Leading up to Mother’s Day on May 12, FaithND will offer a novena to pray for our mothers, grandmothers, and for those who have been mothers to us on our spiritual and personal journeys. We invite you to join us in praying with Mary and eight other holy women. See the full novena here.

NOVENA PRAYER

Mary, Our Mother, by accepting the invitation to bear God’s Son to the world, you brought forth new life for all of us. Your faithful acceptance of God’s word is our model and inspiration as we strive to make room in our hearts for your Son and bear him to others. Help us to follow him more closely, even to the foot of the cross, as you did.



During this month dedicated to you, we ask in a special way for you to care for each of our own mothers: (state your personal intention).




Notre Dame, our Mother, we pray today for our mothers and for all those who offer hospitality to the poor and marginalized. May we imitate their example to welcome the stranger and the least among us as your Son, Jesus Christ.

We pray, as in all things, through the name of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

TODAY’S SAINT

St. Rose Venerini was a saint who pioneered providing education to poor women and children in Italy. She was born in Viterbo, Italy in in the year 1655 or 1656. At the age of seven, Rose dedicated her life to God. When she was a young woman, however, she became engaged to a young man her parents wished her to marry.

Her fiancé died soon after their engagement: the first in a string of tragic deaths which would follow Rose. First, her father passed away, then her beloved brother Domenico, then her sister Maria. Exhausted by grief, Rose’s mother also died.

Rose began to gather young girls together to pray in her home, teaching them the rosary and other prayers. Rose tried many different spiritualities—she joined the Dominicans, she studied spirituality with the Jesuits—but, eventually, she began her own religious organization. She founded her first school in 1685—the first public school for girls in Italy.

Rose faced resistance to her movement: many clergy did not understand why lay women would teach the catechism, and the boldness of Rose’s project and her care for the education of ignorant girls was a mystery to them.

But Rose was invited by neighboring diocese to expand her initiative, so Rose trained teachers, organized schools, and provided education throughout the Viterbo region. Her order, called the Religious Teachers or the Venerini Sisters, continued to spread.

Rose died on May 7, 1728, but her movement has yet to die. She had opened more than forty schools at the time of her death and more continued to spread, particularly to the United States, to serve Italian immigrants. Rose was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 15, 2006.

St. Rose Venerini, teacher and mother of the poor—pray for us!

Visit the Mother’s Day Novena page>>