Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

As noted below, during our trip (afternoon layover in Paris, two-plus days in Florence, day-trip to Pompeii, and about seven days in Rome), we prayed a novena for the intentions of several people*, most especially my mom's sister Marilyn, now residing in the House of the Lord, and my stepmother Rosemarie, battling this time a nasty lung infection after having already carried the Cross so many times and so far with prior ailments, and my dad, enduring this trial with her.

Given my affection for St. Bernadette, and inasmuch as health is so involved, physical and spiritual, I thought it appropriate to address our novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Here is that novena (with litany), with the locations it was offered for that day --

Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

+ Oh ever immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Comfortess of the Afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Look upon us with mercy. When you appeared in the grotto at Massabielle, you made it a privileged sanctuary where you dispense your favors, and where many sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. We come, therefore, with unbounded confidence to implore your maternal intercession.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of God, you had influence with your divine Son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests for our loved ones if it be His divine will.

(specific prayer for that given day)

O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.

Our Lady of Lourdes, help of Christians; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, source of love; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of the poor; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of the handicapped; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of orphans; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of all children; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of all nations; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, mother of the Church; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, friend of the lonely; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, comforter of those who mourn; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, shelter of the homeless; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, guide of travelers; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, strength of the weak; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, refuge of sinners; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, comforter of the suffering; Pray for them
Our Lady of Lourdes, help of the dying; Pray for them

Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace with God. Amen.

St. Joseph, pray for us
St. Bernadette, pray for us
St. Andre Bessette, pray for us +

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DAY ONE (S. Maria Novella, Florence)
O Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, virgin and mother, queen of heaven, chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Eternal Word and in virtue of this title preserved from original sin, we kneel before you as did little Bernadette at Lourdes and pray with childlike trust in you that as we contemplate your glorious appearance at Lourdes, you will look with mercy on our present petition and secure for us a favorable answer to the request for which we are making this novena.

DAY TWO (Santa Croce, Florence)
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest yourself 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 your pure heart Let them be consumed with love for Jesus and for you, in order that we may merit one day to enjoy your glorious eternity. O dispenser of His graces here below, take into your keeping and present to your Divine Son the petition for which we are making this novena.

DAY THREE (S. Maria Maggiore, Rome)
"You are all fair, O Mary, and there is in you 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 a rough rock in Lourdes you spoke to the child Bernadette and a fountain broke from the plain earth and miracles happened and the great shrine of Lourdes began, so now I beseech you to hear our fervent prayer and do, we beseech you, grant us the petition we now so earnestly seek.

DAY FOUR (San Clemente, Rome)
O Immaculate Queen of Heaven, we your wayward, erring children, join our unworthy prayers of praise and thanksgiving to those of the angels and saints and your own-the One, Holy, and Undivided Trinity may be glorified in heaven and on earth. Our Lady of Lourdes, as you looked down with love and mercy upon Bernadette as she prayed her rosary in the grotto, look down now, we beseech you, with love and mercy upon us. From the abundance of graces granted you by your Divine Son, sweet Mother of God, give to each of us all that your motherly heart sees we need and at this moment look with special favor on the grace we seek in this novena.

DAY FIVE (San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome)
O Mary Immaculate, Mother of God and our mother, from the heights of your dignity look down mercifully upon us while we, full of confidence in your unbounded goodness and confident that your Divine Son will look favorably upon any request you make of Him in our behalf, we beseech you to come to our aid and secure for us the favor we seek in this novena.

DAY SIX (Chapel of Residenza Madri Pie, Rome)
O glorious Mother of God, so powerful under your special title of Our Lady of Lourdes, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the gracious Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare and for the special favor we so earnestly seek in this novena.

O Lady of Bernadette, with the stars of heaven in your hair and the roses of earth at your feet, look with compassion upon us today as you did so long ago on Bernadette in the Grotto of Lourdes.

DAY SEVEN (S. Agostino, Rome)
O Almighty God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary did prepare a worthy dwelling place for your Son, we humbly beseech you 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, beloved Mother of Our Lord and Redeemer, look with favor upon us as you did that day on Bernadette and intercede with him for us that the favor we now so earnestly seek may be granted to us.

DAY EIGHT (Residenza Madri Pie, Rome)
O Immaculate Mother of God, from heaven itself you came to appear to the little Bernadette in the rough Grotto of Lourdes! And as Bernadette knelt at your feet and the miraculous spring burst forth and as multitudes have knelt ever since before your shrine, O Mother of God, we kneel before you today to ask that in your mercy you plead with your Divine Son to grant the special favor we seek in this novena.

DAY NINE (St. Peter's Tomb, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican)
O glorious Mother of God, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your 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.

We feel animated with confidence that your prayers in our behalf will be graciously heard. O Mother of My Lord, through the love you bear to Jesus Christ and for the glory of His Name, hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.

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*List of persons specifically prayed for by name:
Marilyn, Jamie, Brian, Jon, Melissa and their families
Rosemarie and Alan
Margie and Emerson
Departed loved ones -
-Edward and Doris
-Russell
-Milt
-Barb
-Neil, and their families
Rita, Dave, Stephen and their families
Dorothy and Gerald
Barb and Fred and their families
Karen and Stephen, Maureen and Andy, Kevin and Greta, Ann and Sam, Colleen and Mike, Tim and AnnMarie, and Melinda, and their families
Paul and Eva and their families
Fr. Cregan, Fr. Killian, Fr. Cramer, Msgr. Mahler, and their families
Susan, Richard, Sherry, Ernestine, and others and their families
My students, young and adult, and their families
Jan
Tuyen and Jody
Cathleen
Sharlene and their families
Daniel, Maxwell, Maureen, Shafica, Sherry, Tim, Gwen, and Lynn and their families
The Holy Father, all the bishops, priests, and religious, Sr. Jean Marian
Seminarians and others in religious formation
The President and other civic leaders
and Mark