Sunday 24 May - Feast Day of Mary Help of Christians
The main celebrations will take place in the Basilica of Maria Ausiliatrice in Turin:
- at 11:00 am (GMT+2), featuring the solemn Eucharistic concelebration presided by Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin;
Live streaming on the ANS Facebook page, with commentary in Italian.
- at 5 pm, the solemn Eucharistic concelebration presided by Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major;
Live streaming on the ANS Facebook page, with commentary in Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese; and only, in Spanish, also on the ANS YouTube channel and the Colombian broadcaster TeleVid.
- at 8:30 pm, the Rosary meditated inside the Basilica. Subsequently, the statue of the Help of Christians will be brought to the square in front of the church and the archbishop of Turin and the Rector Major of the Salesians will pronounce a prayer of entrustment to Mary Help of Christians.
Live streaming on the ANS Facebook page, with commentary in Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese; and only, in Spanish, also on the ANS YouTube channel and the Colombian broadcaster TeleVid.
Many faithful and groups of the Salesian Family all over the world have already confirmed their spiritual participation - especially in the act of entrusting themselves to Mary Help of Christians: a way to put the fate of the world tried by the pandemic under her mantle.
The feast day of Mary Help of Christians was set for May 24 by Pope Pius VII in memory of his return to Rome (24 May 1814), after his imprisonment under Napoleon in Fontainebleau.
Originally the celebration was limited to the Church of Rome, but was soon adopted by the Tuscan dioceses (1816) and then extended to the universal Church. The groups of the Salesian Family are closely linked to Mary's devotion under the title of Help of Christians, as Saint John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Congregation, chose her as the main patroness of the Salesian Family and of his works.
