Novena to Our Mother of Consolation

Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, all our actions by thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by thy gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may begin always from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hail, Holy Queen! We salute thee, O Queen of Heaven and Earth, O Mother of Consolation. Remembering the vast power with which Jesus our God, thy Son, has blessed thee, we rush to thy protection as the source of all our true consolation, for in thy hands are all graces. Yes, O great Queen of Angels, and of men, after the trials and sorrows of this weary pilgrimage, this vale of tears, you can console us, thy children, with that glory of which you are the dispensatrix, with the joys of that paradise of which you are the gate. Which of us can doubt it, when with full and grateful hearts we call to mind the privilege that is ours, of wearing your holy Cincture—the pledge of our efforts to love thee, and the sign, in some way, of our predestination to heaven. These poor efforts of ours, we know full well, dearest Mother, are seconded by your more than maternal care, are perfected by your motherly help. Deign, then, O Mother, to listen to your children’s prayer, and grant us the grace we ask in this Novena. And as you gave the Cincture to the poor robber, in your flight into Egypt, as several holy fathers say, and he was saved, and went with your Divine Son to paradise; so, O Mother of Consolation, aid us, that we, thy Cinctured children, yet through life robbers of the gifts of God, may reach, under your care and protection, that home of eternal rest, where we may in joy unending bless thy Divine Son, and you, our Mother, for eternity. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, and O Mary, our Mother of Consolation, pray for us thy children.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin should then be sung or recited (page 76), and in conclusion the prayer of St. Bernard, as at page 58.

Direct, we beseech Thee, &c., as on first day.

Mother of Mercy, with tenderest affection we, thy children, invoke thee. O Mother of Consolation, Mother of Mercy, thou art truly our Mother, though we are ungrateful and miserable sinners. By permitting us to wear thy holy Cincture thou hast especially adopted us thy favoured children. Let us then say with the great St. Bernard, who are the children of the Mother of Mercy, if not the miserable? Thou art the Mother of Jesus, and He who gave his life lovingly for us is all mercy. Be, then, to us, O Mother, our true consolation; enable us to avoid sin, the source of all misery. Hear our prayers, and obtain for us the graces we ask by this Novena. Obtain for us true sorrow for our sins, and pardon of them; open to us the gates of Mercy, that by virtue of the Precious Blood of thy Son, we may live in the light of divine grace, and guided and guarded by thee, find thee in the last moments of struggle at death, and for all eternity, our true Mother of Consolation.

Hail Mary, three times, and the rest as on first day.

Our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope. We invoke thee, O Mother of Consolation, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. O Mother most amiable, O Queen most potent, we are the unhappy children of that earthly mother who brought us forth in sin, heirs to a legacy of sorrows, trials, and remorse. In you, O Mother, we place all our hopes of consolation; for, as co-redemptress of the human race, in dark and grievous sorrows, in deep and bitter grief, thou didst bring us forth to the life of grace, when, as thy Son lay dying for us, thou didst stand at the foot of the terrible cross. Thou art, then, our life, thy loving care is ever over us turning the cruel trials of our warfare into sweetness. Thy power and love that brings it into action on our behalf are the bases upon which our hope reposes. Earnestly, then, O Mother, we thy children appeal to you; vouchsafe to us the grace we ask in this Novena; and above all, O Mother of Consolation, O second Eve, who repaired the ruin of the first, restore us to and preserve us in the true life of grace, the true tranquillity of peace, the secure hope of glory. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, the rest as on first day.

