| Novena Starts: | January 17 |
| Feastday: | January 26 |
| Birth: | 347 |
| Death: | 404 |
Patron saint of widows, those who grieve the loss of a spouse or child, mothers, the Hieronymite monks and nuns, and scholars of Scripture
St. Paula of Rome Novena, Patroness of Widows
St. Paula (347-404) was one of the richest women in Rome, happily married with five children, when her husband died and left her a widow at thirty-two. Her grief nearly broke her. Under the guidance of St. Jerome she turned it into a new life, gave away her wealth to the poor, and in 385 sailed for the Holy Land with her daughter Eustochium. At Bethlehem she built a monastery for men, a convent for women and a hospice for pilgrims, learned Hebrew so she could chant the Psalms in the original, and became Jerome’s indispensable helper in his translation of the Scriptures. Pray this novena for widows, for all who grieve, for detachment from riches, and for the favor you most need.
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Day 1
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 2
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 3
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 4
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 5
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 6
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 7
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 8
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
Day 9
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O holy Saint Paula, you knew every blessing the world could give, noble birth, great wealth, a loving husband and a household of children, and when God took your husband from you, your grief was so great that you thought you could not bear it. Yet you did not turn away from God in your sorrow, but let Him turn your mourning into a new life given wholly to Him.
You laid aside your silks and your honours, gave your fortune to the poor, and followed Christ to Bethlehem, where you built a house of prayer beside the place of His birth and an inn where no pilgrim would be turned away. You learned the holy tongue so that you might pray the Psalms as David prayed them, and you served the Word of God by helping Saint Jerome to bring the Scriptures to the whole Church.
Look with compassion on all widows, and on all who have lost a husband or wife, a child, or anyone they loved. Comfort them in their loneliness, strengthen them in their weakness, and show them, as you were shown, that God has not abandoned them and has work for them still. Teach mothers to entrust their children to God, and teach all of us to hold loosely the riches of this world, that we may lay up treasure in heaven.
Obtain for us a love of the Holy Scriptures, a spirit of prayer, and a generous heart toward the poor and the stranger.
And now, dear Saint Paula, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all the grace to say with you at the end of our lives, “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house.”
Amen.
O God, who filled Saint Paula with such love of Your Son that she left all things to follow Him in poverty to the place of His birth, grant, through her intercession, that we who mourn may be consoled, that we may use the goods of this world for Your glory, and may come at last to rejoice with her in Your eternal home. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Paula, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“Mary forced the evil to truly reveal it self. In my life.”
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