Novena
Christmas Novena (Saint Alphonsus Liguori)
Nine-day novena to Saint Alphonsus Liguori · begins 16 December, ending on Christmas Eve
The nine days before Christmas kept with the nine meditations and prayers St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote for the Nativity. Each day sets one aspect of the Incarnation before the mind — that God became man, that He became an infant, that He was born poor, humiliated, sorrowful — and closes with the saint's own affection and prayer. A devotional novena for private and family use, not a liturgical rite.
Background
St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), founder of the Redemptorists and Doctor of the Church, wrote this novena in the same manner as his novena of the Holy Spirit: a 'Thought' to be pondered and a 'Prayer' to be said. It is ordinarily begun on 16 December, the day the Roman liturgy itself turns wholly toward the Nativity with the late Advent ferias. In many editions the prayer of the St. Andrew Christmas novena is printed at its head and said with it; the two devotions are distinct and may be kept together or apart. The meditations given here are short editorial introductions to the subject St. Alphonsus assigns each day; his own meditations and the prayers below are in the cited source.
Days
Intention
preparing the heart to receive the Word made flesh, and love in return for the love that brought Him down
Usually begun
16 December, ending on Christmas Eve
Structure
nine_days
Duration
9 days
Content subtype
full_novena