Novena in Honor of Saint Benedict

Join us in praying our annual novena in celebration of our patron, St. Benedict, and his upcoming feast day! To receive the novena in your email inbox, sign up below. The novena begins July 2.

What is a Novena?

The word novena is taken from the Latin word “novem,” which means "nine". Novenas are made up of nine days of prayer and meditation and are often composed to invoke the aid of a saint for a particular reason.  That is why we have put together a novena to our patron, Saint Benedict, with meditations from his rule.

Novenas are an ancient tradition dating back to the days of the Apostles. Jesus told His disciples to pray together after His ascension into heaven, so they went to the upper room along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Acts 1:14) to pray together for nine days. These nine days of constant prayer preceded Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples as “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:1-4). We pray novenas in imitation of the model of prayer set before us by Our Lady and the Apostles.