This devotion continues for Forty Hours, in memory of the forty hours during which the Body of our Lord remained in the Sepulchre. The devotion owes its origin to Father Joseph, a Capuchin friar at Milan. In the year 1534 the city of Milan was suffering all the horrors attendant on war, and was reduced almost to despair. Father Joseph called upon the citizens to look up to heaven for help, assuring them that if they would give themselves to fervent prayer for forty hours, their city and their country would be liberated from the devastations of their enemies. The Forty Hours' Prayer commenced in the Cathedral, and was taken up by the other churches of the city in rotation. In a short time the Emperor Charles V. and Francis, King of France, were seen at the gate of Milan arranging the articles of peace.
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