The MONTH of JANUARY is dedicated in honor OF THE

Holy NAME OF JESUS

“And after eight days were accomplished, that the Child should be circumcised, His name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21)

The Holy Name of Jesus, chosen by the Eternal Father from all eternity, literally means “the Lord saves,” or simply “Savior.” Thus it expresses the essential purpose of the Incarnation: the Redemption of mankind, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” St. Paul tells us that it was by suffering His Passion and Death that our Savior merited the Name of Jesus. This sweet and glorious Name gives the Eternal Father infinite joy and glory for it expresses everything His Beloved Son is, and everything He did and suffered for our salvation and for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. The Name of Jesus is, therefore, the shortest and most powerful of all prayers, if we repeat it, whether with our lips or merely in the depths of our heart, with reverence, love, and unbounded confidence. The Holy Name of Jesus not only terrifies demons and puts them to flight, it also heals, nourishes, strengthens, and enlightens the soul. The Name of Jesus reveals the characteristic quality – the very heart and soul – of the Son of God made man: Merciful Love. He is our most loving and merciful Savior: the Good Shepherd, come to save those who are lost in sin; the Divine Physician, come to heal souls of their spiritual sicknesses. Jesus is all love, and by repeating His Name often throughout the day we will grow in His love and holiness. This is one of the easiest means of growing in holiness, of drawing ever closer to Jesus.

My Jesus, mercy

An indulgence of 500 day

For More Prayers in Honor of the Most Holy and Adorable Name of Jesus...Click Here

The Chair of Unity Octave

January 18th to January 25th

The Chair of Unity Octave, which extends from the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome (January 18) until the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25), which prayers are prescribed for each separate day of the Octave

History of The Chair of Unity Octave

Click Here for Unity Octave Prayers

On October 3, 1899, the eve of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the Rev. Lewis Thomas Wattson, an Episcopal clergyman later known as the Very Rev. Paul James Francis, S.A., arrived at Graymoor, N.Y. to establish a community of Episcopal Franciscans called the Friars of the Atonement. A year previously, Miss Lurana White, a devout young woman, had founded in the same place a community of Episcopal nuns known as the Sisters of the Atonement.

For ten years the two communities were jointly known as the Society of the Atonement and lived the monastic life as members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Looking about him on a largely irreligious world, Father Paul grieved most because Christians seemed divided into warring sects and factions. He began to preach corporate reunion of the Episcopal Church with the Roman Catholic Church. Because of this he was banned from the pulpits of the Episcopal Church.

In his brown robe and sandals, Father Paul took his message to the streets and parks of New York. He caused quite a sensation. Father Paul James Francis was determined to carry on a vigorous apostolate for the return of all separated Christians to communion with the Holy See. To further this aim, he inaugurated in 1908 the Chair of Unity Octave (Jan. 18-25).

One year later, the members of the Society themselves received the grace of conversion, and on October 30, 1909, they entered the Catholic Church in a body. It astonished no one when he took his own advice and brought his community with him into the Catholic Church. With the blessing of Pope St. Pius X, they were permitted to continue as a religious society in the Catholic Church and were commissioned to carry on the apostolate of Christian unity as their community aim.

The Chair of Unity Octave was also approved as a Catholic devotion by Pope Benedict XV in an Apostolic Brief in 1916. In 1921, at their annual meeting in Washington, the Catholic hierarchy of the United States unanimously adopted the Octave for all the dioceses in the country.

Under the patronage of St. Peter, the first Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome, and St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Chair of Unity Octave has flourished and grown. It is now observed in many parts of the world.

"Devotions for the Chair of Unity Octave" published by the Atonement Friars of Graymoor, New York, 1960, pp. 5-6.