Traditional Catholic Novena
Novena for the Festival of the Visitation
A traditional Catholic novena for the Festival of the Visitation with prayers for humility and charity. Traditionally prayed June 23 through July 2, or any time.
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About This Novena
The older Visitation devotion reads the Gospel scene as a school of virtues: purity of intention, humility, joy, charity, and detachment. Each petition takes one facet of Our Lady’s journey to Elizabeth and turns it into a practical grace for Christian life.
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for humility, charity, purity of intention, and detachment.
Usual timing
June 23 through July 2, or any time
Day checklist
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Private intention
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Day 1: Purity of Intention
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Repeated prayer cue
O Mary! by that purity of intention through which you quitted your home and proceeded to visit your cousin Elizabeth: obtain for us, we pray, the grace of seeking, simply, in all that we do, the sole glory of God. Hail Mary, etc.
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Nine Petitions for the Nine Days
Pray this same prayer each day after the day's meditation.
Repeated prayer cue
1. O Mary! by that purity of intention through which you quitted your home and proceeded to visit your cousin Elizabeth: obtain for us, we pray, the grace of seeking, simply, in all that we do, the sole glory of God. Hail Mary, etc.
2. By that care with which you journeyed to the mountains of Judea; obtain for us, we pray, the grace to walk continually in the way of holiness, and that we may never be driven back by any obstacles which our enemies may oppose against us. Hail Mary, etc.
3. By the profound humility which made you, O Mary! the first to salute your cousin Elizabeth; obtain for us, we pray, the grace to turn to our profit whatever occasions may be offered us for the practice of this virtue, so beautiful and so necessary for our salvation. Hail Mary, etc.
4. By that extreme joy which you infused into the soul of Elizabeth when you tenderly embraced her; obtain for us, we pray, the grace to continue until death in the profession of our vows and in the exercise of piety and charity, that we may attain to the fulness of heavenly happiness. Hail Mary, etc.
Repeated prayer cue
5. By that extraordinary favor which you, O Mary! obtained for John, that he should be sanctified in his mother’s womb before he saw the light; obtain for us, we pray, the grace of preserving ourselves free from all stain till death. Hail Mary, etc.
6. By the most humble confession which you made, O Mary! of that marvelous work which almighty God had performed in you, by which you became the object of the benediction to all mankind; obtain for us the grace always to acknowledge the blessings which we receive from the Lord, and to employ them to His honor and glory. Hail Mary, etc.
Repeated prayer cue
7. By that ardent charity which you, O Mary! practiced during the three months in which you dwelt in the house of Elizabeth; obtain for us, we pray, the grace to be always ready to assist with affection all the necessities of our neighbors. Hail Mary, etc.
Repeated prayer cue
8. By the model which you, O Mary! exhibited of every virtue in your daily intercourse with your relations, Elizabeth, and her holy spouse, Zacharias; obtain for us, we pray, that we may have grace to give continual edification to our neighbors by all our words and actions. Hail Mary, etc.
9. By that admirable detachment from your nearest relatives, O Mary! which you exhibited when, having completed all the duties which you had undertaken in the house of Elizabeth, you returned immediately to your home in Nazareth; obtain for us, we pray, that we may be enabled always to live so detached from the things of the world as never to mingle in the affairs of men, except when summoned by necessity or charity, that our hearts may be fixed on God alone, from Whom we hope for peace in this life, and eternal blessedness in the kingdom of Heaven. Hail Mary, etc.
Related devotion
Keep this novena connected
Move naturally from this novena into the nearest saint life or traditional litany in the library.
Our Lady
The Story of The Visitation
The Visitation begins in haste. After the Annunciation, Mary goes into the hill country to the house of Zachary and Elizabeth. She carries the Word made flesh, but she does not turn inward in self-importance. She goes to serve. Elizabeth is old, pregnant, and surrounded by the wonder of a child given beyond nature. Mary is young, newly overshadowed by the Holy Ghost, and carrying the greater wonder. When the two women meet, the hidden Christ makes Himself known through joy: John leaps in Elizabeth's womb.
Read the full story
Lives of the Saints
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Read this saint life from Butler's Lives of the Saints. Feast: July 2.
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About this novena
Description
The older Visitation devotion reads the Gospel scene as a school of virtues: purity of intention, humility, joy, charity, and detachment. Each petition takes one facet of Our Lady’s journey to Elizabeth and turns it into a practical grace for Christian life.
Traditionally invoked as patron of
humility, charity, purity of intention, detachment
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for humility, charity, purity of intention, and detachment.
Usual timing
June 23 through July 2, or any time
Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Peter Paul Rubens