OCTAVE OF PRAYER FOR THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. — A pious practice instituted by Fr. Paolo Giacomo Wattson (v. ODINGTON, WALTER), in 1908, while he was still a Protestant minister in America and had founded at Graymoor the two Congregations of the Atonement, male and female.
His intention was to arouse everywhere prayers for the return of England and of the various Protestant sects to unity with the Roman Church and the Roman Pope, the sole vicar of Jesus Christ. The period chosen was that from 18 January (the feast of the Chair of St Peter in Rome) to 25 January (the feast of the conversion of St Paul). For each day a particular intention is prescribed: 18, for the return of all the little sheep to Peter’s one fold; 19, for the return of all those separated in the East; 20, for the submission of Anglicans to the authority of the Vicar of Jesus Christ; 21, for the return of Lutherans and of the other Protestant sects of continental Europe; 22, for the return of Christians residing in America; 23, that non-practising Catholics may return to the practice of the Sacraments; 24, for the conversion of the Israelites; 25, for the missionary conquest of the world for Jesus Christ.
The first o. was celebrated in 1908 in the two convents of Graymoor; in 1909 many other churches in the United States took part; as early as 30 October 1909 the two convents submitted fully to the Holy See. From then on the practice spread increasingly. Pius X approved and blessed it in December 1910; Benedict XV, by an apostolic brief of 15 November 1916, extended it to the entire Church; Pius XII on 10 December 1946 enriched it with indulgences: 300 days for each day of the o.; a plenary indulgence on the last day, under the usual conditions. Since 1946 the centre of the o. has been in the church of S. Onofrio on the Janiculum, entrusted to the Franciscan Fathers of the Atonement.