I am beginning this beautiful Novena prayer to St. Raymond of Penafort, patron of Canon Lawyers, today, concluding on 27 February. The text is… perfect.

Please join me. One says this same prayer every day, appended to the Rosary, before/after Mass, whatever, for nine consecutive days. I please ask those who can to join me in this.

Others I will be enjoining with this Novena are: St. Michael the Archangel, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Philip Neri, St. Peter the Apostle, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. Athanasius, Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope St. Pius V, St. Zaccaria, St. Vincent Pallotti, St. Anthony Abbot, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica, St. Cajetan, St. Remigius, St. Clement of Rome, Sts. John and Paul of Rome, Saints Celso and Juliano, St. Tiny Princess, My Guardian Angel, Pope Leo XIII, Blessed Charles of Austria and Servant of God Zita, Brother Thomas Pauling.

NOVENA TO SAINT RAYMOND OF PENAFORT

(Patron of Canon Lawyers.)

Repeat the following Novena prayers every day for 9 consecutive days.

Faithful dispenser of the Mystery of reconciliation! It was from the Heart of the Incarnate God, that you did draw the sweet charity, which made you the friend of the sinner.

You did love your fellowmen, and did labor to supply all their wants, whether of soul or body.

Enlightened by the rays of the Sun of Justice, you have taught us how to discern between good and evil, by giving us those rules whereby our wounds are judged and healed.

Rome was the admirer of your knowledge of her laws, and it is one of her glories that she received from your hand the Sacred Code whereby she governs the Churches of the world.

Excite in our hearts, O Raymond! that sincere compunction, which is the condition required of us when we seek our pardon in the Sacrament of Penance.

Make us understand both the grievousness of mortal sin, which separates us from our God for all eternity, and the dangers of venial sin, which disposes the tepid soul to fall into mortal sin.

Pray, that there may abound in the Church men filled with charity and learning, who may exercise that sublime ministry of healing souls.

Preserve them from the two extremes, of rigorism which drives to despair, and of laxity which flatters into sloth.

Revive amongst them the study of the holy Canons, which can alone keep disorder and anarchy from the fold of Christ.

Oh! you that had such tender love for captives, console all that are pining now in exile or in prison; pray for their deliverance; and pray that we all may be set loose from the ties of sin, which but too often make them, who boast of their outward liberty, be slaves in their souls.

You were the confidant of the Heart of Mary, the Queen of Mercy, and she made you share with her in the work of the Redemption of Captives. You had great power with this Heart, which, after the Heart of Jesus, is our hope.

Pray for us to this incomparable Mother of God, that we may have the grace to love the Divine Child she holds in her arms. May she be induced, by your prayers, to be our Star on the Sea of this world, more stormy far than that which you did pass, when sailing on thy miraculous barque.

Remember, too, thy dear Spain, where you did pass your saintly life. Her Church is in mourning, because she has lost the Religious Orders which made her so grand and so strong: pray that they may be speedily restored to her, and assist her as of old.

Protect the Dominican Order, of whose Habit and Rule you were so bright an ornament. You did govern it with great prudence, whilst on earth; now that you are in heaven, be a father to it by your love.

May it repair its losses. May it once more nourish in the universal Church, and produce, as in former days, those fruits of holiness and learning, which made it one of the chief glories of the Church of God.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.