MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Prayer — Prayers of the Saints

Prayers to St. Philip Neri for Every Day of the Week

Indulgenced by Pius IX, 17 May 1852

Seven prayers for seven days and seven virtues — humility, patience, purity, the love of God, the love of neighbour, detachment, and perseverance — each one a blunt confession of not having it.

The Prayer
English · Original
Each is followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

SUNDAY — for the virtue of Humility
St. Philip, my glorious patron, who on earth didst so love humility as to count the praise and even the good esteem of men as dross; obtain for me also this virtue by thy prayers. Thou knowest how haughty I am in my thoughts, how contemptuous in my words, how ambitious in my works. Ask for me humility of heart, that my mind may be freed from all pride, and impressed with the same low esteem of self which thou hadst of thyself, counting thyself the worst of all men, and for that reason rejoicing when thou didst suffer contempt, and seeking out for thyself occasions of enduring it. Great saint, obtain for me a truly humble heart and the knowledge of my own nothingness; that I may rejoice when I am despised, and chafe not when others are preferred before me; that I may never be vain when I am praised, but may ever seek only to be great in the eyes of God, desiring to receive from Him alone all my exaltation.

MONDAY — for the virtue of Patience
St. Philip, my patron Saint, whose heart was ever so constant in time of trouble, and whose spirit was so loving under suffering that, when persecuted by the jealous, or calumniated by the wicked who thought to discredit thy sanctity, or when tried by God with many long painful infirmities, thou didst always bear thy trials with wonderful tranquillity of heart and mind; pray for me that I may have a spirit of true courage in every adversity. Alas, how much I stand in need of patience! I shrink from every little trouble; I sicken under every light affliction; I fire up at and resent every trifling contradiction; never setting myself to learn that the road to Paradise lies amidst the thorns of tribulation. Yet was this the path our Divine Master deigned to tread, and this too, my saintly patron, was thy path also. Obtain for me, then, this courage, that with good hearty will I may embrace the crosses which every day I receive from God, and bear them all with the same endurance and ready will which thou didst manifest on earth.

TUESDAY — for the virtue of Purity
St. Philip, who didst ever keep unsullied the lily of purity, so that the glory of this fair virtue dwelt in thy eyes, shone forth from thy hands, and cast its fragrance over thy whole body; obtain for me from the Holy Spirit of God so true a love for that virtue that neither the words nor bad examples of sinners may ever make any impression upon my soul. Never permit me in any way to lose that lovely virtue; and since avoidance of occasions, prayer, labour, humility, mortification of the senses, frequent use of the Sacraments, were the arms with which thou didst conquer the flesh, which is our worst enemy, so do thou obtain for me grace to use the same arms to vanquish the same foe.

WEDNESDAY — to obtain the Love of God
St. Philip, I am filled with wonder at the great miracle which was wrought in thee by the Holy Spirit when He poured into thy heart such a flood of heavenly charity that, in order to contain it, two of thy ribs were broken by the power of Divine love; and I am confounded when I compare thy heart with my own. I see thy heart all burning with love, and mine all frozen and taken up with creatures. I love the world, which allures me and can never make me happy; I love the flesh, which ever wears me with its cares and can never render me immortal; I love riches, which I can enjoy but for a moment. Oh, when shall I learn of thee to love nothing but God, my incomprehensible and only Good? Help me, then, blessed patron, that by thy intercession I may begin at once: obtain for me an efficacious love, manifesting itself by works; a pure love, making me love God most perfectly; a strong love, enabling me to surmount all obstacles hindering my union with God in life, that so I may be wholly united to Him for ever after my death.

THURSDAY — to obtain the Love of our Neighbour
Glorious Saint, who didst devote thyself wholly to the good of thy neighbour, thinking well of all, sympathizing with all, helping all; who throughout thy whole life didst ever try to secure the salvation of all, never shrinking from labour or trouble, keeping for thyself no time or comfort, that thou mightest win all hearts to God; pray for me, that, together with the pardon of all my sins, I may have charity for my neighbour, and be henceforth more compassionate to him in his necessities; and obtain for me grace that I may love every man with pure unselfish love as my own brother, succouring each one, if I am unable to do it with temporal good, at least with prayers and good advice. And teach me too, on every occasion, to defend the honour of my neighbour, and never to say to him a hurtful or displeasing word; but ever to maintain, even with my enemies, sweetness of spirit like thy own, whereby thou didst triumph over thy persecutors.

FRIDAY — to obtain Detachment from Temporal Goods
Great Saint, who didst prefer a poor and austere life to the comforts of thy home, despising the honour and glory of thy station; obtain for me grace ever to keep my heart detached from the transitory goods of this life. St. Philip, whose desire it ever was to become so poor as one day to beg thy bread, and not to find the charitable hand to offer thee a crumb wherewith to support life; ask of God for me such love of poverty that I may turn all my thoughts to goods which never fail. St. Philip, who didst prefer to live unknown to promotion to the highest honours of the Holy Church; intercede for me that I may never seek after dignities, but always content myself with that state where God has set me. My heart is too anxious for the empty fleeting things of this earth, but do thou obtain for me that the great lesson contained in the words 'And then?' — whence followed so many wonderful conversions — may ever be deeply impressed upon my soul; that, despising the nothingness of earth, God alone may reign sole object of my affections and my thoughts.

SATURDAY — to obtain Perseverance in Good Works
St. Philip, my holy patron, who, ever constant in good works and full of merit, didst receive from the Most High God the crown of glory in reward of all thy labours, obtain for me grace never to weary in His service. St. Philip, who didst recompense those who loved thee by acquiring for them the gift of perseverance in good, ask of God this gift for me; stand by me, dear father, at the last moment of my life, and pray for me that I may depart this life strengthened with the grace of the Holy Sacraments. Meanwhile, intercede for me, that I may do penance for my sins, and deplore them bitterly all my days. St. Philip, who from on high beholdest all my miseries, and the chains which yet bind me to my sins and to this earth; pray for me that I may be liberated from them, and be constantly devoted to my God. Obtain for me an ardent desire to co-operate in my own salvation, and unshaken firmness in the good which I have begun; that so, by thy intercession, I may deserve to be for ever in thy company in an eternity of bliss.
When the Prayer is Said

One each day of the week; on 26 May; in the Oratories.

History & Background

Philip Neri is the saint who is funny. He met the cult of his own holiness by shaving off half his beard, by reading joke-books in choir, and by sending a penitent who wanted a hair shirt to walk through Rome wearing it on the outside. 'A cheerful heart', he said, 'is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.' He also wept at Mass, levitated in front of witnesses, and read hearts so accurately that people confessed before he asked.

These seven prayers, one for each day of the week, do not flatter the one saying them. Monday: 'I shrink from every little trouble; I sicken under every light affliction; I fire up at and resent every trifling contradiction.' Wednesday: 'I see thy heart all burning with love, and mine all frozen and taken up with creatures.' Each day names a virtue Philip had and the failure that answers it.

Pius IX indulgenced them in 1852. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910. Newman's own novena to Philip is on this site among the novenas.

Indulgences Attached

Fifty days, once a day — Pius IX, 17 May 1852 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 344).

All Prayers