Novena of Grace 4th - 12th March
PRAYERS FOR THE NOVENA
Prayer to Saint Francis Xavier
O most kind and loving Saint, in union with you I adore the Divine Majesty. The remembrance of the favours with which God blessed you during life, and of your glory after death, fills me with joy; and I unite with you in offering to Him my humble tribute of thanksgiving and of praise. I implore of you to secure for me, through your powerful intercession the all important blessing of living and dying in the state of grace. I also beseech of you to secure for me the special favor I ask in this novena.
(Here you may mention the favour you wish to obtain),but if what I ask is not for the glory of God or for the good of my soul, obtain for me what is most conductive to both. Amen
Let us Pray
O God, who was pleased to gather unto your Church the peoples of the East by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis, mercifully grant that we, who honor his glorious merits, may also imitate the example of his virtues, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father)
Origin of this Novena
A Novena to Francis Xavier is mentioned for the first time in the Process of his Canonisation; the place was Goa, India and the year was 1615. A boy, a cripple from birth, was cured after making this Novena. Public devotion to the Saint was greatly increased after his beatification in 1619 and his canonisation in 1622. The cure of Father Marcello Mastrilli added to the belief in the intercessory powers of this Saint.
This Father later went on the mission to India where he was martyred. In his time he encouraged individuals to prepare for the 12th March, (the anniversary of the day on which in 1622, Francis Xavier ws declared a Saint) by a day of recollection and prayer.
There is also evidence that Fr. Mastrilli was promised by St. Francis Xavier that all who would make the Novena from 4th to 12th March would obtain many graces and it is from this promise that this novena takes its name, The Novena of Grace.
The first public Novena of Grace was held at Naples. It was first celebrated in Ireland in 1972 in Mary’s Lane Chapel in St. Michan’s Parish Dublin.
Hymn of St. Francis Xavier:
My God, I love Thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby;
Nor yet since they who love Thee not, Must burn eternally.
E'en so I love Thee, and will love, And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God, And my eternal King.
Solely because Thou art my God, And my eternal King.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me Upon the Cross embrace,
For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace,
E'en so I love Thee ….