VIDEO: Rome's Eucharistic center Domus Australia holds 40-hours adoration
“It is a living sanctuary where the Eucharist is at the centre, Mary is honoured under her title of Our Lady of Pompeii, and the beauty of sacred music and art lifts hearts to God.”
(PerMariam) — Rome’s Domus Australia chapel “exists to draw people to Jesus Christ through Mary, offering pilgrims and residents a spiritual home in the Eternal City.”
Part of that mission involves fostering devotion to the Blessed Sacrament through adoration, along with that of the Holy Rosary.
This weekend saw the second iteration of the 40-hours devotion, as Catholics throughout Rome gathered at the church to pray day and night in front of the monstrance, from Saturday through till Monday evening.
Adoration is offered daily at the church, as the Rector – Father Joseph Hamilton – is keen to foster the development of the Domus as a hub of reverence and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. “The Eucharist is the heart of this house, and the source of its renewal.”
Footage of the solemn Benediction closing the 40-hours is found below.
The 40-hours devotion is thus particularly apt for such a location, given the specific aim of the church to cultivate reverence for God through Eucharistic and Marian devotion.
The church was renovated under the direction of Cardinal George Pell and opened by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011, providing a spiritual home not just for Australian pilgrims but for the English-speaking diaspora resident in the city.
“It is a living sanctuary where the Eucharist is at the centre, Mary is honoured under her title of Our Lady of Pompeii, and the beauty of sacred music and art lifts hearts to God,” the rector writes.
Demonstrating the fruit of the lively spiritual life found at the Domus Australia, it is by no means uncommon to encounter bishops or cardinals from across the world presiding over the liturgy here – with this weekend being no exception.
The 40-hours devotion closing on Australia Day, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of the Archdiocese of Sydney offered the solemn Mass closing the weekend’s adoration, attended also by diplomats accredited to the Holy See. Last year it had been Cardinal Gerhard Müller who led proceedings.
The Domus Australia also has a distinctly Marian aspect to its life: namely the image of Our Lady of Pompeii, Queen of the Holy Rosary. Immensely popular as a devotion in Italy, thanks in no small part to the ministry of recently canonized Saint Bartolo Longo, the Domus’s own devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii was marked by another papal visit in October, when Pope Leo XIV blessed the recently restored image.
This Marian focus of the Domus Australia “is a living invitation: to take up the Rosary, to entrust joys and sorrows to Mary, and to discover anew that she always leads us to her Son, Jesus Christ.”
“In her gaze and under her mantle, this chapel becomes not only Australia’s spiritual home in Rome, but a Marian sanctuary for all who seek consolation, renewal, and peace,” the rector writes.
The sacred art and music and the altar are very beautiful and the priests are very reverential. Thank you for sharing the pictures and video.