Catholic novena
Novena to St. Charles Borromeo
Quick answer
At a glance
Prayer source
Traditional saint novena
F. X. Lasance, Prayer-book for Religious, 1904, Novena to St. Charles Borromeo. Primary 1904 page witness: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa_0.djvu/1104. Source printed pp. 1096. This edition repeats the complete printed prayer form; the nine-day guide and optional date preparation are editorial. The opening invocation O is restored from the printed page.
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- A traditional St. Charles Borromeo novena centered on piety, ecclesiastical fidelity, discipline, resignation, and preparation for death.
- Often prayed for
- Love of piety, fidelity to ecclesiastical duties, exact observance, resignation in suffering, and a holy death.
- Suggested start
- October 26, 2026. You may also begin this novena at any time.
- Length
- 9 days
- Feast
- November 4 (1962 Roman calendar)
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About This Novena
The older Borromean devotion highlights the saint less as an administrator than as a model of exact ecclesiastical discipline, practical charity, and serene preparation for death in the midst of active service.
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for bishops, discipline, charity, and a holy death.
Usual timing
October 26 through November 3, or any nine consecutive days
Day 1 of 9
The same principal prayer is used each day. Choose the day you are on, pray the main prayer, and mark the day complete when you finish.
Private intention
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Pray Day 1 of 9
Day 1: Love of Religious Exercises
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Pray the principal prayer for this day of the novena.
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Principal Prayer for Each Day
Pray this same prayer each day for all 9 days.
Repeated prayer cue
1. O glorious St. Charles, by the joy which you found from tender infancy in the practices of piety, obtain for me, I pray, a constant and tender affection for all religious exercises. Glory be, etc.
2. O glorious St. Charles, model for ecclesiastics, by your generous detachment from all worldly concerns and by your zeal for the glory of God, and the relief of the poor, obtain for me, I pray, the grace to apply myself, like you, faithfully to all the duties which belong to the holy state to which it has pleased God to call me. Glory be, etc.
3. O glorious St. Charles, whose care it was to observe in the most minute details and most perfectly the discipline of holy Church, obtain for me, I pray, the grace ever to love tenderly and observe exactly our holy Rule and Customs.
4. O glorious St. Charles, who always prepared for death by the sanctity of your life, and accepted it with holy joy when it overtook you in the midst of your most glorious career: obtain for me, I pray, the grace always to accept, with Christian resignation, all that is painful to the senses which it shall please the Lord to send me; and that my life may be a continual preparation for death; so that when I arrive at my great passage, instead of feeling the terror of the sinner, I may enjoy the peace of the just, a prelude to eternal blessedness with the elect in Heaven. Glory be, etc.
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Day checklist
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About this devotion
Which edition is shown here?
A traditional St. Charles Borromeo novena centered on piety, ecclesiastical fidelity, discipline, resignation, and preparation for death.
Related devotion
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About this novena
Description
The older Borromean devotion highlights the saint less as an administrator than as a model of exact ecclesiastical discipline, practical charity, and serene preparation for death in the midst of active service.
Traditionally invoked as patron of
bishops, discipline, charity, a holy death
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for bishops, discipline, charity, and a holy death.
Usual timing
October 26 through November 3, or any nine consecutive days
Saint Charles Borromeo, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo