Chair of Unity Octave

First Day of the Octave

January 18
Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Rome

Intention of the day
The union of all Christians in the one true faith and in the Church

In Private Recitation shall be omitted all that is herein printed in blue

The first Verse of the following Hymn shall be sung kneeling.

Hymn: Come Holy Ghost

KNEEL

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid,
And fill the hearts which thou hast made.

STAND

To thee, the Paraclete, we cry;
To thee, the Gift of God most high,
The Fount of life, the Fire of love,
The soul's Anointing from above.

The sevenfold gifts of grace are thine,
O Finger of the Hand Divine;
True Promise of the Father thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.

Thy light to every sense impart,
And shed thy love in every heart;
Thine own unfailing might supply
To strengthen our infirmity.

Drive far away our ghostly foe,
And thine abiding peace bestow;
If thou be our preventing Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.

Make thou to us the Father known,
Teach us the eternal Son to own,
Be this our neverchanging creed,
That thou dost from them both proceed.

Proper Doxology
All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.  Amen.

In the name of the Father, † and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary.

V.  O God, † make speed to save us.
R.  O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.  (Alleluia.)
(After Septuagesima instead of Alleluia shall be said: All praise be unto thee, O Lord, King of glory everlasting.)

Prayer for the Reunion of Christendom

Let us Pray.
O God, in thy mercy thou dost set aright those who have gone astray and thou dost save those whom thou hast gathered together.  We beseech thee to pour down upon all Christian people the grace of union with thee, so that putting aside disunion and attaching themselves to the true shepherd of thy Church, they may be able to serve thee humbly and lovingly.  Through Christ our Lord.
R.  Amen.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary

O Immaculate Virgin, who wast preserved by a singular privilege of grace from original sin, look down with pity upon our separated brethren, who are still thy children, and call them back to the centre of unity. Even from afar, many have preserved a most tender devotion towards thee, O Mother. Reward them for their devotion by obtaining for them the grace of conversion. Victorious over the powers of hell from the very first moment of thine existence, renew, now that the necessity is more urgent, thy triumphant progress, as in ages past. Glorify thy Son, O Mother, by bringing back to the one Fold his straying sheep.  And may it be thy glory, O Virgin Mary, to banish error from the earth, to put an end to disunity and to restore peace to the world.
R.  Amen.

V.  Our Lady of the Atonement, intercede for us.
R.  That there may be fulfilled the prayer of thy Divine Son: "That all may be one."

Prayer to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles

O glorious Saint Peter, as a reward for thy lively and generous faith, profound and sincere humility, and ardent love, thou wast singled out by our Lord and endowed with most special privileges. Thou wast also constituted Prince of the Apostles, with primacy over the whole Church, of which thou wast made the Rock and Foundation. Obtain for us, we pray, a lively faith and an ardent zeal so that all of us will labour for the return of our separated brethren. May the desire of our divine Redeemer, that there might be but "one Fold and one Shepherd," be for us, as it was for thee, the inspiration to work and pray for the return of all those who are still outside the Fold. Strengthened by divine Grace, may they be led back speedily to the bosom of our common Mother, the Catholic Church.
R.  Amen.

V.  O ye holy Apostles Peter and Paul, pray for us.
R.  That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

A short sermon or instruction

Chair of Unity Octave hymn

That all be one O dearest Lord, we pray,
That all be drawn within Thy one true Fold,
Back to Thy Church from which the wand'rers stray,
And Thy true Faith she keeps, like saints of old.
O bring them back Good Shepherd of the sheep;
And rouse the heathen nations from their sleep.

Then praise we God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Holy Spirit, Three in One,
That one in Him and one together we
In unity may praise the Trinity,
Till all the ransomed fall before His Throne
And give all glory to our God alone.  Amen.

Hymn: O Salutáris Hostia

Chair of Unity Octave Prayer

Ant:   That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  (John 17. 21)

V.  I say unto thee, that thou art Peter.
R.  And upon this Rock I will build My Church.

Let us Pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles: Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you; look not upon our sins, but on the faith of thy Church, and vouchsafe to grant unto her that peace and unity which are agreeable to thy will. Who livest and reignest God for ever and ever.
R.  Amen.

An indulgence of 300 days during the Octave of Prayers for the Unity of the Church from the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome to the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.  A Plenary Indulgence on the usual conditions at the end of the devout exercise.

Let us Pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, most gracious Saviour of the world, we humbly beg of thee by thy most Sacred Heart, that all the sheep now wandering astray may be converted unto thee, the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. Who livest and reignest from this time forth for evermore.
R.  Amen.

Prayer to our Lady, Help of Christians

O Mary, Virgin Immaculate, our Mother and Mother of our God, thou seest how the Catholick Faith is assailed by the devil and the world, that Faith in which we purpose, by the help of God, to live and to die ; do thou, O Help of Christians, renew thy victories as of old, for the salvation of thy children. To thee do we entrust our firm purpose of never joining the assemblies of the hereticks. Do thou, all Holy, offer unto thy Divine Son our resolutions, and obtain from him the graces necessary for us to keep them unto the end.  Bring consolation to the Church, support and protect the Catholick clergy and people who proclaim thee Queen. Hasten, by the power of thy prayers, the day when all nations shall be gathered together in the one true Fold.
R.  Amen.

V.  O Mary, Help of Christians.
R.  Pray for us.

V.  The Lord be with you.
R.  And with thy spirit.

Prayer for Unity

Let us Pray

GOD the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divísions. Take away all hatred, prejudice, and error, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord: that, as there is but one Body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all; so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
R.  Amen.

V.  The Lord be with you.
R.  And with thy spirit.

V.  Bless we the Lord.
R.  Thanks be to God.

Benediction
May the Almighty God, the Father, † the Son, and the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep us, this day and for evermore.
R.  Amen.

Hymn:  Faith of our Fathers