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1765 Regina Begin the Thirty Days

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Nine days of asking, kept faithfully.

Thirteen novenas for the needs women carry. Each day opens on its own day, the nine can be timed to end on the feast, and this page remembers where you are.

What a novena is

A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention. Its pattern is the first one: after the Ascension, the Apostles waited in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, and "all these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14, Douay-Rheims). On the tenth day came Pentecost. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII decreed that a novena be kept before Pentecost in every parish church (Divinum Illud Munus).

A novena is a pious exercise, one of the Church's old forms of popular devotion and not part of her liturgy (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 7 and 189): a good custom, never an obligation, and never a bargain. The nine days train the heart to keep asking and to trust the Father with the answer: "Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Luke 11:9).

How this tool keeps the days

  • One day at a time. Day one on the first day, day two on the next. Never two days in one day, and never a day before its date.
  • Timed to the feast. Choose a novena and the tool finds the day to begin so that the ninth day falls on the eve of the feast (or on the feast itself, if you prefer), using the Church's calendar for the United States, movable feasts and transfers included.
  • If you miss a day. Prayed yesterday but forgot to mark it? Log it. Missed it? You may make it up the next day, once in each novena, and the ninth day falls a day later. Miss again and the novena is begun anew. This is our custom, so nine days stay nine days; it is not a law of the Church, and no prayer you prayed is lost.
  • Your record. The days you prayed, a streak of days in a row, and the novenas you finished, with their dates.
  • Print. The whole novena, your own nine-day card with its dates, or the year's calendar of novenas timed to their feasts.
  • A reminder in your words. This page cannot send notifications. You can write when you mean to pray, and it is shown on your novena each time you open it.

The thirteen novenas

  • St. Monica, for a child or a husband far from the faith. Memorial August 27; begin August 18.
  • St. Anne, for marriages, mothers and grandmothers. Memorial July 26; begin July 17.
  • St. Gerard Majella, for conception, pregnancy and a safe delivery. October 16 (a household devotion); begin October 7.
  • St. Thérèse of Lisieux, for trust when you feel too small for your life. Memorial October 1; begin September 22.
  • Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, for marriages and the holiness of an ordinary house. July 12 (a household devotion); begin July 3.
  • St. Gianna Beretta Molla, for a hard pregnancy and a heavy medical cross. April 28 (a household devotion); begin April 19.
  • The Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the peace of your home. The Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.
  • Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, for the tangled thing you cannot fix. A popular devotion with no feast: begin any day.
  • St. Joseph, for your husband, your father and the men of your house. Solemnity March 19; begin March 10.
  • Our Lady of Sorrows, for a sorrow you cannot carry alone. Memorial September 15; begin September 6.
  • The Immaculate Conception, for purity of heart. Solemnity December 8; the nine days run November 29 to December 7.
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe, for the children you carry. Feast December 12; the nine days run December 3 to December 11.
  • The Holy Spirit, for every gift of the Spirit. From the Friday forty days after Easter (the day after Ascension Thursday, even where your diocese keeps the Ascension on the following Sunday) to the eve of Pentecost.

The tool shows the exact dates for this year and the next, including the years a feast is moved, or gives way to a Sunday or a greater feast and is not kept at Mass.

What is traditional and what is ours

Scripture is quoted from the Douay-Rheims translation. Pope Leo XIII's prayer to St. Joseph, "Come, Holy Spirit", the invocation of the Miraculous Medal, the Memorare, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be are given in their traditional English with their sources. The other novena prayers were written for 1765 Regina and are labelled "A prayer composed for 1765 Regina" where they appear. The daily reflections were written for 1765 Regina too, and are marked so. The short account of each saint and devotion is in our own words, drawn from the sources listed with that novena.

Your privacy

Your novenas, intentions and reminders are kept in this browser on your own device. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you turn on sync with your Regina Key, which is encrypted on your device before it leaves it. You can export or delete everything on Your data.

Sources

Further reading in the Library: Patron Saints for Mothers: Who to Ask, and Why · Saints for Catholic Women: Eight Lives · Patron Saints of Pregnancy and Childbirth · Praying Through Infertility: A Catholic Guide