MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Prayer — Novenas

Novena to St. Teresa of Ávila

Our Favorite Novenas, 1897

Nine days before 15 October to the reformer of Carmel and first woman Doctor of the Church — with the Ten Wednesdays, which remember ten particular graces she received, the seraph's dart among them.

The Prayer · Multiple Versions
English · Original
PRAYER (each day)
O glorious St. Teresa, most pure virgin, by that extraordinary favour which Almighty God conferred on thee in preserving thee from the snares of the devil during thy stay in this life, I most humbly beseech thee to obtain for me by thy prayers the grace of doing true and solid penance for all my sins, and of never offending the Divine Majesty during the remainder of my life, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

O blessed Teresa, faithful teacher of the art of loving God above all things, by that abundance of celestial light with which His divine majesty filled thy happy mind, obtain for us through thy powerful intercession that we may imitate thy virtues. Pray for us, I beseech thee, O glorious Teresa; and as thou hadst a sincere love for Jesus, and Jesus always loved thee, obtain for us the incomparable advantage of living faithful to Jesus and of dying in His divine love.

Obtain for me also, great saint, (name your request). Teresa of Jesus, hear and help us.

CLOSING PRAYER
O seraphic and admirable St. Teresa, blessed by the Lord with an abundance of celestial light, obtain, I beseech thee, through thy powerful intercession, the grace for me that I may turn away my love from earthly vanity and direct it wholly to the heart of thy divine Master, deriving from it strength and perseverance to imitate the virtues which thou didst practise during life.

O blessed Teresa, faithful teacher of the art of loving God above all things, teach me humility, obedience, purity, and a fervent zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. St. Teresa, gifted with ecstatic contemplation, pray for me, that I may regulate my life in conformity with the precepts of my holy religion, and after a happy death may be admitted to behold our Lord face to face and to enjoy eternal happiness. Amen.
The Ten Wednesdays
Ten consecutive Wednesdays are dedicated to her, in memory and thanksgiving for ten favours she received from heaven:

1. The apparitions of our Lord in the various states of His sacred Passion, to stimulate her zeal to endure the trials of life patiently.
2. The vision of the four precious stones in the cross of her rosary beads.
3. The manifestation of the Blessed Trinity in the interior of her soul.
4. The contemplation of the glorious humanity of Jesus Christ.
5. The sweetness of the precious Blood of Jesus, which she tasted in holy Communion.
6. The bounty of Mary, who covered the saint with her mantle.
7. The apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, who clothed her in a robe of brilliant whiteness.
8. The transfixion of her heart by the seraph's dart.
9. The assistance she received from the holy apostles Sts. Peter and Paul in her needs.
10. Her elevation to the rank of spouse of Jesus Christ.

Each Wednesday is sanctified by holy Communion, prayer, and acts of mortification, meditating especially on the grace one desires to receive through her intercession.
When the Prayer is Said

6–14 October before her feast; on ten consecutive Wednesdays; for a life of prayer; in Carmel.

History & Background

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada spent twenty years in a comfortable convent at Ávila being, by her own account, a mediocre nun, and then at forty had the conversion that produced the Interior Castle, seventeen reformed foundations, and a running quarrel with half the authorities in Spain. She wrote about prayer the way a cartographer writes about country she has walked: 'Mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation held alone with Him whom we know loves us.' Paul VI made her the first woman Doctor of the Church in 1970.

The novena is made 6–14 October, before her feast on the 15th. The date is worth a footnote: she died on the night of 4 October 1582, and the next morning was 15 October, because Spain adopted the Gregorian calendar that week and ten days were struck out of the year.

The Ten Wednesdays are a separate and older practice, remembering ten favours recorded in her Life. They are listed here as the manual gives them; her own 'Nada te turbe' is on this site under the prayers of the saints.

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.

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