First Friday Mass, followed by Devotions: 9:00 a.m.
First Saturday Mass, followed by Devotions: 9:00 a.m.
St. Francis Xavier, in a vision to Father Mastrilli, who was at the point of death, in December 1633, promised that all who made a novena in honor of the Saint, invoking the Passion of the Savior and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, confessing their sins and receiving Holy Communion on one of the days of the novena, more especially from March 4 to March 12 (anniversary of the canonization of Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola), would without fail feel the effect of his intercession with Almighty God. In virtue of this promise, the future missionary, Father Mastrilli, was miraculously cured a few days later, and the novena spread all over the world. Because of the marvelous favors, both for soul and body, which attended the exercise, it was called the Novena of Grace.
(Used for the novena from the beginning and attributed to Father Mastrilli.)
O Great Saint Francis, well beloved and full of charity, with you I reverently adore the Divine Majesty. The remembrance of the favors with which God blessed you during life and of your glory after death fills me with joy; and I unite with you in offering to Him my humble tribute of thanksgiving and praise. I implore you to secure for me, through your powerful intercession, the inestimable blessing of living and dying in the state of grace. I also beseech you to obtain the favor I ask in this novena. (Make your petition.) But if what I ask is not for the glory of God, or for the good of my soul, obtain for me what is most conducive for both. Amen.
Pray 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory be
V. Pray for us, St. Francis Xavier,
R. That we may be made worthy the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray
O God, vouchsafed, by the preaching and miracles of Saint Francis Xavier, to join unto Your Church the nations of the Indies, grant, we beseech You, that we who reverence his glorious merits may also imitate his example, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.