St. Thérèse novena

The St. Thérèse novena is one of the simplest in the Church: twenty-four Glory Bes, nine days, one intention. We give thanks to the Holy Trinity for every grace given to the Little Flower in her twenty-four years on earth, and we ask her to bring our need to God. Alongside it, this page gives a full nine-day novena to her printed in Milwaukee in December 1925, the year she was canonized.

How to pray the St. Thérèse rose novena

The rose novena has no booklet to buy and almost nothing to memorize. Its heart is the Glory Be, said twenty-four times a day for nine days in a row:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

1. Choose one intention and keep it for all nine days.
2. Begin each day with a short prayer of thanksgiving and petition. The text EWTN publishes thanks the Holy Trinity "for all the blessings and favors Thou hast showered upon the soul of Thy servant" during "the twenty-four years she spent here on earth," and asks for the favor "if it is in accordance with Thy most Holy Will and is not an obstacle to my salvation." You may use that prayer or simply tell God your request in your own words.
3. Pray the Glory Be twenty-four times. Many people add "St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us" after each one. Rosary beads help with the counting: two decades and four beads.
4. Repeat for nine days. The novena may be prayed at any time, but the 9th to the 17th of each month is the time most people keep, so that everyone making it prays together.
5. End in thanks, whatever the answer. St. Thérèse trusted God's will in everything; we ask her to teach us to do the same.

To finish on her feast, October 1, begin on September 22. See the feast day calendar.

Where the rose novena came from

The story of the novena is told the same way wherever it is printed, and EWTN gives it in full. On December 3, 1925, a Jesuit, Fr. Putigan, began a novena asking St. Thérèse for "one great favor." He prayed the Glory Be twenty-four times a day and asked for a sign: a freshly picked rose. On the third day a stranger brought him one. On December 24 he began a second novena and asked for a white rose. On the fourth day a nursing sister brought him one and told him, "This rose fell at my feet," near a picture of St. Thérèse in the chapel. His favor was granted, and he promised to spread the novena.

We tell this story honestly. It is a reported account from the novena's own tradition. The Church has never examined it, and we found no record of Fr. Putigan outside this account. The novena itself is a private devotion: it needs no approval to be prayed, because its prayers are the Church's own, and no promise of a rose or of any particular result is attached to it by the Church. Many people never receive a rose and find their prayer answered all the same.

The roses come from St. Thérèse herself. In her last months, as her sisters recorded, she said: "After my death I will let fall a shower of roses," and "I will spend my Heaven in doing good upon earth." Fr. Garesche printed both lines on the opening page of his 1925 novena. We understand the roses as graces she obtains from God, not as flowers we are owed. Her life and her own prayers are in her entry, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, which also gives the short "Novena Rose Prayer" that many people say with this novena.

The 1925 novena to the Little Flower

Fr. Edward F. Garesche, S.J., wrote A Novena to the Little Flower for the parishes, schools and convents of America in the months after her canonization on May 17, 1925. It was published in Milwaukee with the imprimatur of Archbishop Sebastian Messmer, dated December 8, 1925, and it is now in the public domain. The prayers below are printed word for word.

Fr. Garesche gives a short reflection for each day, to be read aloud in church or pondered at home, and then a prayer. He suggests three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes before each day's prayer, "but this, of course, is optional." The day's theme is noted before each prayer. Every prayer ends with the same line, where you bring your own intention.

First day: her baptism

Blessed Little Flower of Jesus, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, we rejoice with all our hearts at the sublime graces given you by God on the happy day of your holy baptism. We exult in the brightness of your soul, washed clean of original sin and which you preserved in its baptismal innocence throughout your holy life. By the memory of that joyful day we beseech you to obtain of Jesus your Spouse through the intercession of His Immaculate Mother that we also may live in innocence until we come to join you in heaven, and that all those who wander in darkness and in the shadows of unbelief may be converted and baptised. Obtain for all the poor children who are still unbaptised the grace of receiving this most necessary sacrament. We beg it of you in memory of your own joyful baptism. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Second day: her Catholic schooling and her vocation

