MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Prayer — Novenas

All Prayers

Novena to St. Ignatius of Loyola

Our Favorite Novenas, 1897; the Ten Sundays indulgenced by Clement XIII, 27 January 1767

Nine days before 31 July, made the way he taught: put yourself in God's presence first, ask for nothing but what is to His greater glory and the good of your soul, and repeat the Anima Christi through the day.

The Prayer
English · Original
Before beginning, make an act of the presence of God, and disengage your mind as far as possible from all worldly concerns and distractions; then, most profoundly humbling yourself, lift up your heart to God in adoration of the Most Blessed Trinity and, making the sign of the cross, say:

Lord God of heaven and earth, who art the beginning and end of all created things! behold me in Thy divine presence, who am nothing but a wretched, miserable sinner; yet, O eternal Lord! I am still the work of Thy sacred hands — not, indeed, made wretched by Thee, but brought to this wretchedness and misery through the malice of the devil, the deceitful vanities of the world, and the allurements of the flesh. This deplorable state of sin has deprived me of those great favours Thy mercy had prepared for the support of those who should love and fear Thee. And just it is, O great God! that Thou shouldst withhold from me whatever Thou didst intend for my support and comfort. This, O Lord! I acknowledge and confess.

But wretched and miserable as I am, I still see Thy bleeding wounds, O dearest Redeemer! pleading for me, and turning from my guilty soul the wrath of Thy eternal Father. Prostrated, therefore, at the foot of Thy cross, O bountiful Redeemer! I offer to Thee a heart filled with sorrow and repentance for the many grievous sins of my past life. Let my heart love Thee, and detest all sin and infidelity for the love of Thee. Grant me this favour at present, O my God, and extend it to the hour of my death. Amen.

O glorious St. Ignatius! chosen in the designs of God from eternity to be the founder of His much-beloved society and the father of innumerable saints, vouchsafe to pray for me, and guide my petition in this novena, that I may ask nothing but what is to the greater honour and glory of Almighty God and the good of my soul; at least obtain for me, and for all now walking in ignorance and the shades of death, light and salvation through the sacred wounds of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Here say three times Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father, in honour of the Blessed Trinity. Then:

Most holy and undivided Trinity! Thee I adore with all the powers and affections of my soul; in Thee I acknowledge my God, my Creator, my Lord, my Redeemer, the source of all pious desires, heavenly love, and happiness. Blessed be the eternal Father, who has made choice of His faithful servant Ignatius as a fit instrument to propagate His glory and spread the knowledge of divine mysteries through the whole world. Blessed be God the Son, who was pleased to communicate to Ignatius the fruit and virtue of His passion and cross. Blessed be the Holy Ghost, who did impart to the heart of Ignatius that divine love and heroic fortitude by which he overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil. Most Sacred Trinity! be Thou adored and thanked by all Thy creatures, both in heaven and on earth, for all eternity. Amen.

O blessed Ignatius! by those great and singular favours which it has pleased God in His bounty to bestow on thee, by thy zeal and desire for the salvation of thy neighbour, permit thy humble client to beg thy powerful assistance. It is to thee I owe in part the knowledge of God and my Christian duty. O most affectionate father! permit not that the effect of thy prayers and toils should cease in our regard. I also beseech thee to obtain for me that particular favour which I ask in this novena, if it be for the glory of God and the good of my soul. Amen.

(Here mention the particular favour desired.)

In order to render the affections of your heart more like to those of St. Ignatius, make use of the following aspirations frequently during the nine days' devotion:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Permit me not to be separated from Thee. From the malignant enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me, and bid me to come to Thee, that, with Thy saints, I may praise Thee forever and ever. Amen.

Conclude with the commemoration of the saint:
Well done, thou good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter into the joy of thy Lord.
V. Our Lord hath guided the just man by right ways.
R. And hath showed him the kingdom of God.
When the Prayer is Said

22–30 July before the feast; on ten consecutive Sundays; before a retreat or the Spiritual Exercises; for a discernment.

History & Background

Ignatius of Loyola was a soldier until a French cannonball shattered his leg at Pamplona in 1521 and a convalescence with nothing to read but the life of Christ and the lives of the saints turned him inside out. The Spiritual Exercises came out of the cave at Manresa, the Society of Jesus was approved in 1540, and by his death in 1556 his men were in India, Brazil, Japan and the courts of Europe.

This novena is built on his own method. It does not begin with the petition; it begins with an act of the presence of God and the disengaging of the mind from 'all worldly concerns and distractions', because Ignatius held that a soul asks rightly only after it has remembered whom it is asking. Then it asks him to 'guide my petition in this novena, that I may ask nothing but what is to the greater honour and glory of Almighty God and the good of my soul' — the Ignatian indifference, written into the shape of the prayer.

The aspirations given for the nine days are the Anima Christi, the prayer Ignatius set at the head of the Exercises and prayed all his life, which is on this site as its own prayer. Clement XIII in 1767, and Gregory XVI in 1841 for places without a Jesuit church, attached a plenary indulgence to each of ten consecutive Sundays kept in his honour. The novena runs from 22 to 30 July.

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.

Indulgences Attached

A plenary indulgence on each of ten consecutive Sundays kept in his honour — Clement XIII, 27 January 1767; extended to parish churches where there is no Jesuit church by Gregory XVI, 10 December 1841 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 342).

Related Saints
St. Ignatius of Loyola
October 23, 1491, Loyola Castle, Basque Country – July 31, 1556, Rome
All Prayers