St. Andrew Christmas Novena

The St. Andrew Christmas Novena is a much-loved Advent devotion. Despite its name, it is not addressed to St. Andrew. It is a meditation on the hour of Christ's birth that begins on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, November 30, and continues until Christmas. The prayer is traditionally said fifteen times a day, and many families divide the repetitions between morning, noon, and evening.

It dates from the late nineteenth century and received an imprimatur in New York in 1897. Its gentle repetition keeps the coming of the Christ Child before the heart through the whole of Advent. Many people add a particular intention after each recitation, trusting it to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

The Prayer

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

Sources: Traditional St. Andrew Christmas Novena (imprimatur, New York, 1897), public domain.

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