previously cited Brief of Paul III, the keynote
of this document is anxiety for the peace of Christen-
dom. "Pray," he says, "for the concord of Chris-
tian princes, pray for France, pray that the enemies of
our faith the dreaded Turks, who in the heat of their
presumptuous fury threaten slavery and devastation
to all Christendom, may be overthrown by the right
hand of the Almighty God". Curiously enough the
document contains no explicit mention of the exposi-
tion of the Blessed Sacrament, but inasmuch as this
feature had been familiar on such occasions of public
prayer both in Milan and at Rome itself for more than
half a century, we may infer that when the pope
speaks of "the pious and salutary devotion of the
Forty Hours" he assumes that the prayer is made
before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. More than a
century later Pope Clement XII, in 1731, issued a very
minute code of instructions for the proper carrying out
of the Quarant' Ore devotion. Upon this, which is
known as the "Instructio Clementina", a word must
be said later.
With regard to the actual originator of the Forty Hours' Devotion there has been much difference of opinion. The dispute is too intricate to be discussed here in detail. On the whole the evidence seems to favour the conclusion that a Capuchin Father, Joseph Piantanida da Fermo, was the first to organize the ar- rangement by which the Forty Hours' Exposition was transferred from church to church in Milan and was there kept up without interruption throughout all the year (see Norbert in the" Kiitholik", Aug., 1898). On the other hand, the jiraclicc of exposing the Blessed Sacrament with solemnity for forty hours was cer-
tainly older; and in Milan itself there is good evidence
that one Antonio Bellotto organized this in connexion
with a certain confraternity at the church of the Holy
Sepulchre as early as 1527. Moreover, a Dominican,
Father Thomas Nieto, the Barnabite, St. Antonio
Maria Zaccharia, and his friend, Brother Buono of Cre-
mona, known as the Hermit, have all been suggested
as the founders of the Forty Hours' Devotion. The
claims of the last named. Brother Buono, have re-
cently been urged by Bergamaschi (" La Scuola Cat-
tolica", Milan, Sept., 1908, .327-333), who contends
that the Quarant' Ore had been started by Brother
Buono at Cremona in 1529. But the evidence in all
these cases only goes to show that the practice was
then being introduced of exposing the Blessed Sacra-
ment with solemnity on occasions of great public
calamity or peril, and that for such expositions the
period of forty hours was generally selected. That
this period of forty hours was so selected seems in all
probability due to the fact that this was about the
length of time that the Body of Ciirist remained in the
tomb, and that the Blessed Sacrament in the Middle
Ages was left in the Easter Sepulchre. St. Charles
Borromeo speaks as if this practice of praying for forty
hours was of very ancient date; and he distinctly re-
fers it to the forty hours our Lord's Body remained in
the tomb, seeing that this was a period of watching,
suspense, and ardent prayer on the part of all His dis-
ciples. In all probability this was the exact truth.
The practice of reserving the Blessed Sacrament with
some solemnity in the Easter Sepulchre began in the
thirteenth or fourteenth century; and seems in some
places, e. g. at Zara in Dalmatia, to have been popu-
larly known as the " Prayer [or Supplication] of the
Forty Hours". From this the idea grew up of trans-
ferring this figurative vigil of forty hours to other days
and other seasons. The transference to the carnival
tide was very obvious, and is likely enough to have
occurred independently to many different people.
This seems to have been the case with Father Manare,
S.J., at Macerata, c. 1548, but probably the idea sug-
gested itself to others earlier than this.
Rubrical Require.ments. — The "Instructio Cle- mentina " for the Quarant' Ore which has been already mentioned stands almost alone among rubrical docu- ments in the minuteness of detail into which it enters. It has also been made the subject of an elaborate com- mentary by Gardellini. Only a few details can be given here. The Blessed Sacrament is always, except in the patriarchal basilicas, to be exposed upon the high altar. Statues, pictures, and relics in the imme- diate neighbourhood are to be removed or covered. At least twenty candles are to be kept burning day and night. The altar of exposition is only to be tended by clerics wearing surplices. Everything is to be done, e. g. by hanging curtains at the doorways, by prohib- iting the solicitation of alms, etc., to promote recol- lection and silence. There must be continuous relays of watchers before the Blessed Sacrament; and these, if possible, should include a priest or cleric in higher orders who alone is permitted to kneel within the sanctuary At night the great doors of the church must be closed and women excluded. No Masses must be said at the altar at which the Blessed Sacra- ment is exposed. Precise regulations are made as to the Masses to be said at the time of Exposition and Deposition. Except on greater feasts, this Mass must be a solemn votive Mass de Sanetissimo Sacramento. No bells are to be rung in the church at any private Masses which may be said there while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. When a votive Mass de Sanc- tissimo Sacramento cannot be said, according to the rubrics, the collect of the Blessed Sacrament is at least to be added to the collects of the Mass. No Requiem Masses are permitted. As already intimated, the Mass pro pace is to be sung on the second day of the Exposition; and the litanies of the saints are to be