To thee do we cry, poor exiled children of Eve; to thee do we sigh, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Behold us, the exiled children of Eve, O Mother of Consolation, weeping and lamenting like the exile of Israel by the ruins of Babylon. To you, O Mother, we have recourse, like Esther of old; intercede for your poor banished children with the mighty King of all creation, who, too, calls you Mother. By the God-like love He, thy God and thy Child, bears thee, procure for us the graces we particularly ask in this Novena. O Mother of Consolation, ask for us, thy Cinctured children, that as Elias, girt with his leathern Cincture, obtained copious rain from heaven, for the parched and barren land of Israel, so thou wouldst concede to us true tears of compunction, to bewail our sins and ingratitude, and to the barren soil of our flinty hearts a plenteous rain of fertilising grace, that our exile here in this valley of tears may be but a time of trial, to make us more worthy of one of the mansions in the Kingdom of God’s endless glory. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, and the rest as on first day.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate. Turn a loving regard towards thy frail and erring children. We are guilty of crime and ingratitude towards the great Almighty God, who created, redeemed, and ever loved us. We have, therefore, great need of an advocate; and whom, O Mother of all Consolation, who could better discharge this office on our behalf than you, O Refuge of Sinners. Thou, O Mary, art our true consolatrix, because thou art the Mother of our eternal Judge, and better able to plead our cause, and appease his anger, than Abigail of old to appease the anger of King David. Refuse not, O Mother, to plead the cause of thy devoted children. Lift up for us that voice that won paradise for the penitent thief, exert on our behalf that appeasing power which has peopled heaven with thy children. Turn a favourable ear, O Mother of Consolation, to the special prayer of our Novena; and when we stand arraigned before thy Son for judgment, let thy love on behalf of thy Cinctured children plead for mercy, and win for us, with all our frailty, that prize of eternal life, purchased for us by the Precious Blood of thy Son. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, and the rest as on first day.

Thine eyes of mercy towards us. O Mother of Consolation, happy the child upon whom is ever turned the vigilant, solicitous look of a loving mother. By a special grace, O Mary, in this Confraternity thou hast adopted us as thy especial children; therefore as Jesus, thy Son, looked lovingly from the Cross even on the vile wretches who mocked Him, and mercifully prayed for those who crucified Him; even so, O Mary our Mother, console us with thy looks of tender love, and pray to thy Son for the special grace we ask by this Novena. Assist us, O powerful Queen of creation, as thou didst assist our holy Father, St. Augustine, who rose up in the strength of grace from sin, and wearing your holy Cincture was guarded and protected by you, rendered victorious over sin, and faithful to grace, gave himself generously to God, and became a great Saint and a great Doctor. Assist us, too, O Mother of Consolation, in the battle of life; be our armour and defence against our unseen foes, that we may triumph in the end, and merit the rewards of eternal life. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, the rest as on first day.

And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O most holy Mother of God, thou wert destined from eternity to show forth the dawn of the coming Redemption, and as Mother of the world’s Redeemer to cherish in thy bosom the Babe of Bethlehem, thy Son, Jesus. O Mary, our Mother, teach us to love Him; and as thou didst fill the hearts of the Shepherds and the Magi with love of Him, when kneeling they adored their Redeemer reposing in thy arms, deign, O Mother of Consolation, to show us the fountains of true love of God, that we may drink deeply and be filled with holy love. Through the merits of thy Son procure for us the graces we petition for in this Novena, and vouchsafe to us thy children that as Judith, girt with a Cincture of old, triumphed over Holofernes, so we, too, strengthened by grace, fortified by your protection in the hour of our greatest weakness, at the moment of death may triumph over hell, and by final perseverance reach the unending bliss for which the Almighty made us. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, the rest as on first day.

O clement, O pious. O holy Mother of Consolation, behold at thy feet thy poor, frail children who come in their sorrows, and in their needs find consolation and relief from you, most clement, most pious Mother. Like the child in its dangers, in its wants, we rush confidently to you, our Mother, because we know the clemency and tenderness of your Immaculate Heart. Confidently, then, do we, thy children, ever mindful of your love, ask for the special graces we seek from thy bounty through this Novena. You are, O Mother of Consolation, a celestial Samaritan to your children on the weary high-road of life. Despoiled by robbers, beaten and bruised, we are of ourselves unable to journey on to our eternal home. Come to us, O Mother, with thy multitudinous gifts of grace; lift us from weakness into strength; second that great grace by others, to enable us to wear our Cincture worthily, and bearing it as an outward mark of our love of you; teach us truly to love you, faithfully to serve thy Divine Son, that at the end of this weary pilgrimage, closing our eyes for ever on this deceitful world, we may open them to the light and grandeur of your own eternal home. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, the rest as on first day.

