
Traditional Catholic Novena
Novena to the Most Holy Name of Mary
A traditional Catholic novena to the Most Holy Name of Mary for Marian protection, purity, and help in danger. Traditionally prayed September 3 through September 11.
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About This Novena
This novena is built around one older Catholic instinct: the holy name of Mary is not only beautiful, but powerful in real need. It asks for the grace to remember her name in temptation, in suffering, and especially in the final struggle at death, until love of Jesus and Mary becomes the soul's last word.
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for Marian protection, purity, help in danger, and confidence in Mary.
Usual timing
September 3 through September 11
Day checklist
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Private intention
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Day 1: Unworthy Yet Welcomed
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Begin humbly, admitting your unworthiness, yet trusting that Mary desires your salvation.
Opening Prayer
Pray this same prayer each day after the day's meditation.
O great Mother of God and my Mother Mary, it is true that I am unworthy to name thee; but thou, who lovest me and desirest my salvation, must, notwithstanding the impurity of my tongue, grant that I may always invoke thy most holy and powerful name in my aid, for thy name is the succor of the living, and the salvation of the dying. Ah, most pure Mary, most sweet Mary, grant that henceforth thy name may be the breath of my life. O Lady, delay not to help me when I invoke thee, for in all the temptations which assail me, and in all my wants, I will never cease calling upon thee, and repeating again and again, Mary, Mary. Thus it is that I hope to act during my life, and more particularly at death, that after that last struggle I may eternally praise thy beloved name in heaven, O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Ah, Mary, most amiable Mary, with what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what tenderness, is my soul penetrated in only naming, in only thinking of thee! I thank my Lord and God, who, for my good, has given thee a name so sweet and deserving of love, and at the same time so powerful. But, my sovereign Lady, I am not satisfied with only naming thee, I wish to name thee with love: I desire that my love may every hour remind me to call on thee, so that I may be able to exclaim with St. Bonaventure, "O name of the Mother of God, thou art my love." My own dear Mary, O my beloved Jesus, may your most sweet names reign in my heart, and in all hearts. Grant that I may forget all others to remember, and always invoke, your adorable names alone. Ah! Jesus my Redeemer, and my Mother Mary, when the moment of death comes when I must breathe forth my soul and leave this world, deign, through your merits, to grant that I may then pronounce my last words, and that they may be, "I love thee, O Jesus; I love thee, O Mary; to you do I give my heart and my soul." Amen.
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Related devotion
Keep this novena connected
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Our Lady
The Story of The Most Holy Name of Mary
The Most Holy Name of Mary is a feast of reverence, gratitude, and confidence. The Church does not need to solve every question about the exact Hebrew meaning of Mary's name in order to love it. Names matter because persons matter. The name of Mary became dear to Christians because the Mother herself became dear: the Virgin of Nazareth, the Mother of God, the refuge of sinners, the woman standing beneath the Cross, the Queen assumed into heaven.
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Lives of the Saints
The Holy Name of Mary
Read this saint life from Butler's Lives of the Saints. Feast: September 12.
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Related litany
Litany of Loreto
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About this novena
Description
This novena is built around one older Catholic instinct: the holy name of Mary is not only beautiful, but powerful in real need. It asks for the grace to remember her name in temptation, in suffering, and especially in the final struggle at death, until love of Jesus and Mary becomes the soul's last word.
Traditionally invoked as patron of
Marian protection, purity, help in danger, confidence in Mary
Traditionally prayed for
Often prayed for Marian protection, purity, help in danger, and confidence in Mary.
Usual timing
September 3 through September 11

The Holy Name of Mary, Cristóbal de Villalpando (c. 1690-1700)
