(ANS – Turín) – All over the world the Salesian Family eagerly awaits May 24, the feast day of Mary Help of Christians. The Basilica dedicated to Her at the Mother House of the Salesian Congregation, in Valdocco, will again this year be the spiritual center toward which millions of eyes and hearts will turn, thanks also to the live broadcasts that will allow even at a distance to participate communally in the great copy of the celebration.
Already for days the Marian shrine in Valdocco has been dressed for the feast and more numerous faithful are flocking there, both for intimate moments of individual prayer and for the communal evening novena, accompanied each evening by Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, and the traditional Salesian “goodnight.”
Today, Tuesday, May 23, the eve of the grand feast, already a very special program begins:
– at 5 p.m. (UTC+2): the Rosary animated by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians;
– at 6 p.m. the Mass presided by Fr. Ivo Coelho, General Councilor for Formation;
– at 7:00 p.m. First Vespers led by the Rector Major, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime.
And from 8:30 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning, the basilica will remain open all night for a prayer vigil titled, “Let us Vigil with Mary: “Unbind, my heart, unbind harp and zither, I want to wake the dawn” (Psalm 56:9). Throughout the night there will be meditations, musical accompaniment, penitential liturgy, night adoration, and even a Midnight Eucharist.
Tomorrow, the feast day, as many as 7 Eucharists are planned, and numerous celebrations from the morning:
• 7 a.m., Mass presided by Fr. Alejandro Guevara, World Delegate of the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA);
• at 08:00, Mass presided over by Fr. Joan Lluis Plajà, Central Delegate of the Rector Major for the Secretariat for the Salesian Family;
• at 09:30 a.m., Mass presided by Fr. Leonardo Mancini, Salesian Provincial of Piedmont, Aosta Valley, and Lithuania, also broadcast on TV on the local channel Rete7 (DTT channel 13 – Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and on the Basilica’s YouTube channel;
at 11 a.m., Mass presided over by Msgr. Carlo Mazza, Spiritual Assistant of the Shrines of Italy, broadcast live on Telepace TV;
• at 3 p.m., Blessing of the children, presided over by Fr. Guido Dutto, pastor of Mary Help of Christians;
• at 4 p.m., Second Vespers presided over by Fr. Michele Viviano, Rector of the Basilica;
• at 5:00 p.m., Mass presided over by Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia, Bishop Emeritus of Turin, and Susa;
• at 6:30 p.m., Mass presided over by Fr. Á.F. Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians;
• at 8:30 p.m. Procession of Mary Help of Christians, presided by Msgr. Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin, with Msgr. Carlo Mazza, Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia, the Rector Major and the ICP Provincial.
A final Eucharist in the Basilica after the procession will be presided over by Msgr. Giacomo Maria Martinacci, Rector Consolata.
The Eucharistic celebrations at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., as well as the procession with the statue of Mary Help of Christians through the streets of Turin, will be visible live, thanks to the streaming signal provided by “IME Comunicazione,” on Rete7, Telepace and on the en la página de Facebook de ANS.
The broadcast, accompanied by interviews with various guests in the interlocutory times, will be in Italian with simultaneous translation into English, Spanish, French, and Portoguese.
Source: ANS – “Agencia iNfo Salesiana”