St.

Pio’s Nine-day First Day

Novena O glorious and holy Padre Pio, we are at your
feet, turn your gaze to us. We are devoted to

Introductory Prayer you; we admire your life and follow your

teachings, and have experienced the power of
to Recite Each Day your intercession. While you lived in this

(to be recited at the world, multitudes of people arrived every day

in San Giovanni Rotondo to recognize and
beginning of each behold your credence, to receive pardon
daily prayer) through your word, to hear your teachings and
to invoke your intercession. With this same
Come to me as Father and friend, Jesus, and love and conscious of the glorious power of
do not leave me alone. Lord, abide with me! your prayers before God, we are prostrate at
I am just a pilgrim wandering in a world your feet.
enveloped by darkness; bestow on me your Pray for us. We entrust ourselves to you,
light and your grace. Lord, abide with me! certain that you will obtain for us from God
In this precious moment, embrace me; let this the graces of which we are in need. We ask
union between us last forever. Lord, abide this in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
with me!
Accompany me along life’s journey; I need Intentions:
your presence. Without you I become faint
and fall. Lord, abide with me! 1. That the Lord grants to the world and

Evening is coming and I am racing like a river to the Church responsible, faithful

towards the deep sea of death. Lord, abide leadership. Let us pray.

with me! 2. That every family be healthy in body

Be my strength in sorrow and in happiness, and spirit. Let us pray.

while I live and until I die within your

embrace. Lord, abide with me!
Second Day 3. So that the family loves and honors
God, for the family that prays together
O glorious Padre Pio, from infancy you remains united. Let us pray.
offered yourself to God as an instrument of
reparation. With your impoverished family
you began to grow in age, wisdom and Third Day
goodness. Your father, dreaming of a better
tomorrow, left for Argentina and you, who O holy Padre Pio, you flourished in a
said, “My father went far away from his wife profoundly religious family. One day your
and children in order to provide all of us with father called you close to himself and asked a
something to eat,” recognized the courage of momentous question: “My son, would it not
this gesture. Your mother undertook the task appeal to you a become a friar or a priest?”
of providing for the family by working in the From reading interviews of children on the
fields so that nothing would be lacking. We subject of their future, we see that they do not
have your testimony that you left us to serve even consider the possibility of a consecrated
as a lesson: “From early childhood we worked life. When asked what they want to be when
with commitment… We worked for our daily grown up, they want to become members of
bread… Our affection devolved on our the armed forces, doctors, fashion designers or
parents… With them we struggled in the great teachers, and life as a Religious in not in their
battle of life…” plans. Why? Still the greatest honor for a
May the Lord grant to us sons and daughters: family is to have a son that God has chosen to
dedication to good works, devoutness, and a be a Religious or a priest. We ask you to
close relationship with our families. This we safeguard the Church so that numerous
ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. vocations are born and that there will be many
holy Religious. We ask this in the name of
Intentions: Christ our Lord. Amen.