Dearly beloved Saint Therese, chosen Little Flower of Jesus, we give thanks to God in your behalf for His singular goodness in providing for you the blessings and advantages of a Catholic education under the devoted care of Sisters consecrated to God, and in calling you to the religious life. By the memory of your happy school days and of the merits you gained by obedience and study, and of your fervent days in the Cloister of Carmel, we beg of you to intercede with our Lord and His Blessed Mother for the welfare and constant progress of our Catholic schools, colleges and universities. Obtain also through the intercession of Our Lady of Vocations a great abundance of religious and priestly vocations, and that those who are called by God to this angelic state of life may generously undertake so sublime a service. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Third day: her Catholic home

Blessed Little Flower of Jesus, the roots of your sanctity and purity were fixed deep in the friendly soil of a holy and loving home. By the memory of the tender care of your parents and the loving solicitude of your sisters, obtain we beseech you for all our families and for those of the entire world the blessings of a truly Catholic home life, full of simple and sincere piety, warm with devoted family love, adorned with true Catholic culture, and bright with the influence of cheerful good example. Fill our Catholic parents with the spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice and our children with obedient love so that our homes may be like the home of Nazareth and our lives like the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Make us love our homes and abide in them, fill them abundantly with good pictures and books and protect them from all evil influences of speech or of example. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Her parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, were canonized together in 2015, the first married couple raised to the altars together.

Fourth day: her First Communion

Happy and favored Little Flower of Jesus, fed with the sacred Body of Christ and watered with His precious Blood, remember we beseech you with great joy the happiest day of your first Communion when your innocent heart received as its guest the Infant Jesus and became the cradle of that Heavenly Child. By the fruits and graces, the joy and gladness of your First Communion, obtain we beseech you from the Sacred Heart through the intercession of His Immaculate Mother that we and all Catholic people may realize and appreciate the blessings of frequent Communion and may heed the invitation of Jesus, given us through the mouth of His vicar on earth, to go to Holy Communion as often as we can and, if possible, every day. Keep us in the state of grace, so that we may be always ready to receive. Have pity on those outside the true fold and by your prayers bring them to their Father's home and to the Table of the Body and Blood of Christ. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Fifth day: her zeal for souls

Dear Little Flower of Jesus, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, we are happy in the recollection of your great desire to pray and to suffer for the conversion and salvation of sinners, and in the remembrance of the splendid and evident answer which God is giving to your confiding petitions. By the memory of your own burning zeal while you were with us on earth, plead with the Sacred Heart of your Spouse to kindle our hearts with the same resistless flame of love for souls. Make us understand the preciousness of every single soul, bought with the blood of Christ. May the souls of children, of sinners, of those outside the fold, of fallen away Catholics, of the unrepentant and the malicious, of all the dying, be forever in our prayers and the object of our sacrifices and labors. Help us to reap a great harvest of souls, and when we have happily come to dwell with you in heaven, may we also spend our eternity like you in doing good on earth and interceding for sinners and for those who have never received the light of the Faith of Christ. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Sixth day: her purity and hatred of sin

Flower of childlike innocence and purity, Saint Therese who did keep unsullied, by penance, prayer and holy thoughts, the snowy bloom of innocence, help us, we beg, by your powerful intercession with Christ the virgin of virgins and His most chaste Mother, to imitate your cleanness of heart and your great hatred for sin. Make us dread the occasions of sin, make us fear pleasures and companionships which are dangerous; teach us to sacrifice anything, even life itself, rather than offend God and stain our immortal souls. Watch over our amusements, our companionships, our reading, our work and our play, all the busy and the leisure moments of our lives, so that nothing sinful may enter into our minds or our hearts. Extend your powerful protection also to all those who are dear to us, to all for whom we wish to pray, to all Catholics everywhere and to every soul which is made in the image of God and called to the possession of eternal life. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Seventh day: her love for the Church

Ah, gracious Little Flower of Jesus, full of love of the Church of God, full of zeal for the interests of the Heart of Christ, obtain for us, we beg of you, through the intercession of the ever-blessed Mother of God, a love of Holy Mother Church and the most ardent zeal for her interests. Teach us your little way of complete and childlike self-abandonment and conformity to the will of God. Make us understand the great merit of little things done with great love. Remind us frequently to pray for the priests of God, for all religious and for the zealous Catholic laity, that they may all persevere unceasingly, working that the kingdom of God may come upon earth. Strengthen us to take our part in good works for the welfare of Holy Mother Church and the salvation of souls. Make us by your intercession, faithful and self-sacrificing in helping the priests of our parish and give us the most active interest in whatever pertains to the general welfare of the Church. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Eighth day: her zeal for the missions

