San Francisco Chronicle; Monday, August 5, 1991
Katy Butler, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Mass ended the church's Seventh Annual Forty Hours Devotion, a medieval ritual originally used to call for God's help in times of plague and public peril. It was revived in 1984 by Most Holy Redeemer and has become a yearly spiritual response to the epidemic in the Castro, where half of the gay male population is believed to be infected with the HIV virus and many have died.

Yesterday's Mass began at 10 a.m., when San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn and other priests led a stately procession of parishioners, many of them HIV- positive, to the altar. The pews were packed with people. Some wiped away tears during the Mass.

After songs and Bible readings, the archbishop, a tiny, bookish figure in the vaulted white- and red- painted church, stood before members of a community that has been devastated by the AIDS virus. More than 7,000 San Franciscans have died of AIDS since 1981, many of them residents of the Castro neighborhood.

'YOUR BROTHER'

Speaking of the enormity of trying to help parishioners burdened with this continuous experience of death, the archbishop quoted Pope John XXIII, saying: "This great position entrusted to me exceeds all my capacities. I'm somebody who simply wants to be your brother, kind, patient and understanding.

"These days of prayer and adoration form the intersection of faith and suffering," the archbishop said. "We come here before the blessed sacrament to drink from the waters of life. He who has risen suffered as we suffer."

Referring to a local AIDS billboard showing two clasped hands, he said: "The clasped hands are a reminder of the hand of God grasping us and holding us in his embrace."

Later, people prayed for 36 sick and dying parishioners whose names were read. They included two men, now sick with AIDS, who in previous years were dedicated volunteers at the church, organizing the Forty Hours ritual as well as filling Christmas baskets for people with AIDS.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK

After the recessional, Jeff Davis, this year's chairman of the devotion, said he was particularly moved by attendance at Saturday's sacrament for the anointing of the sick. More than 200 people sick with AIDS were anointed with oil during the ceremony by the Rev. Randy Calvo, who is in residence at the church.

During the Forty Hours Devotion, relays of parishioners prayed day and night through the weekend before the consecrated communion wafer, which is for Catholics the body of Christ, held in a ritual silver vessel. The Forty Hours ritual is believed to have been performed first in Milan in 1539, during the threat of invasion by the Ottoman Turks, and was later held during plagues and times of social upheaval.

It fell out of use in the late 1960s, after the Second Vatican Council encouraged modernizing and streamlining many Catholic rituals, and was revived at Most Holy Redeemer three years after the start of the AIDS epidemic. It was welcomed by parishioners, many of whom had joined the church since the mid-1980s, when its then-pastor, the Rev. Tony McGuire, formed a Gay and Lesbian Outreach Committee.

Since then, the church has become known as a place where older, longtime parishioners have formed friendly alliances with gay newcomers.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1991. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1991. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .