twenty-four hours a day. Similar to the "Perpetual Rosary" in which the Rosary is recited uninterrupted by a changing group of people, this practice gained popularity among Western (or "Roman") Catholics in 19th-century France and has since spread to lay Catholics in parishes across the world. A textbook was produced by a lay Catholic, Susan Taylor, with help from monks and clergy as a "how to set up Perpetual Adoration". During perpetual adoration, a specific person performs adoration for a period of one hour or more, so there is always at least one person who performs adoration during each day and night. However, during Mass the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and is then exposed again after Mass. Early traditions Perpetual adoration of God by psalm and prayer has been a tradition among Christians since ancient times, e.g., in Eastern Christianity since the year 400 when the Acoemetae monks kept up a divine service day and night; and in Western Christianity the monks at the monastery of Agaunum performed perpetual prayers since its formation in 522 by King Sigismund. The first recorded instance of perpetual adoration formally began in Avignon, France, on 11 September 1226. To celebrate and give thanks for the victory over the Albigensians in the Siege of Avignon, King Louis VIII asked that the sacrament be placed on display at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The overwhelming number of adorers brought the local bishop, Pierre de Corbie, to suggest that the exposition be continued indefinitely. With the permission of Pope Honorius III, the idea was ratified and the adoration continued there practically uninterrupted until the chaos of the French Revolution halted it from 1792. On 25 March 1654 Mother Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament formed a Benedictine society formed for that purpose. Mother Mechtilde pioneered perpetual adoration of the Eucharist on request of Père Picotte. Père Picotte was the confessor of Anne of Austria who asked him for a vow for the deliverance of France from war and the order was formed in response to that vow. A small house was bought on Rue Feron in Paris and a Benedictine convent, founded for this purpose, began perpetual adoration there on 25 March 1654, one or more nuns kneeling in front of the altar in adoration each hour of the day and night. The simple Benedictine rules with which the nuns started were amended and formal approval for