.- A New York City church will mark the 40th Anniversary of its nightlong First Friday vigil in March.
The anniversary celebration of the All Night Vigil will begin at Our Lady of Peace Church on March 5 at 9:30 p.m. and last until 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York, will be the main celebrant for the Vigil Mass at 11 p.m.
The Padre Pio Prayer Group at Our Lady of Peace is holding the celebration.
Layman Mario J. Bruschi co-founded the All Night Vigil with the late Fr. Archangel Scia, OFM, at St. Jean Baptiste Church.
"Forty years is a long time to be having All Night devotion and prayer before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament,” Bruschi commented. “It is such a blessing. We have seen many Catholics come in at all hours of the night to spend a few minutes or even a few hours in prayer. And that is our goal: to inspire people to pay a visit to God and to encourage them to talk to Him, to tell Him their problems and to keep him company throughout the night.”
