Chair of Unity Octave

Annual announcement: Today begins the traditional Chair of Unity octave, originally planned to last from the feast of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome until the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25. Readers may use this PDF file with the appropriate prayers.

The devotion has evolved into the “Week of Prayer,” since the removal from the calendar of the feast that opened the octave. But 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.

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.

Father Paul of Graymoor developed 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.

See also:

"Christ's Charge to Peter" by Raphael

“Christ’s Charge to Peter” by Raphael