Heads Up: St. Andrew Novena for Christmas Begins Tomorrow

St. Andrew,  the first Apostle, patron saint
of fisherman, singers, textile workers,
miners, brides,and pregnant women

The actual origins of this Christmas "novena" are murky, and to tell you the truth, everything about it has always been a little quirky and confusing to me. It's a beautiful prayer, don't get me wrong -- and one I love praying! These beautiful words are as much a part of Advent to me as the Advent Wreath! Its benefit of Advent mindfulness cannot be denied, even outside of the promise of having our requests fulfilled -- but I've always wondered about it. Where did it come from? How old is it? What does a Christmas novena have to do with St. Andrew? And why do we call a twenty-five day prayer a "novena," seeing as a novena, by definition, should last only nine days?

The best information I can find, claims that this prayer appears to be well over one hundred years old, dating it by the earliest record of its being found in a prayer book, and it is given an Irish origin, with no real explanation. The imprimatur reads: "Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York, February 1, 1897." The sentiment and graceful wording, though, you have to admit, sounds like something the Irish would pray. (Try saying it with an Irish accent and you'll see what I mean.)

Why begin a Christmas prayer with St. Andrew, though? He's not even mentioned in the prayer; it is addressed to God, Himself! You won't be surprised, I'm sure, to know there's a lovely explanation, and one that I think makes perfect sense. St. Andrew was the "first-called" of Our Lord's apostles -- and it was he who led St. Peter, our first pope, to Jesus. It is appropriate, then, that one of the first saint's feast days of the brand new liturgical year should be that of the first-called of Christ's bishops, and that the apostle who led Peter to Jesus at the docks by the Sea of Galilee should also lead us to Jesus at the manger in Bethlehem. Beginning on his feast day does also, of course, carry us through the Advent season.

Why is it called a novena if it carries us through all of Advent? There is speculation that this prayer was originally an actual nine-day novena, beginning on the Feast of St. Andrew and ending on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th. It seems that it did not originally begin with the repetition of the prayer fifteen times daily, either. But, over the last century or so (or however much time, we don't know), by popular practice, the pious faithful, it seems, desired to work harder for this Christmas grace. Somewhere along the line, folks decided to extend the prayers all the way to Christmas Eve -- and, mirroring the mysteries of the rosary, added the fifteen repetitions. All right and good.

The St. Andrews Prayers are often called miraculous, and I've heard of at least one miracle, in which the petitioners, a couple who had hitherto been considered infertile, prayed the St. Andrew Novena faithfully, and went on to have three children in four years. I, personally, have prayed it many times for the spiritual health and well-being of our extended family, and have been edified by God's grace for our children. This year, when the world is so upside-down, the temptation is to broaden the scope of the prayers, and I thought about ways of wording that... but nothing seemed quite fitting, so I've decided to keep the same petition as always. It seems every sermon I hear, every book or article I read lately has been coming around to the same point of Godly wisdom over and over again: we sanctify the world by sanctifying ourselves. So, beginning on the Feast of St. Andrew, November 30th, for all our family, friends and benefactors. -- and myself, as well...

* One chief source here and bits and pieces of about a half dozen other sites -- with very little additional information with real sources. This was a hard one to find facts about -- just lots of speculation.

* Biography and thoughts on St. Andrew here.

* A tutorial and PDF prayer card and instructions for for the St. Andrew's Novena chaplet below!