Feast of Our Lady of the Cenacle

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Our Lady of the Cenacle is the Congregation’s titular Feast. It is collocated in the Saturday within the Octave of the Ascension (the Saturday after Ascension).

“It celebrates the mystery of prayerful expectation and waiting in retreat with Mary by the first assembly of the Church, directed to that outpouring of the Spirit which sent the apostles to the ends of the earth (Acts 1: 12-14).

“This mystery is the inspiration for integrating the three dimensions of the mission of the Sisters of the Cenacle – apostolic service, prayer and community life.”

The Mass and patronage of Our Lady of the Cenacle were approved by the Church in 1886 at the request of the Reverend Mother Marie-Aimée Lautier, Superior General of the Congregation. To compose the music of the Mass, she called on Dom Joseph Pothier (1835-1923), a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes and great reformer of Gregorian chant.  In 1887, the Office of Our Lady of the Cenacle was approved.

The Mass and the Office have been translated in French, English, Italian, Malagasy, Dutch and Portuguese. The texts are in the Library of the Website.

Today the Mass of Our Lady of the Cenacle is celebrated in every house of the Congregation all over the world and the Sisters renew their vows on this feast.