Walsingham Publishing - Catholic Cycle of PrayerLet all the world in ev'ry corner sing,My God and King! --George Herbert, 1633
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About the Cycle of Prayer
The Catholic Cycle of Prayer assigns a date within the cycle to each Catholic diocese, archdiocese, ordinariate, eparchy, archeparchy, exarchy, and other similar structure. The faithful are encouraged to pray together with other faithful throughout the world with special intention for the clergy and people of each diocese, covering every part of the Catholic Church throughout the world once during each year.
A cycle year begins on the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, and runs through the Eve of Pentecost in the following year. Because the date of Pentecost varies with the date of Easter, the length of a cycle year varies from year to year. For each new cycle year, a completely random “shuffle” of diocese-to-date assignments is calculated so that each diocese has an equal chance of appearing on any particular day of the year.
The 2023-2024 cycle assigns the 3,180 dioceses to the 357 days from Sunday, May 28th, 2023 to Saturday, May 18th, 2024. As a result, 8 or 9 dioceses appear on each day. It is suggested to pray for the first 4 or 5 dioceses in the morning, and the second 4 in the evening. This can be done at mass, during the daily office, or at any other time of prayer.
The Cycle of Prayer is a project of Walsingham Publishing, and is dedicated to Our Blessed Lady, Mary, Mother of the Church. On the cover for this year is the Ravensburger Schutzmantelmadonna, a statue of Our Lady of Mercy made by Michel Erhart, ca. 1480. The sculpture was originally part of the high altar in the Liebfrauenkirche in Ravensburg and is now in the Bode Museum in Berlin. Copies are in the Liebfrauenkirche and various other churches throughout Germany and the world.
Walsingham Publishing thanks the administrator of the “Catholic-Hierarchy” website for maintaining the up-to-date list of dioceses used to create this Cycle of Prayer.
John Covert, Acton, Massachusetts, USA