O sweet Virgin Mary. Our Mother of Consolation! what confidence does not thy sweet name inspire. O Mary, our Mother, teach us to love thee, and, as we love thee, to try and imitate thy transcendent virtues. You know, O Mother, our frailty and weakness, that we are powerless without grace, to love Jesus, or serve thee. O sweet Virgin Mary, help thy children to practise that virtue of holy purity, which was such an ornament to thy Immaculate Heart. From the abyss of weakness we call on thee lovingly, O sweet Virgin Mary; and while we proclaim to heaven and earth that we glory in being called thy children, procure for us, O Mother, the graces we most need, and obtain the special prayers of this Novena. Again, O Mother of Consolation, we renew our promises of fidelity to Jesus and to thee; and when we gather round the altar to celebrate with loving hearts thy feast, and be nourished by the Body and Blood of thy Divine Son, O Mary, our true Mother of Consolation, deign to bless thy poor children at that solemn moment so like to thee in the Sacramental indwelling of thy Son in our hearts. O Mary, our loving Mother of Consolation, hear the prayers our poor hearts may breathe; bear them to thy Son, and bless thy children with the graces we need; that, consoled by your Motherly care, and fortified by your maternal protection we may be faithful to the end, and be for all eternity a joy to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a gladness to the Immaculate Heart of our Mother of Consolation. Amen.

Hail Mary, three times, the rest as on first day.

PRAYER TO BE SAID ON THE FEAST OF OUR MOTHER OF CONSOLATION.

O pure and Immaculate Virgin, only refuge of miserable sinners, strength of the weak, and true Mother of Consolation to the afflicted. Humble and confused at the sight of our sins and at the dark vision of our ingratitude, which render us deformed and loathsome before the spotless purity of God’s matchless sanctity, the sinlessness of your own Immaculate Heart—before the bright and glowing innocence of the angels and saints—we prostrate ourselves in loving sorrow before you, O Mother of Consolation. Vouchsafe, our great Protectress and Advocate, to look with tender pity on your sinful, but faithful children. We are yours, O Mother of Consolation, and by a double title of justice and of choice. Thou art our Mother, and may claim us as thy children; we choose you as our Mother from very love, and without compulsion. This Cincture which we wear is the emblem of our dependence on thee. O Mother of Consolation, accept the unreserved oblation we make of all we are and have to thee. Cherish us as thy little ones, that through life we may ever find thee a Mother of Consolation. Through the merits of our holy Father St. Augustine, and our holy Mother St. Monica, make us worthy of the great gift of fortitude, of justice, of chastity, of faith, and of charity, which in thy holy Cincture is symbolised; that faithfully serving thy Son and thee, thy consolation shall still be with us when we come to die, to brighten the sorrows of the last hour, and by victory lead to bliss, to bless Jesus and thee for all eternity. Amen.

O Mother of God, Mother of Consolation, and my most dear Mother! who art sensible of my miseries and infirmities, my poverty and distress, my mourning and sighs, look on me, and have compassion on me; and as now, having a distaste for the bitter waters of this sea of tears, I am endeavouring to pass through the thorny passage of this tiresome pilgrimage to the reviving spring of divine grace. Deign, therefore, O heavenly Consolatrix, to refresh me who, like a famished hart, seeking to alleviate his thirst at some limpid stream, make my approaches to the refreshing draughts of thy celestial blessings; wherefore, most gracious Queen, I make thee an offering of my whole heart, confessing that it is through thee I receive the many favours God is pleased to confer on me; and I beseech thee that, through the charity wherewith you love your Divine Son, Jesus, and through that love which moved thee to enrol me as thy servant, how unworthy soever of that favour, to obtain for me the full remission of my sins, an increase of faith, hope, and love, the perfect accomplishment of God’s will in all that concerns me, and finally a happy death; at which period let the light of your sweet countenance shine upon me, and protect me from my inveterate foes, and the rigours of Divine Justice, that under your guidance I may arrive at the fountain of everlasting life, the country of eternal brightness, and the vision of the Divine presence and glory, to sing for ever in your company the everlasting praises of my God, and love Him without end. Amen.