Chair of Unity Octave

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History of The Chair of Unity Octave

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.

Comments

Unknown said…
I just wanted to point out that the organization behind the "One Date" petition is "True Life in God" which promotes the writings of Vassula Ryden, a Greek-Orthodox seer that claims to receive messages from Jesus through the unvoluntary movement of her hand (experts have identified this as automatic writing). The Orthodox and Catholic Churches have warned about Mrs Ryden's writings and activities, and do not recognize her as an authentic seer. The One Date petition, even if it promotes a positive action towards more unity between the Orthodox and the Catholic, has as its main purpose to find a way into Christian communities.

For more information on Mrs Ryden and True Life in God (from a critical point of view), you might want to check my website: www.infovassula.ch

Maria Laura Pio
Many thanks for this.

Specifically
http://www.infovassula.ch/tlignotification1.htm