3 Novena Prayers to St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) is a universally loved historical figure; he is even revered by many non-Catholics as a holy and inspirational man. Although he is widely admired as the patron saint of animals and the environment, how many of us actually seek him out in prayer to help us grow closer to Christ?

St. Francis of Assisi was one of the greatest saints in Church history. He the first-known saint to receive the stigmata, the very wounds of Christ. This means that he was so unified with the sufferings of Jesus that his body bore physical witness to the fact. Needless to say, he was an excessively intense saint who lived the Gospel to a radical degree. The real St. Francis is much different from the soft, mellow, forest-dwelling friar that he is often portrayed as today.

See also Three of the Most Misunderstood Saints of All Time

St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint against dying alone, against fire, and of peace, animal welfare societies, animals, birds, ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, zoos, lace makers, needle workers, tapestry workers, merchants, and families.

His feast day is celebrated on October 4th. One can pray a nine-day novena for the intercession of a saint at any time, but it is particularly efficacious leading up to their feast day. To pray a novena to St. Francis ahead of his feast, begin on September 25th using one of the prayers below.

THREE NOVENAS TO ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

—One—

1. Glorious Saint Francis, who voluntarily renounced all the comforts and riches of thy home to follow more perfectly the life of poverty and abnegation of Jesus Christ: Obtain for us, we pray, a generous contempt of all things in this world, that we may secure the true and eternal things of heaven.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. O glorious Saint Francis, who during the whole course of thy life continually wept over the passion of the Redeemer, and labored most zealously for the salvation of souls: Obtain for us, we pray, the grace of weeping continually over those sins by which we have crucified afresh Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may attain to be of the number of those who shall eternally bless His supreme mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

3. O glorious Saint Francis, who, loving above all things suffering and the Cross, merited to bear in thy body the miraculous stigmata, by which thou becamest a living image of Jesus Christ crucified: Obtain for us, we pray, the grace to bear in our bodies the mortifications of Christ, that we may merit one day to receive the consolations which are infallibly promised to all those who now weep.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

—Two—

O Seraphic Father, Saint Francis, I venerate you, the living image of Christ Crucified.

Born like Him in a stable, you condemned a world which rejected you; poor like Him you esteemed no possessions but those which are eternal; meek and humble like Him, you counted humiliation a joy; inflamed with an ardent charity, you burned to increase His glory; your love transformed your whole life into one long martyrdom, and made you strive by severe penances to satisfy the ardor of your desires, until at last it impressed on your body the wounds it had long before engraved in your heart, and made you a living crucifix, preaching sweetly to men the sufferings and love of Jesus.

Obtain for me, O Holy Father, that I too may banish from my heart the spirit of the world; that I may esteem poverty and humiliation above wealth and honors; that I may mortify my passions and advance daily in the knowledge and love of God, until at last,  detached from myself, from the world, and from all creatures, I may live for god alone, and like you, may say with my whole heart: My God and My All, My Inheritance, and My Joy in time and in eternity. Amen.

Our Most Holy and Seraphic Father Francis,

Pray for us your children who long to see you face to face. Amen.

—Three—

The third novena is available from the Franciscan Archives, which you can print out as a PDF from their website here.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!