Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
November is the month of the Holy Souls, when the Church prays in a special way for all who have died in God's friendship but are still being purified before they see Him face to face. A novena for the faithful departed may be prayed at any time of year, but many Catholics pray it from October 24 to November 1, so that it ends on the eve of All Souls' Day, or from November 2 to 10, carrying the prayer of All Souls through the first days of the month.
Pope Pius IX encouraged the faithful to make a novena in suffrage for the souls in purgatory with any approved prayers. The first seven prayers below were approved by Pope Leo XII in 1826, one for each day of the week, and each recalls a moment when Our Lord shed His precious blood. After each day's prayer, add an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the De Profundis (Psalm 129) or Eternal Rest, and name your own beloved dead, especially those who have no one to pray for them.
The Prayer
Day 1
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and amongst them all, especially that soul which is most destitute of aid; and bring it to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Day 2
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in purgatory, and amongst them all, especially that soul which is nearest to its entrance into Thy glory; that so it may soon begin to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Day 3
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in His bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular, amongst them all, deliver that one which would be the last to issue from those pains, that it tarry not so long a time before it comes to praise Thee in Thy glory and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Day 4
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed through the streets of Jerusalem when He carried the cross upon His sacred shoulders, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul which is richest in merits before Thee; that so, on that throne of glory which awaits it, it may magnify Thee and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Day 5
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious body and blood of Thy divine Son Jesus, which He gave with His own hand upon the eve of His passion to His beloved apostles to be their meat and drink, and which He left to His whole Church to be a perpetual sacrifice and life-giving food of His own faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one which was most devoted to this mystery of infinite love; that, with Thy divine Son, and with Thy Holy Spirit, it may ever praise Thee for this Thy wondrous love in Thy eternal glory. Amen.
Day 6
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which Thy divine Son shed upon the wood of the cross, from His most sacred hands and feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul for which I am most bound to pray; that the blame rest not with me that Thou bringest it not forthwith to praise Thee in Thy glory and to bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Day 7
Lord God almighty, I beseech Thee, by the precious blood which gushed forth from the side of Thy divine Son Jesus, in the sight and to the extreme pain of His most holy Mother, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one amongst them all which was ever the most devout to this great Lady; that it may soon attain unto Thy glory, there to praise Thee in her, and her in Thee, world without end. Amen.
Day 8
Meditating on the Passion of Our Lord, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary five times for the faithful departed, then add:
Eternal Father, we pray Thee, help the souls of Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Day 9
Pray the traditional collect of All Souls' Day, found on our page Prayer for All Souls Day, followed by the De Profundis and Eternal Rest.
The yearly commemoration of all the faithful departed spread from the abbey of Cluny under St. Odilo of Cluny. St. Monica asked only one thing of her son St. Augustine as she was dying: that he remember her at the altar of the Lord.
See also: Prayer for All Souls Day, Prayers for the Dead: All Souls' Day and November, Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory, De Profundis, Eternal Rest, Dies Irae, and Prayer for a Departed Soul.
Sources: The prayers for Days 1 to 7, the Day 8 exercise (approved by Pope Pius VII in 1817), and the account of the indulgences are from The New Raccolta (Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham & Son, 1903), public domain, with capitalization lightly modernized.
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