Do I have to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in order to fulfill visits to seven Churches on Holy Thursday?

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irishcolleen45

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Over the past three years, we have tried to visit seven churches on Holy Thursday. Sometimes the church was not opened and we would say a decade of the Rosary in the parking lot. Is that sufficient?

Thanks.
 
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Of course, if the church is not opened it is all you can do! God knows you made the effort!
 
Until reading this thread and then searching the Web, I knew nothing about visiting 7 churches. I’d never heard any family or friends mention it. I’m 52 years old, too.

It surprises me that I was so clueless.
 
I think it’s a European thing, in places where they have lots of Churches in walking distance…
 
It was very common in Brazil until a few years ago. Holy Thursday is now called Quinta-feira Santa in Portuguese, an exact translation, but elderly Brazilian Catholics still remember a time when the official name in Church use was Endoenças, meaning Indulgences. Anyone praying the rosary in seven different churches before midday earned an indulgence.
 
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We practiced it when I lived in Rome, along with the Lenten Station Churches, which Americans also tend not to know about.
 
Praying in 7 churches in Rome is very easy. Walk from Santa Maria Maggiore to St Peter’s and there will be about 7 churches in a 30 minute walk. Works in Southern Europe but not where I live as it would take a whole day.
 
Interesting. I have been to some of those churches and with the superb art displayed it would take me longer than 30 minutes 🤔
 
We have this tradition in my country as well. I’m actually surprised some have never heard of it.
 
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I never heard it was to be done in the evening. That would not be possible for us since the churches are far apart. It takes us at least 4-5 hrs. Plus the fact we would miss the Holy Thursday Mass.
Also, my mother took us around during the day back in the 1950s in NYC (not Manhattan).
 
I had never heard of this before. Neither has my husband. Thanks for posting
 
I’m going to try to do it this evening. I live in an area with lots of Catholic churches but you do have to drive to get to them as they are mostly about 15 minutes to a half hour drive apart. I have made a map and will try to get to 7 of them this evening, starting at one that has a procession from the church to an old Adoration chapel from the 1800s.
We’ll see how many I can get to before they close down the Adoration this evening.
 
We did this growing up, continued into Good Friday, up until stations and veneration of the crucifix.
 
Have a blessed pilgrimage. We did it today but it took us about four hours to complete (10 AM to 2 PM). Not possible for us to do after the Holy Thursday Mass.
 
I’m crossing my fingers I can get it done because the traffic will be not too bad after the Mass tonight. At rush hour it is a nightmare as most of the churches are located off the main commuter roads.
 
We were fortunate today with traffic because public schools are off this week.
 
Wow I wish I knew about this because I could have done this today. There’s a TON of Catholic churches in Queens.
 
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