Novena
Novena of the Holy Spirit (Saint Alphonsus Liguori)
Nine-day novena to Saint Alphonsus Liguori · begins The day after the Solemnity of the Ascension, ending on the Vigil of Pentecost
The oldest novena in the Church, prayed in the nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost in imitation of the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin in the upper room. This is the form given by St. Alphonsus Liguori: nine meditations on divine love, each closing with his own affections and prayers to the Holy Spirit.
Background
St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church and founder of the Redemptorists, wrote this novena as nine meditations on charity, the gift proper to the Holy Spirit. It is a devotional novena for private and parish use, not a liturgical rite. Pope Leo XIII, in the encyclical Divinum Illud Munus (1897), directed that a solemn novena to the Holy Spirit be made each year in every parish of the world before Pentecost.
Days
Intention
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gift of divine charity
Usually begun
The day after the Solemnity of the Ascension, ending on the Vigil of Pentecost
Structure
nine_days
Duration
9 days