Anovena (fromLatin:novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying inChristianity, consisting of private or publicprayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between theFeast of the Ascension andPentecost, when the disciples gathered in theUpper Room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]
In some Christian communities, such as in Africa, Latin America and the Philippines, novena traditions are popular and include devotional rituals such as liturgies, congregational prayers, the decoration of statues, hymns and music,processions, as well as communal feasting.
Novenas are most often prayed by members of theCatholic Church, but also byLutherans,Anglicans, andEastern Orthodox Christians; they have been used inecumenical Christian settings as well.[3] The prayers are often derived from devotional prayer books, or consist of the recitation of therosary (a "rosary novena"), or of short prayers through the day. Novena prayers are customarily printed in small booklets, and are often dedicated to a specificangel,saint,Marian title of theBlessed Virgin Mary, or one of the persons of theHoly Trinity.
The wordNovena is rooted in the Latin word for nine. The practice of the novena is based in early Christianity, where Masses were held for nine days with devotional prayers for the deceased.[4] The practice may trace its origins to an earlyGreek andRoman custom performed by families, consisting of nine days of mourning after the death of a loved one, followed by a feast, which originally prompted Catholic writers such asSt. Augustine, Pseudo-Alcuin and John Beleth to warn Christians not to emulate the custom.[5]
Over time, members of theRoman Catholic faith began to associate novena with Christian themes such as the nine months Jesus spent in the womb, the giving-up of His spirit at the ninth hour during thecrucifixion, and the nine days that passed between theAscension of Jesus and the descent of theHoly Spirit on the first Christians atPentecost. In theNew Testament, this biblical event is often quoted fromActs of the Apostles, 1:12–2:5. The Church Fathers also assigned special meaning to the number nine, seeing it as symbolic of imperfect man turning to God in prayer, due to its proximity with the number ten, symbolic of perfection and God.[5]
The practice of novena grew by the Middle Ages to include pious prayers for nine days before a feast in honor of a saint identified on a liturgical calendar. By the 11th century, the novena practice had become a means in Christianity of praying to petition spiritual or personal favor through a saint, such as the Virgin Mary. After theProtestant Reformation andCounter-Reformation, the Catholic Church formally permitted novenas, in particular through the papal approvals of a large number of novenas byPope Pius IX.[4]
In the Roman Catholic Church, there are three recognized categories of novenas, though this distinction is not exclusive:
By standard liturgical norms, novenas may be performed in church, at home, or anywhere where solemn prayers are appropriate, though some indulgenced novenas require church attendance. Sometimes, a special candle or incense is lit at the beginning of the novena which burns during the nine days of prayer.[citation needed]
The first chapter of theGeneral Principles ofSacrosanctum Concilium, #13, of theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965) sought to give guidance on the place of novenas in Christian piety:
Devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them.[7]
Within theRoman Catholic tradition, novena prayers typically include a praise of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary or another saint, and a personal petition.Novenas have been a widespread practice in Catholic history.[8] Novena prayers are also practised by Lutheran,Orthodox andAnglican Christians, who hold close or similar beliefs regarding its pious practice.[3] In addition, novenas have also been used in anecumenical Christian context, such as those promulgated byPremier Christian Radio, in order to pray forChurch renewal.[9]
A novena is a ritualistic devotional worship where one or more Christian devotees make petitions, implore favors, or obtain graces by honoringJesus Christ,Virgin Mary or the saints of the faith who are believed to empower divine intervention.[10][11][12] According to Professor Fenella Cannell, a Novena is "a supplicatory act of worship".[13]
A novena may be made at any time. The devotion of theNine First Fridays in honor of theSacred Heart is a novena.[5] Some parishes conduct a perpetual novena where the prayers particular to a specific novena are recited weekly.
Other novenas are traditionally held in preparation for a particular feast day.
