Big Novena

To Roman Catholics a novena is an act of faith which is performed by saying nine prayers or series of prayers, usually in hope of gaining special material or spiritual rewards. A perpetual novena is arranged by a church so that the devout may come in and make their nine devotions consecutively over a period of time. Catholics believe that these mass novenas are more potent than private ones. In Chicago last January a perpetual novena, the only one in the U. S. devoted to the Virgin Mary in her special aspect of "Our Sorrowful Mother," was begun at Our Lady of Sorrows Church. By last week, with 16,500 Catholics attending twelve novena services every Friday, this novena was one of the best attended in the U. S., so successful that other Catholic churches were making ready to imitate it.

Prior of the community of the Order of Servants of Mary (Servites), which conducts Our Lady of Sorrows, a monastery and two parochial schools, is Very Rev. James R. Keane, 35. Asked last week to account for the religious fervor which not only fills his church (capacity 1,1001 but lines up the faithful in queues outside, Father Keane replied: "It's the Blessed Virgin." From approved Catholic sources, Father Keane compiled a novena service for Our Sorrowful Mother, which involves congregational singing, congregational prayers and a Via Matris (Way of the Mother)--in which the worshipers traverse a circuit of seven Stations of the Cross representing the seven sorrows of the Virgin.* The Via Matris cannot be used by any Catholic church without permission of the Servite Fathers who conceived it. However, they grant it readily, and last fortnight Chicago's St. Cecilia's Church planned to inaugurate similar novenas.

Father Keane has installed loudspeakers in his church, has seven priests help him with novena services, and ushers in gold-trimmed blue coats to direct the crowds. Only 20% of the faithful at Our Lady of Sorrows are from the parish; one man, Joseph Francis McCarthy, flies from Manhattan to Chicago every Friday to make his novena. Collections now total $800 a week, and in January Father Keane plans a "Novena Anniversary Party" with games, prizes, a bar and "Chicago's Greatest Floor Show," to raise $15,000 to air-condition the crowded church.

With a specific favor usually in mind, novena-makers at Our Lady of Sorrows write their petitions on blanks handed them before their novena begins. Favorite petitions are for good health, for employment, for souls in purgatory, but many a petitioner is interested in matters like the health of the Pope, world peace, success in studies, a happy marriage or happy death. According to last fortnight's list of petitions, more novena-makers are anxious to find a "Catholic Boy Friend" (377) than a "Catholic Girl Friend" (91).

Those whose petitions are granted are glad to tell about it in Novena Notes, Father Keane's breezy weekly, whose present distribution is 22,000. Typical letters:

After the eighth Friday of my Novena I met a fine Catholic young man. He has been taking me out since then. It is such a relief to have a boy friend who understands as well as practices his religion. . . . A CATHOLIC GIRL.

. . . My skin had broken out in a terrible rash which was very itchy and spreading rapidly. I was told that it was the seven years' itch by someone who had had it some years ago, and being afraid of this, 1 delayed in seeing a doctor. Instead, I asked Our Sorrowful Mother that this rash wouldn't spread any further and that it would not be the seven years' itch. Before the next Friday when I came to the Novena again, I did not have any trace of the rash at all. . . MRS. C. R.

*The Virgin's Stations are not to be confused with the 14 Stations of Christ's sufferings, found in most Catholic churches. The Virgin's sorrows were: Simeon's prophecy of the death of Jesus; the flight into Egypt; the loss of the young Jesus in the temple; Mary's encounter with Jesus on the way to Calvary; the death of Jesus on the Cross; Mary's reception of His body; the entombment of Jesus.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.