Today begins the traditional Chair of Unity octave, originally planned to last from the feast of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome (today) until the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25. The devotion has evolved into the “Week of Prayer,” since the removal from the calendar of the feast that opened the octave. But even in the 1962 rubrics, a priest may offer the votive Mass of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome, so we still have our octave in the traditional rite. Readers may find an inelegant but useful PDF file with the appropriate prayers. Regarding these prayers, be it observed that they are not vague requests for an undefined unity, but explicit petitions for the conversion of all (baptized and non) to Catholic faith and unity under the Supreme Pontiff, the Bishop of Rome and Successor of Saint Peter.
With Anglicanorum Coetibus now a reality, and the canonical union of many Anglican groups being advanced as we write, the octave seems to have a particular importance this year. In the third day of the octave, we pray for the conversion of all Anglicans. But more than that, Father Paul of Graymoor, whose life we are soon to publish on this site, began this devotion while yet an Anglican. His subsequent conversion and founding of a Catholic religious order proved that, at least in his case, the prayers worked.
The article on Father Paul is now posted:
http://catholicism.org/father-paul-of-graymoor-founder-of-the-society-of-the-atonement-and-father-of-the-church-unity-octave.html