Dear model of apostolic souls, fair Little Flower of Jesus, whose tender heart pleaded incessantly with God for the welfare of Catholic missions, pour down into our hearts a shower of the roses of burning love and unselfish desires, so that we also may glow with interest and zeal for the work of spreading the faith and may assist by our fervent prayers and generous offerings all missionary endeavors of the Church at home and in foreign lands. Faithful and loving little sister of all missionaries, obtain from the Sacred Heart by your powerful intercession that all who have the vocation to be missionary priests, brothers or sisters, may generously heed and follow that heavenly summons. Shower down graces on all who labor for the conversion and salvation of souls. Soften the hearts of the heathen nations, and bring the whole world to the feet of Christ. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Two years after this booklet appeared, in 1927, Pope Pius XI named St. Thérèse patroness of the missions, with St. Francis Xavier, though she never left her Carmel.

Ninth day: her love for Christ

Flower of fervor and love, dear St. Therese, of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, we beseech you with the most yearning desire to have pity on us and by your intercession enkindle in our hearts a pure love of God like to your own. Help us to realize how good God is in Himself and how worthy of all our love. Lift our minds above the sordid things of earth to contemplate the beauty of Jesus, the amiableness of His Sacred Heart, His immense love which makes Him grieve that we love Him so little in return. Remind us often to repeat an act of the pure love of God, saying with all our hearts, "My God, I love you above all things for Your own sake, because You are infinitely worthy of all my love; and I am sorry for all my sins for the love of You." Make this love the inspiration of our slightest actions, the ruling motive of our lives and help us, in imitation of your example, to teach this love to the entire world. Ask for us also, we pray, the favors which each one wishes personally to obtain through this holy novena. Amen.

Two short prayers from the 1925 booklet

Fr. Garesche closes his booklet with the Litany of St. Thérèse, "for private devotion only," and two prayers. The litany ends with this collect, which is short enough to say every day of either novena:

O God, Who didst inflame with Thy Spirit of Love the soul of Thy servant Therese of the Child Jesus, grant that we also may love Thee and may make Thee much loved. Amen.

The second prayer asks her to bring our request to Our Lady, "who smiled on thee at the dawn of life," remembering the smile of the Virgin's statue that healed Thérèse in her childhood illness. It ends with the Hail, Holy Queen:

O little Therese of the Child Jesus, who during thy short life on earth became a mirror of angelic purity, of love strong as death, and of whole-hearted abandonment to God, now that thou rejoicest in the reward of thy virtues, cast a glance of pity on me as I leave all things in thy hands. Make my troubles thine own—speak a word for me to our Lady Immaculate, whose flower of special love thou wert—to that Queen of heaven "who smiled on thee at the dawn of life." Beg her as Queen of the Heart of Jesus to obtain for me by her powerful intercession, the grace I yearn for so ardently at this moment, and that she join with it a blessing that may strengthen me during life, defend me at the hour of death, and lead me straight on to a happy eternity. Hail, holy Queen.

Praying the novena with the whole Church

Fr. Garesche wrote his novena to be prayed in public as well as at home. He laid out an evening service: a hymn during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the opening prayers, the Veni Creator, the day's reading, the day's prayer, and Benediction, with the Te Deum on the last night. Many parishes still keep a St. Thérèse novena in the nine days before October 1 in much the same way.

The crowds who came to Lisieux in those years explain why. Pope Pius XI beatified her in 1923 and canonized her in 1925, and in those years her reliquary was carried through the streets of Lisieux for the great celebrations.

The great basilica built in her honor at Lisieux was consecrated in 1954, and pilgrims still come to pray there and at the Carmel where she lived and died.

Related prayers and pages

• St. Thérèse of Lisieux: her life, the Little Way, the shower of roses, verified quotes and the Novena Rose Prayer.
• Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, her parents.
• The Glory Be and the Hail, Holy Queen.
• More novenas, including the St. Jude novena, the St. Anthony novena and the Surrender Novena, are on our novenas page.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, pray for us.