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The Novena of St. Philip Neri, by St. John Henry Newman

by St. John Henry Newman

Nine days, 17 to 25 May, written by one saint for another: Newman's novena to the founder of the Oratory he had joined, each day taking one of Philip's virtues and asking bluntly for it, because he has none of it himself.

The Prayer
English · Original
One day and one prayer for each of the nine days, 17–25 May.

MAY 17 — PHILIP'S HUMILITY
Philip, my glorious patron, who didst count as dross the praise, and even the good esteem of men, obtain for me also, from my Lord and Saviour, this fair virtue by thy prayers. How haughty are my thoughts, how contemptuous are my words, how ambitious are my works. Gain for me that low esteem of self with which thou wast gifted; obtain for me a knowledge of my own nothingness, that I may rejoice when I am despised, and ever seek to be great only in the eyes of my God and Judge.

MAY 18 — PHILIP'S DEVOTION
Philip, my glorious Patron, gain for me a portion of that gift which thou hadst so abundantly. Alas! thy heart was burning with love; mine is all frozen towards God, and alive only for creatures. I love the world, which can never make me happy; my highest desire is to be well off here below. O my God, when shall I learn to love nothing else but Thee? Gain for me, O Philip, a pure love, a strong love, and an efficacious love, that, loving God here upon earth, I may enjoy the sight of Him, together with thee and all saints, hereafter in heaven.

MAY 19 — PHILIP'S EXERCISE OF PRAYER
Philip, my holy Patron, teach me by thy example, and gain for me by thy intercessions, to seek my Lord and God at all times and in all places, and to live in His presence and in sacred intercourse with Him. As the children of this world look up to rich men or men in station for the favour which they desire, so may I ever lift up my eyes and hands and heart towards heaven, and betake myself to the Source of all good for those goods which I need. As the children of this world converse with their friends and find their pleasure in them, so may I ever hold communion with Saints and Angels, and with the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of my Lord. Pray with me, O Philip, as thou didst pray with thy penitents here below, and then prayer will become sweet to me, as it did to them.

MAY 20 — PHILIP'S PURITY
Philip, my glorious Patron, who didst ever keep unsullied the white lily of thy purity, with such jealous care that the majesty of this fair virtue beamed from thine eyes, shone in thy hands, and was fragrant in thy breath, obtain for me that gift from the Holy Ghost, that neither the words nor the example of sinners may ever make any impression on my soul. And, since it is by avoiding occasions of sin, by prayer, by keeping myself employed, and by the frequent use of the Sacraments that my dread enemy must be subdued, gain for me the grace to persevere in these necessary observances.

MAY 21 — PHILIP'S TENDERNESS OF HEART
Philip, my glorious Advocate, teach me to look at all I see around me after thy pattern as the creatures of God. Let me never forget that the same God who made me made the whole world, and all men and all animals that are in it. Gain me the grace to love all God's works for God's sake, and all men for the sake of my Lord and Saviour who has redeemed them by the Cross. And especially let me be tender and compassionate and loving towards all Christians, as my brethren in grace. And do thou, who on earth wast so tender to all, be especially tender to us, and feel for us, bear with us in all our troubles, and gain for us from God, with whom thou dwellest in beatific light, all the aids necessary for bringing us safely to Him and to thee.

MAY 22 — PHILIP'S CHEERFULNESS
Philip, my glorious Advocate, who didst ever follow the precepts and example of the Apostle St. Paul in rejoicing always in all things, gain for me the grace of perfect resignation to God's will, of indifference to matters of this world, and a constant sight of Heaven; so that I may never be disappointed at the Divine providences, never desponding, never sad, never fretful; that my countenance may always be open and cheerful, and my words kind and pleasant, as becomes those who, in whatever state of life they are, have the greatest of all goods, the favour of God and the prospect of eternal bliss.

MAY 23 — PHILIP'S PATIENCE
Philip, my holy Advocate, who didst bear persecution and calumny, pain and sickness, with so admirable a patience, gain for me the grace of true fortitude under all the trials of this life. Alas! how do I need patience! I shrink from every small inconvenience; I sicken under every light affliction; I fire up at every trifling contradiction; I fret and am cross at every little suffering of body. Gain for me the grace to enter with hearty good-will into all such crosses as I may receive day by day from my Heavenly Father. Let me imitate thee, as thou didst imitate my Lord and Saviour, that so, as thou hast attained heaven by thy calm endurance of bodily and mental pain, I too may attain the merit of patience, and the reward of life everlasting.

MAY 24 — PHILIP'S CARE FOR THE SALVATION OF SOULS
Philip, my holy Patron, who wast so careful for the souls of thy brethren, and especially of thy own people, when on earth, slack not thy care of them now, when thou art in heaven. Be with us, who are thy children and thy clients; and, with thy greater power with God, and with thy more intimate insight into our needs and our dangers, guide us along the path which leads to God and to thee. Be to us a good father; make our priests blameless and beyond reproach or scandal; make our children obedient, our youth prudent and chaste, our heads of families wise and gentle, our old people cheerful and fervent, and build us up, by thy powerful intercessions, in faith, hope, charity, and all virtues.

MAY 25 — PHILIP'S MIRACULOUS GIFTS
Philip, my holy Patron, the wounds and diseases of my soul are greater than bodily ones, and are beyond thy curing, even with thy supernatural power. I know that my Almighty Lord reserves in His own hands the recovery of the soul from death, and the healing of all its maladies. But thou canst do more for our souls by thy prayers now, my dear Saint, than thou didst for the bodies of those who applied to thee when thou wast upon earth. Pray for me, that the Divine Physician of the soul, who alone reads my heart thoroughly, may cleanse it thoroughly, and that I and all who are dear to me may be cleansed from all our sins; and, since we must die, one and all, that we may die, as thou didst, in the grace and love of God, and with the assurance, like thee, of eternal life.
When the Prayer is Said

17–25 May before the feast of St. Philip; in the Oratories; for cheerfulness, and for anyone who has to deal with the young.

History & Background

Philip Neri came to Rome in 1533, lived as a layman about the streets for seventeen years, and made the conversion of the city his work by the unlikeliest method: conversation. He would stop young men in the street, ask them what they were doing, and say, 'Well, brothers, when shall we begin to do good?' Out of the rooms where they gathered to talk and pray came the Congregation of the Oratory. He was famous for practical jokes, for wearing ridiculous clothes to defeat his own reputation for sanctity, and for a heart that had physically enlarged — two ribs broken outward, the autopsy found — after Pentecost of 1544.

Newman joined the Oratory in 1847, two years after his reception into the Catholic Church, and founded it in England. He wrote this novena in May 1875 and noted at the head of it that he had taken the idea of the subjects and prayers 'from the Raccolta Prayers, before they were in the Raccolta'. Each day gives an unvarnished page of Philip's sayings and doings, and then a prayer that turns on the contrast: 'How haughty are my thoughts, how contemptuous are my words, how ambitious are my works.'

It runs 17 to 25 May, before Philip's feast on the 26th. Newman's own prayers are on this site under the prayers of the saints; his Four Prayers to St. Philip, which he never finished into a second novena, are there too.

A novena is nine consecutive days (or nine consecutive weeks of one fixed day) of the same prayer for the same intention; a day missed breaks it, and it is begun again. Confession and Communion during the nine days, or on the last, were the ordinary conditions for the plenary indulgence.

Related Saints
St. Philip Neri
July 21, 1515, Florence – May 26, 1595, Rome
St. John Henry Newman
February 21, 1801 – August 11, 1890
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