Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

 I have always had a special devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette; my confirmation name is Bernadette.  Thus I am looking forward to the upcoming feast of Mary under this title.  I also have a special intention of healing for someone dear for which I will be asking her intercession through the first novena below.

I have provided two novenas to Our Lady under this title, the second being shorter in length, in case anyone prefers a simpler novena format.  If you have any requests for which you would like me to pray during this novena, please leave me a comment, and I will add them to my prayers.  Regardless of which novena you choose, it is to prayed daily beginning on February 2 and continuing through February 10, the day before Our Lady's feast.

On February 11 Holy Mother Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858 Mary appeared in a grotto to a young French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, who historical feast day is April 16. By July Our Lady had appeared to St. Bernadette eighteen times, calling herself the Immaculate Conception. During her appearances Mary, clothed in a white gown and blue sash, with a golden rose on each foot, asked St. Bernadette to pray the rosary. In another apparition a spring appeared from the ground where Our Lady instructed St. Bernadette to dig.

In modern times, as then, many miraculous cures occur for those pilgrims who, imploring Our Lady of Lourdes' intercession, come into contact with the waters of the grotto. In our trials may we remember to ask for our Heavenly Mother to intercede for us, looking to her as an example of how to serve the Lord in all things. May we also imitate the humble St. Bernadette by invoking Our Lady's name with love and devotion and honoring her through the recitation of her holy rosary.

The following novena asks Our Lady for her intercession and is to be prayed daily from February 2 through February 10, the day before Our Lady's feast.

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

Opening Prayer (repeat each day)
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest thy shining glory with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we praise thee for thine Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Infirm, Refuge of Sinners, Comforter of the Afflicted, thou knowest our wants, our troubles, and our sufferings; deign to cast upon us thy look of mercy.

By appearing in the grotto of Lourdes, thou wast pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, from whence thou dost dispense thy favors, and already many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore thy maternal affection, and intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the request we beseech of thee…(state thy request)

Through gratitude for thy favors, we will endeavor to imitate thy virtues, that we may one day share thy glory. O Queen of Heaven. O Mary Immaculate, O Mother of Christ, thine influence was plentitudinous with thy Divine Son, while still upon earth. Do thou shine forth thine influence ever present in Heaven. Pray for us, and obtain for us from thy Divine Son our special request, if it be His Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 1: O Mary Immaculate, O Sovereign Grace, Virgin and Mother, and Queen of Heaven, chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Eternal Word and by that virtue, preserved from Original Sin, we kneel before thee as did little Bernadette at Lourdes and pray with childlike trust in thee, that as we contemplate thy glorious appearance there, thou wilt look with mercy on our present petition, and secure for us a favorable answer to the request for which we offer this novena. (state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 2: Blessed be thee, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest thyself shining with light, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child Saint Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception!” O Mary Immaculate, inflame our hearts with one ray of the burning love of thy pure heart. Let them be consumed with love for Jesus and for thee, in order that we may merit one day to enjoy thy glorious eternity. O Mediatrix of All Graces here below, take into thy keeping, and present to thy Divine Son, the intention with which we are offer this novena. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day3: “Thou art all fair, O Mary, and there is in thee no stain of original sin.” O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. O brilliant Star of Sanctity, as on that lovely day, upon the rough hewn rocks at Lourdes, when thou didst speak to the child Bernadette, and a fountain broke from the plain earth, and miracles happened, and the great shrine of Lourdes began, do now, we beseech thee, hear our fervent prayer and likewise obtain for us the fulfillment of the intention we now so earnestly seek. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 4: O Immaculate Queen of Heaven, we thy wayward, erring children, join our unworthy prayers of praise and thanksgiving to those of the Angels and Saints, and thine own, that the One, Holy, and Undivided Trinity may be glorified on earth, as They are in Heaven.
Our Lady of Lourdes, as thou didst look down with love and mercy upon Bernadette as she prayed her Rosary in the grotto, look down now, we beseech thee, with love and mercy upon us. From the abundance of graces granted to thee by thy Divine Son, O Mother of God, grant to each of us all that thy motherly heart sees we need, and at this moment, look with special favor on the intention for which we offer this novena. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 5: O Mary Immaculate, Mother of God and our mother, from the heights of thy dignity, look down mercifully upon us while we, full of confidence in thy unbounded goodness, and confident that thy Divine Son will look favorably upon any request thou makest of Him in our behalf, we beseech thee to come to our aid, and secure for us the intention for which we offer this novena. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 6: O glorious Mother of God, so powerful under thy special title of Our Lady of Lourdes, to thee we raise our hearts and hands to implore thy powerful intercession in obtaining from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, and for the special intention for which we so earnestly offer this novena.
O Lady of Bernadette, with the stars of heaven in thy hair, and the roses of Earth at thy feet, look with compassion upon us today as thou didst so long ago, on Bernadette, in the Grotto of Lourdes. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 7: O Almighty God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary did preparest a worthy dwelling place for Thy Son, we humbly beseech Thee, that as we contemplate the apparition of Our Lady in the Grotto of Lourdes, we may be blessed with health of mind and body.
O most gracious Mother Mary, O Mother of Our Lord and Redeemer, look down with favor upon us, as thou didst that day on Bernadette, and intercede with Him for us, that the intention we now so earnestly seek, may be granted to us. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 8: O Immaculate Mother of God, from Heaven itself, thou camest to appear to the little Bernadette, in the rough Grotto of Lourdes! And as Bernadette knelt at thy feet and the miraculous spring burst forth, and as multitudes have knelt ever since before thee in that grotto of Lourdes, O Mother of God, we kneel before thee today to ask that in thy mercy, pleadest thou with thy Divine Son, to grant the special intention for which we offer this novena. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

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Day 9: O glorious Mother of God, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore thy powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly for the grace of a happy death. O Mother of our Divine Lord, as we conclude this novena for the special favor we seek at this time. (again state thy request)

O Brilliant star of purity, O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in thine Assumption, triumphant in thy Coronation, show unto us thy mercy, O Virgin Mary, O Queen of Heaven and Our Mother, and be our comfort, our hope, our strength, and our consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

A shorter, but just as beautiful, novena to Our Lady of Lourdes is below.

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Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

O ever-Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, health of the sick, refuge of sinners, comforter of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings; look with mercy on me.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favours; and already many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal.

I come, therefore, with complete confidence to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests. (mention your petition) Through gratitude for your favours, I will endeavour to imitate your virtues, that I may one day share your glory.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.  Amen.
(1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory Be)

--My Prayer Book by Fr. Lasance

God bless!

+JMJ+