Novena practices were introduced into communities by Christian missionaries in their colonial era and postmodern eraevangelization efforts in Africa, as well as new world plantation colonies where African slaves were settled such as in Brazil.[20] These initiatives brought a sense of socioreligious community.[21]
Some practices are unique to Africa. Various denominations of Christianity in Africa have introduced regional novena practices that include devotional prayers, singing, and clap, wave, or shout offerings. The novena devotionalism inGhana includes on each of the nine nights, after the loud prayers, the blood-covering of Jesus, where the devotees stain themselves considering it to be symbolism for the blood of Christ.[22]
Among the coastal West African Christian communities, novena is a means of petitioning God through worship and fasting, along with traditional rituals.[23] Syncretic new age religious practices in Nigeria have adopted the nine days of novena prayer ritualism.[24] In Zimbabwe, according to Lawrence Daka – a professor and a ZimbabweanJesuit:
Their [Catholic clergy] healing sessions are theatric, hysterical, loud and really engaging to the extent that some people fall to the ground and others feel the power of God piercing through their bodies. Some of the strong willed Catholics have taken up Novena after Novena seeking divine intervention in a sickness or misfortune. In short, there is a great yearning and thirsting for a religion that delivers quick answers to people’s problems which range from misfortunes to dealing with illness and death.
— The Church and the Challenges of the Healing Ministry in Zimbabwe, May 2015[25]
Devotional and paraliturgical novenas have been common in Europe as well as with European settlers in North America. These have included public worship such as Mass and private praying with religious items such as a rosary and images particularly related to the Virgin Mary. According to James M. O'Toole, a professor specializing in American Catholic history, the period between World War I and mid-1950s were the "heyday of American Catholic devotionalism".[26]
This period witnessed novena devotionalism along with popularity of sodalities, confraternities, devotion to saints,meatless Fridays, holy cards, rosary, cross and eucharistic practices.[27] O'Toole says that these provided a sense of communal identification, particularly in a time of mass migration. The novena had strong roots in ethnic neighborhoods, and devotional worship had sociopolitical links, offering a sense of communal security through religious symbols in a period of uncertainty and fear.[26] As economic prosperity and a sense of national solidarity grew in and after the 1960s, the novena ritualism waned and the participation in church worship services fell.[28][29]
InEastern andCentral Europe, novena practices continue. During the communist era, the devout orthodox Christians in the former Yugoslavia organized the Great Novena under the statue of Virgin Mary, to resist the state enforced atheism, to maintain the freedom to practice religion, and to re-assert the Christian legacy of the region, particularly inCroatia.[30]
In Catholic Ireland, states Professor Gladys Ganiel, devotional practices such as novenas have been popular. The cultural acceptance of devotional worship has been historically high, and those Irish who themselves do not perform novenas, nevertheless respect those who do. Some of their Catholic ritual practices were repressed by the British state during the 18th and 19th centuries, but repression and criticism only increased the resolve of the Irish to persist in their ways of practicing their faith.[31]
A 1921 survey in the Bulletin of the University of Notre Dame states that novena prayers were popular, and particularly common among students during examinations, or illness, or after the death of a fellow student.[32] The Novena-Seance remain popular in many regions of the United States, such as among the Roman Catholics ofLouisiana, where novenas are dedicated to St. Jude and the Virgin Mary. These novenas are prayers believed to create a contact between the saint and the devotee, and thereby invoke divine intervention in whatever problem or anxiety is important to the devotee.[33]
The novena has been an important part of Christianity in theCaribbean andLatin America, both among the native Indian communities who converted to Christianity under the colonial Spanish or Portuguese rule, as well as the diverse communities that formed anew from millions of slaves and indentured laborers brought to the Americas from different parts of Africa and Asia. The devotional prayers are dedicated to statues of Jesus Christ, Madonna and various saints. They are also a part ofvelorio (wake) after the death of someone, which includes nine nights of novena (rezos de los nueve días).[34][35][36]
According to Patrick Taylor and Frederick Case, attendance at Christian religious services has been low, except after the death of a loved one or a significant socio-political individual, and during times of difficulty such as epidemics or a drought.[37][38] Many perform devotional worship with rosaries within their home before images of Christ and the Christian saints at a small dedicated altar within their living spaces.[38] Like proselytism in Africa and Asia, missionaries of various denominations of Christianity, including Protestantism, have championed novenas in Hispanic-Latino communities as a part of their efforts to attract new converts to their ministries.[39]
Colombians celebrate a novena in the nine days leading to Christmas, known as thenovena of aguinaldos.[citation needed]
Novenas are still a common sight in India, especially in the state ofKerala. They are practised by Roman Catholics and oriental Catholics (e.g.Syro-Malabar Christians andSyro-Malankara Christians) and by the Orthodox Christians (Malankara Orthodox Christians andJacobite Orthodox Christians). Novenas are common toMother Mary (recited every Saturday),Saint George (common by the Orthodox and recited every Wednesday),Saint Jude (recited every Thursday),Saint Antony (recited every Tuesday) and others.