1. So that we be a family, for the Intentions:

children, school and church. Let us pray.
2. So that the children grow to love and 1. So that all the services that we lend are
respect their parents. Let us pray. expressions of faith in the Gospel. Let us
pray.
 2. So that we know to remain near our Intentions:
poor and needy brothers. Let us pray.
3. So that our lives are an expression of 1. So that all priests are felt to be
Evangelical service in words and deed. witnesses of the faith as a resource to the
Let us pray. people. Let us pray.
2. So that all priests remain in
communion with the Pope and the
Bishops. Let us pray.
Fourth Day 3. So that we profit those present every
moment, with the testimony of our
O holy Padre Pio, in the friary you began a
fraternal life. Let us pray.
new life, the results of which you already
knew, as you yourself said: “I was only 16
years old but I knew what I must become to
take on the life of a Religious… I had to Fifth Day
dedicate myself in order to know even better
the call of my voluntary commitment and to O holy Padre Pio, your life was simple and far
become competent in philosophy and from easy. You were tried by suffering and
theology. It was a communal life that temptations and the pain rendered your heart
demanded a strong spiritual enrichment…” No like a pruned grapevine. Never did you desire
one mislead you. You mother, when you left that your suffering become visible exteriorly
for the friary, said: “Knowingly you have and you preferred to suffer in silence. To be
come along to the door of your new house… seen wounded was not important because you
Now, with your Brothers, return to the work as knew that it was God who wounded you; you
always. Remember me in your prayers and have learned well that to accept suffering does
never forget that, above all, you are a son of not mean neither to be sorry, neither to love
God and St. Francis. How much is asked, but suffering but rather to accept that it therefore
you do not merit grief for your own loved humbles one, as the earth accepts rain from the
ones, if that does not give you joy to have heavens that penetrates to its depths. In this
found the true way of life…” Thus began your way you coped, Padre Pio, and were able to
life as a Religious. hide your suffering with the rose of serene
Instill in the Church a generous spirit capable acceptance.
of leaving all to follow Christ. We ask in the Teach us to have an authentic Christian
name of Christ our Lord. Amen. attitude toward suffering so that its purifying
and evangelistic action can be completed in from military service you had become aware
us. We ask this in the name of Christ our Lord. of much evil in the world, and you offered
Amen. yourself for the Church and you asked God
that He discharge on you His punishments for
Intentions: these evils as necessary propitiation: you
wanted to bear the punishment for the sins of
1. So that we understand suffering in a others.
Christian context. Let us pray. Grant to us from God the ability to accept
2. So that we accept in the spirit of faith sufferings and to make them an offering of
our illnesses and those of our brothers. love. We ask this in the name of Christ our
Let us pray. Lord. Amen.
3. So that we know to value our
suffering as an instrument of purification Intentions:
and evangelization. Let us pray.
1. So that our sufferings become the
portal to a union with Christ. Let us pray.
2. So that God will help us comprehend
Sixth Day
the efficacious power of accepting our
crosses. Let us pray.
O holy Padre Pio, from childhood you offered
3. So that God will teach us how to
yourself as a victim for others. God accepted
accept and offer our sufferings to Him.
your aspiration, and at San Giovanni Rotondo,
Let us pray.
you became “another Christ” suffering. Of
your interior struggles you said: “Who will be
able to discover the interior martyrdom that I
suffer? A single memory of those inner battles Seventh Day
makes my blood run cold in my veins. I heard
the voice that called me to obey you, O God, O holy Padre Pio, man of faith and prayer, the
but your enemies tyrannize me, wrench my multitudes of yesterday and today have come
bones and contort my entrails…” One day, on and continue to come to you: Why? They see a
your body, appeared a stigmata. You desired man of God, a man of great faith, a man
to be a victim for all, for those that you knew become prayer, a man of suffering, one
and for those that you didn’t know for the just crucified without a cross… and they remain
and the unjust. For the time of your discharge mute, contemplating your passing hours and
hours on end in the choir loft, before the 2. So that, following your example, we
crucified Lord and at the feet of Our Lady of live in constant communion with God.
Grace. Who are you to those who come to Let us pray.
you, you were asked one day, and you replied: 3. So that we accept unsparingly the
“Among you I am a human being, on the Altar adversities that are placed before us as a
a victim, and in the Confessional a judge.” test of our faith. Let us pray.
Your Mass was something magnificent! The
people crowded close around the Alter, saw
you transfigured by love and suffering, and
Eighth Day
believed! The intensity of the ardor, with all
proclaiming that you lived the Passion of
O holy Padre Pio, for Christians suffering is a
Christ and that you were immolated with Him,
necessary test of faith. God chose you to be a
was marvelous. Pope Paul VI recognized you
victim and you became a sacrificial lamb as an
with these words: “Look at the renown and the
offering for love. You offered yourself to God
world wide following he has brought together
so that others may have life everlasting.
around himself! Why? Because he celebrated
Concern for the well being of others is a
Mass with humility, heard confessions from
hallmark of Christian life. You bear your love
morning to evening, and was a man of God.”
to bring among men the presence of God, and
Most dear Padre Pio, intercede for us before
thus profess your devotion to Him: “We must
God, that we may live our faith as you lived
love others because they are visible images of
yours, that Mass may become the source and
God and to love them as God loves them… If
the summit of our ardor and that our life
God has willingly overwhelmed us with gifts,
passes into a constant, living communion with
we cannot lock them up in a trunk without
Him. We ask this in the name of Christ our
forsaking the good fruits that they must
Lord. Amen.
produce.” Your love of God and humanity
moved you to suffer with those who are
Intentions:
suffering. It was impossible to eliminate
suffering but you saw that you could bring
1. So that the Holy Mass and the
relief and felt obligated to do something. Thus
Eucharist be the source and the summit of
the great work to alleviate suffering was
our faith. Let us pray.
brought into being – The Home for the Relief
of Suffering – your hospital!
We want to learn from you this sensibility.
Never must we pass indifferently by our intercession.
suffering brothers. We ask this in the name of Dear Padre Pio, with great trust we turn to you
Christ our Lord. Amen. to beg your intercession and to seek refuge.
Pray for us; obtain from God the graces we
Intentions: need. We ask this in the name of Christ our
Lord. Amen.
1. So that the elderly and the sick receive
from us the affection that they deserve. Intentions:
Let us pray.
2. So that we manifest our love of God 1. So that we be good witnesses of the
with works of charity towards our fellow faith for the world. Let us pray.
men. Let us pray. 2. So that we pass on to future
3. So that we know how to awaken hope generations our way of life loving God
in the sick and that our hearts are always and the Church. Let us pray.
full of good will towards those who are 3. So that, in this proud age so
suffering. Let us pray. preoccupied in possessing more and
more, we serve as witnesses to a higher
value, as was Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. Let
us pray.
Ninth Day
O holy Padre Pio, crucified without the cross,
your existence, marked by the preternatural,
was humanly inexplicable. Your whole life
was on of total dedication to God and your
fellow man and, like Christ, always doing
good. The crowds rushed to you, to your
Mass, to your Confessional, for your blessing,
to your devotional practices… and returned
home comforted and content. Today you
continue to be our defender before the throne
of God and, every year, millions of people
visit your tomb seeing grace or giving thanks
for miracles obtained through your