Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Americas, the unborn and protection of human life, evangelization, expectant mothers

Tradition: Marian devotion of the Americas, rooted in the 1531 apparitions to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac; Our Lady of Guadalupe is named Patroness of all America by St. John Paul II (Ecclesia in America, 1999)

Associated feast: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12)

When to pray: Traditionally prayed in the nine days leading up to December 12, beginning December 3, and concluding on the eve of the feast. It may also be prayed at any time, especially for the protection of human life and the conversion of the Americas.

About this devotion

In December 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac near present-day Mexico City, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a humble indigenous convert, St. Juan Diego, asking that a church be built on the site. As a sign for the doubting bishop, she caused Castilian roses to bloom in winter and imprinted her own image miraculously upon Juan Diego's tilma (cloak) — an image that survives to this day in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where it is venerated by more pilgrims than any other Marian shrine on earth.

The conversion of millions of the native peoples of the Americas followed in the years after the apparition. St. John Paul II, who canonized Juan Diego in 2002, placed the whole continent under her protection: in the apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America (1999) he invoked her as 'Patroness of all America and Star of the first and new evangelization,' and asked that her feast be celebrated throughout the continent on December 12. Because the image shows Mary as a pregnant woman wearing the maternity sash of native custom, she has also become, for the faithful of our day, a powerful patroness of the unborn and of the protection of human life.

This nine-day novena draws on the words of St. John Paul II at the Basilica of Guadalupe and on the historical account of the apparition. Each day meditates on one aspect of the Guadalupan event or of Mary's maternal care for the Americas, and concludes with the prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe that the Pope addressed to her in 1999, entrusting the peoples of the continent to her intercession.

The Nine Days

1. Day 1: Mary appears to the humble — the call of St. Juan Diego

   Scripture: Luke 1:48

2. Day 2: The tender words of the Mother of Tepeyac

   Scripture: John 19:26-27

3. Day 3: The miraculous image and the conversion of a people

   Scripture: Psalm 147:19-20

4. Day 4: Patroness of the unborn and of human life

   Scripture: Jeremiah 1:5

5. Day 5: Mother of the indigenous peoples and of all the marginalized

   Scripture: Isaiah 49:15

6. Day 6: Queen of Peace for a continent of conflict

   Scripture: John 14:27

7. Day 7: A new springtime of holiness

   Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23

8. Day 8: Star of the new evangelization

   Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20

9. Day 9: Total entrustment to the Mother and Queen of the Americas

   Scripture: John 2:5

Daily Novena Prayer

Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe (St. John Paul II, 1999)

Holy Virgin of Guadalupe, Queen of Peace! Save the nations and peoples of this continent. Teach everyone, political leaders and citizens, to live in true freedom and to act according to the requirements of justice and respect for human rights, so that peace may thus be established once and for all. To you, O Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, belong all the love, honour, glory and endless praise of your American sons and daughters!

From the prayer St. John Paul II addressed to Our Lady of Guadalupe at the conclusion of his homily at the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City, January 23, 1999. Recited each of the nine days.

Frequently Asked Questions