Contact: Mario Bruschi, 917-597-3453

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Padre Pio Prayer Group of Our Lady of Peace Church is pleased to announce that they are celebrating their 40th Anniversary of the All Night Vigil.

The 40th Anniversary celebration is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 5, 2010 from 9:30pm until Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 5:30am. His Excellency, Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, rector of St. Joseph's Seminary in New York, will be the main celebrant for the Vigil Mass at 11pm.

The All Night Vigil begins with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 9:30pm followed by various prayers. Mass begins at 11:00pm. After a coffee break, prayers and adoration continue for the rest of the night and concludes with Mass at 5:30am. Confessions are heard throughout the night and there is an additional coffee break in between.

"40 years is a long time to be having All Night devotion and prayer before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament," says Mario J. Bruschi, who along with the late Fr. Archangel Sica, OFM, founded this All Night Vigil at St. Jean Baptiste Church. "It is such a blessing. We have seen many Catholics come in at all hours of the night to spend a few minutes or even a few hours in prayer. And that is our goal: to inspire people to pay a visit to God and to encourage them to talk to Him, to tell Him their problems and to keep him company throughout the night."

The All Night Vigil is held every First Friday of the month at Our Lady of Peace Church, 237 East 62nd Street, New York, NY.

For more information about this event or to speak with an event manager, please contact (212) 838-6549.