_(005)_2023-12-20.jpg)
In Christian communities of the Philippines and Latin America, novena traditions include devotional rituals in front of an altar, with nine levels where the Holy Cross is placed at the top.[40] These are lit up with candles, decorated with flowers and other ritual items. Additionally, the space may have many statues decorated, and these statues typically include those of Virgin Mary, Apostles and saints of regional significance. The first day, thevotive candles are placed on level one, and with each day the candles are raised by one level towards the Holy Cross. Further, each day includes congregational prayers, hymn singing with music, private and public devotionals. Some novenas include, sometimes on the last day, community fiesta events over beverages, refreshments or processions.[41][40]
The novena is also linked to funerary rituals. AmongFilipino Catholics, the Rosary Novena is a common practice where the prayer is recited for nine days, often beginning the day of someone's death, and formal funeral services timed to any time until the ninth day.[8] Elsewhere, the day of the funeral and interment is timed to local customary practices, while the novena is continued at the home of the deceased or elsewhere.[42]
Novenas remain a popular devotional practice in the Philippines.[43] It is observed, for example, in theSimbang Gabi immediately precedingChristmas. The tradition ofparol lanterns is also associated with the Christmas novena procession and the accompanyingPanunulúyan pageant.[44][45] InPampanga, Christmas novenas were known asLubenas orLubenas Pascu.[44][45]
It is also celebrated in the novena preceding the Feast of theSanto Niño de Cebú (Holy Child) on the third Sunday of January. The first nine days are marked with prayers, petitions and singing.[46] During the main procession inCebu City, the Santo Niño image is taken through the streets, with many people carrying their own replicas, decorated according to their own tastes.[46] InLoboc, Bohol, the most popular novena is dedicated to aBlack Madonna statue, with each service called theGozos, which includes a chanting of praises to the Virgin in Spanish and Visayan, dancing, choir recitals, and a feast with fireworks on the last day.[47]
InMetro Manila, popular novenas toOur Lady of Perpetual Help,Saint Jude Thaddeus, and theBlack Nazarene are assigned to the last three days of the working week.[48] Each novena is associated with a particular shrine, all of which have been approved by the Holy See. Some organizations have also begun offering the novena rituals online for devotees.[49]
TheNovena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is observed for nine consecutive Wednesdays inBaclaran. The Saint Jude novena on Thursdays invokes the apostle's status as the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, and is popular with students taking examinations.[50] The Black Nazarene novena held on Fridays marks the journey of Christ with the cross to his crucifixion. The image, novena, and associated devotional practices have a large following. In 2011, over six million Catholic devotees flocked to the Black Nazarene procession in Manila alone.[51]
In 19th centuryMelanesia, the Christian clergy linked the end of epidemics, such as the measles of 1860, and credited the survival of the communities after major disasters to the dedicated and great outburst of prayers to Christian icons, to "fervent novena".[52] Similarly, the Black Madonna novenas in Luboc started after similar crediting by the Christian clergy that the island community survived after a severe epidemic ofcholera because they made devotional prayers to the Virgin Mary (Madonna) during their time of suffering.[47]
Though the novena is primarily a devotion used by members of the Catholic Church, it is also practiced by some Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran Christians.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Novena".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
