The Holy Family Novena

The Holy Family Novena is a nine-day Catholic prayer to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph under their joint title as the Holy Family of Nazareth. The novena is prayed for the sanctification of Catholic family life, for protection of marriages, for the welfare of children, and for the conversion of family members away from the Catholic faith.

Origin and historical development

Catholic devotion to the Holy Family is among the most ancient in the Christian tradition, attested in patristic homilies on the Nativity and developed throughout the medieval period in art, hymnody, and theology. The formal liturgical feast of the Holy Family was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893 to strengthen Catholic family life amid the social upheavals of the late nineteenth century.

The novena form is prayed in the days preceding the feast, which falls on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas (typically December 27-31). In years when no such Sunday falls between December 25 and January 1, the feast is celebrated on December 30.

Structure of the novena

Each day addresses one aspect of the Holy Family's life and one corresponding intention for Catholic families: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation, the flight into Egypt, the hidden life at Nazareth, the Finding in the Temple, the Catholic theological vocation of family life, and the patronage of Saint Joseph over the universal Catholic Church.

When the novena is prayed

The traditional dates of the novena are December 19 through December 27 (the latter being the eve of the Holy Family feast in most years). The novena may also be prayed at any time of year for the welfare of one's own family or another family in need.

Theological foundation

The Catholic theology of the Holy Family rests on the human reality of the Incarnation: the Son of God entered human history through a real family, with a real human mother and a foster father. The family at Nazareth is therefore the divinely chosen model for Catholic family life. Pope Saint John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981) gives the most extended modern Catholic teaching on family life under this Marian-Christological model.

Pairing with other prayers

The novena pairs naturally with the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary (which meditate the events of the Holy Family's life), with the Angelus (commemorating the Annunciation), and with prayers to Saint Joseph as patron of the Church and of fathers. For other family-related novenas, see the Saint Joseph Novena and the Saint Anne Novena.

Sources

The primary texts are the canonical Gospels (Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2) and the patristic tradition's homilies on the Nativity. Pope Saint John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio (November 22, 1981) is the principal modern magisterial source.