Holy Hour

And in order to bear Me company in the humble prayer that I then offered to My Father, in the midst of My anguish, you shall rise between 11 P.M. and midnight, and remain prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also to mitigate in some way the bitterness which I felt at that time on finding Myself abandoned by My Apostles, which obliged Me to reproach them for not being able to watch one hour with Me.

"[7]This personal practice of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque later became widespread among Roman Catholics, who also began to perform it during an hour of Eucharistic adoration.

[14][15] Picpus Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey (1875-1960) promoted an at-home Holy Hour for those who couldn't make it to an oratory or chapel.

[16][17] In the Gospel of Matthew, during the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion, Jesus spoke to his disciples, saying "My soul is sorrowful even to death.

[19] They are more traditionally done on a Thursday night, from 11:00 pm to midnight, usually on the eve of the first Fridays of the month, day of another devotion that came from the same private revelations of Margaret Mary Alacoque.

This Holy Hour, during which the faithful remain in silent adoration for "a suitable length of time", is to last at least until midnight, but be without any solemnity after the dawn of Good Friday.

[26] The Holy Hour on Maundy Thursday commemorates the prayer and vigil of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, when he asked his Father to spare him his suffering in view of his approaching death, as well as the admonition to his disciples "Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matthew 26).

In his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor of 8 May 1928, Pope Pius XI mentioned Christ apparitions to Margaret Mary Alacoque and wrote about the Holy Hour, stating that "this pious exercise have been approved by the Church and have also been enriched with copious indulgences".