The Litanies of the Holy Sacrament (Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento) go back to Catholic Reform movement of the sixteenth century. The text and several musical settings thereof have been preserved since the sixteenth century, including famous settings by Palestrina (and in later times the young W.A. Mozart). It was also sometimes incorporated into the practice of the Devotion of the Forty Hours, a practice originating in Milan in 1527 as a ritual of penance memorizing the Passion and Death of Christ. The Eucharist was here put on display for forty hours during which processions and various devotional ceremonies were carried out. The practice received Papal approval in 1539 by Pope Paul III and became widely used in Reform Catholic devotion. It was introduced in Rome in the 1550s by St Philip Neri, the founder of the Congregazione dell’Oratorio. Also the Jesuits practiced the Forty Hours since the early 1550s.

 

In this paper, I propose to discuss the text of the sacramental litanies as well as the practice of the Devotion of the Forty Hours in the sixteenth century with a focus on their theological doctrinal emphasis concerning Eucharistic understanding.