Find the participating parishes and all other resources here: https://sttomsbg.org/holythurs...
History
At the close of Holy Thursday services, the Blessed Sacrament is processed to the Altar of Repose, awaiting distribution at Good Friday’s Mass of the Presanctified (no hosts are consecrated at the Friday liturgy). The faithful customarily spend time in silent prayer and adoration before the Altar.
In Rome, following Holy Thursday Masses, pilgrims flock from church to church—continuing a centuries-old tradition of venerating at least seven Altars of Repose. The custom is closely tied to visiting seven major Roman basilicas ( St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, and St. Sebastian).
The practice also persists outside the Holy City, with pilgrims visiting seven local churches on Holy Thursday as unique way to meditate on the Passion as a local community, and encounter how neighboring parishes prepare for and experience Holy Week.
The Seven Churches visitation is a tradition that grew out of this time of prayer and adoration. Catholics remember when Jesus asked his disciples to stay and watch with Him while they were in the garden. This tradition of mindful watching is a sort of pilgrimage to various altars of repose, in different churches that correspond to each of the seven places, or “stations,” that were made by Jesus between the Last Supper in the Upper Room to His crucifixion on the cross:
- Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22: 39-46)
- Jesus bound and taken before Annas (John 18: 19-22)
- Jesus taken before the High Priest, Caiaphas (Matthew 26: 63-65)
- Jesus taken before Pilate (John 18, 35-37)
- Jesus taken before Herod (Luke 23: 8-9; 11)
- Jesus taken before Pilate again (Matthew 27: 22-26)
- Jesus given the crown of thorns and led to his crucifixion (Matthew 27: 27-31)