March 4 to 12
Pray the novena →Francis Xavier preached from India to Japan and died in sight of China in 1552. The Novena of Grace runs March 4 to 12, ending on the anniversary of his canonization.
March 12
Missions
Any request
In 1633 the Jesuit Marcello Mastrilli, near death after an accident in Naples, recovered and said St. Francis Xavier had appeared to him and promised graces to anyone who made a nine-day novena in his honor. Mastrilli went to Japan as a missionary and was martyred there in 1637. The prayer in the Raccolta was indulgenced by Pius X in 1904.
Francis Xavier was canonized on March 12, 1622, together with Ignatius of Loyola.
His right forearm is kept in the Gesù in Rome.
He died on Shangchuan Island, waiting for a boat into mainland China.
A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1–2). Pray this each day:
Day 1. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 2. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 3. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 4. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 5. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 6. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 7. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 8. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
Day 9. Great St. Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with thee I reverently adore the divine Majesty; and since I specially rejoice in the singular gifts of grace, bestowed on thee in life, and of glory after death, I give thanks to God, and beg of thee, with all the affections of my heart, that by thy powerful intercession thou mayest obtain for me above all things the grace to live a holy life and die a holy death. Moreover, I beg of thee to obtain for me (here insert some special spiritual or temporal favour); but if what I ask does not tend to the glory of God and the greater good of my soul, do thou, I beseech thee, obtain for me what will more certainly attain these ends. Amen.
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Novena of Grace's story, and a nudge to keep going.
[Affiliate placeholder: Catholic Company Novena of Grace to St. Francis Xavier medal]
Image: Peter Paul Rubens, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Prayer to St. Francis Xavier (no. 390), The Raccolta, or Collection of Indulgenced Prayers (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger, 1910), public domain.
