[Question:]{.underline} Can my monthly holy hour for priests, to fulfill the requirements of the Prayer Crusade for priests, be changed to another day?
[Answer]{.underline}: The Prayer Crusade for Priests is an apostolate of the US District of the Society of Saint Pius X. It is the practical application of the special desire of fervent lay Catholics to pray for priestly vocations and for the sanctification of their priests. It is especially motivated by the realization that it is upon the sanctity of its priests that the work of the Society of Saint Pius X for the Church depends more than on anything else.
The members of the Prayer Crusade for priests take on four obligations, which are listed in the Prayer Crusade for Priests booklet, p. 73, available from Angelus Press:
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The recitation of a daily oblation, in which they offer the prayers, actions and sufferings of each day for the sanctification of priests;
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A daily general prayer for all priests, including the Pope;
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A daily particular prayer for the priest assigned;
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The monthly Hour Hour for the sanctification of priests and religious and the increase of priestly and religious vocations.
It is specifically determined that the Holy Hour be done on the First Thursday of the month. The reason for this lies in the request for prayers for priests and vocations, made by Pope Pius XI in 1935 in the magnificent encyclical on priestly virtue and sanctity, published on the 56^th^ anniversary of his own priestly ordination, Ad Catholici sacerdotii. In this encyclical he requested prayers for good and holy priests, pointing out that this is both the easiest and most efficacious means to achieve this goal: “Ask for good and holy priests, and the Lord will not refuse to give them to his Church; throughout the centuries He has always given them, even at those times that seemed les apt for the flowering of priestly vocations; much more, He gave them then in greater abundance…”
The encyclical goes on to promulgate the Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Sovereign High Priest, which Pius XI commanded be added to the Missal and published at the same time as his encyclical. The Sacred Congregation of Rites determined that this Mass would have special privileges as a Third Class Votive Mass, but only on the First Thursday of every month, and then only when devotions for the sanctification of the clergy were performed, which day henceforth became consecrated to prayers and holy hours for priestly vocations. These prescriptions remain in effect in the 1962 Missal. It is for this reason that the rule of the Prayer Crusade for Priests specifically designates the First Thursday of th
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.