Novena to Saint Philomena

Updated : Sat 13 Nov 2021 AM (UTC +1)

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Daily prayers for the Novena

Deign to pray for me during this novena in your honor. You know what I hope for from your intercession, (specify here, in the terms you wish, the favour you desire). Saint Philomena, in whom the holy Curé of Ars placed all his trust, I too trust you!

Saint Philomena, virgin and martyr, pray for us.

Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be to the Father...

Day One: By the thought, O holy Philomena, I descend into that Roman catacomb where your sacred remains have been buried for centuries. I venerate these relics of a Virgin martyr from the early days of the Church, then I read on the three bricks that closed your tomb this sweet inscription: PAXTE CUM FI LUMENA! PEACE BE WITH YOU DAUGHTER OF LIGHT. Saint Philomena, your name means Beloved. Yes, in truth, your early virtues, your virginal purity, your courage in sacrifice have earned you to be here on earth, even before being in Heaven, one of those souls whom Jesus loved in a special way. And now, after your bloody immolation, you rest in peace, in eternal peace!
O holy Philomena, obtain for me to flee from sin, to remain in the grace of God and thus always possess the peace of a good conscience, so that I myself may have a privileged place in the Heart of my God.

Second day: O Saint Philomena, it was not until the dawn of the nineteenth century that your humble tomb came out of oblivion, as if by chance. Until then your existence and your name had been ignored. How was your existence on earth? We do not know. We only know that it ended in a few years, and that it was as humble as your tomb.
Oh, the hidden life, the humble and dark life, as you raise it up in the eyes of the Christian! This is the life of Jesus in Nazareth and it was yours, sweet virgin martyrdom. Teach me to appreciate it and to love it. Make me despise and flee, as they deserve, from the vanities of a guilty world. Let me, following your example, attach myself to my duties of state, however humble and laborious they may be, so that in fulfilling them I too may accomplish the divine Will.

Third day: O Saint Philomena, the Church has given you the title of Virgin. You were immolated in the springtime of your life, and you remained pure in the midst of a corrupt and corrupting pagan world. You are like a beautiful bloody lily, whose fragrance has reached us through the ages. Was it not even your love of virginity that made you so generously accept martyrdom?
Are the times in which we live, O little saint, not as bad as those in which you lived? How many dangers are not exposed to believing souls! Keep me in the midst of this world. Give me at the same time the love of prayer which averts perils and which, as your holy friend the Curé d'Ars said, "makes a pure soul all-powerful over the so good Heart of Our Lord".

Fourth day: O Saint Philomena, with the title of virgin, the Church has awarded you the title of martyr. This palm, painted on your tomb, proves indeed that you have given Jesus Christ the supreme testimony of love. When you were thirteen years old, you left the earth, while life smiled upon you, full of promise; but to avoid death you would have had to deny God, and you did not want to.
Holy martyrdom, you teach us the price of our souls and how precious is the treasure of our faith. You teach us again that we must endure everything, suffer everything rather than abandon our religious practices and obedience to the laws of the Church. Obtain for me strength in trials, in sorrows, in sickness, with the courage to make, for the love of God, all the necessary sacrifices.

Fifth day: O Saint Philomena, it was in the sanctuary of Mugnano, Italy, that you first manifested your benevolent power. No sooner were your precious remains honoured there than the miracles due to your intercession multiplied. It was at the foot of your reliquary that, in particular, a dying woman brought from France was healed, the same one who had founded in Lyon the admirable work of the Propagation of the Faith. This healing prompted the Supreme Pontiff Gregory XVI to approve your already widespread cult. "She is a great saint," Pope Leo XII had already said of you.
Yes, O beloved of Christ, we believe you are truly a great saint. A village in the land of France, Ars, has also witnessed your prodigies. Your power has not diminished. You have been called a "holy little Thérèse from the early days of the Church": like your angelic sister, do you not spend your Heaven doing good on earth?

Sixth day: O Saint Philomena, for thirty years a priest of France whom the Church has canonized, the Curé d'Ars, has never ceased to invoke you and to have you invoked. He called you his dear little Saint, his consul, his chargé d'affaires close to God. It was through you that Saint John Mary Vianney obtained from God graces and miracles without number. At his request, you healed bodies and converted souls. In truth you seemed to obey his father like a child.
A fervent prayer, O sweet Virgin Martyr, always finds the way to your heart. That is why, inspired by the example of the holy Curé d'Ars, I make instance to you. You sometimes put his patience to the test. If you want to test my Faith, give me, with perseverance in prayer, the sure confidence that God, prayed by you, will grant me the best grace.

Seventh day: O holy Philomena, it is told in the life of the holy Curé d'Ars that you appeared to him to comfort him in the midst of the struggles he had to endure against hell. You "came down to him from Heaven, beautiful and luminous", bringing him a reflection of divine splendour. Didn't he say in his simple language: "With the Blessed Virgin and Saint Philomena, we know each other well"?
Valiant martyr, I too desire to know you well, you and the blessed Virgin who crushes the head of the infernal serpent. Satan multiplies the assaults against baptized souls; he is especially angry with the souls of the least ones. O little saint of the Curé d'Ars, render his rage impotent. Give me an ever greater horror of sin, so that it may have no power over me. Strengthen me in the midst of temptations and give me victory.

Eighth day: O holy Philomena, the Truths of the Gospel would gradually disappear from the world if, from time to time, he did not show them to us alive in a soul full of Faith. At the end of the great revolution that accumulated so many ruins, you were like the messenger of God and the apostle of the supernatural. In many souls your prodigies have rekindled or revived Faith.
Your mission, O Virgin of Christ, is not yet complete. The desire for pleasures, evil passions, perverse doctrines, and the ungodly and immoral press have wreaked their havoc on too many souls of our time and our country. Criminals have been bent on driving the consoling religion out of the hearts of the humble and the little ones. Fight, I beg you, their perverse action; make me exercise a Christian and salutary influence around me.

Ninth day: O holy Philomena, after the trials of the earth, after the torments of martyrdom, you rest in peace above. You enjoy the endless vision of God whom you have loved so much. Of all your sorrows, of all your sufferings you have nothing left but the joy of having accepted them generously and eternal glory. How happy you are!
For me, it is still exile from the house of our Father. See the eyes of my heart directed towards you. Hear my fervent prayer. This novena will not end without me begging you, O sweet and powerful Philomena, to continue your help and protection. Through you, I implore the final grace, the happiness of contemplating, with you and the holy Curé d'Ars, the One who makes in Heaven the eternal delights of the chosen ones.

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