September 8 is Our Lady’s birthday — and this novena is the gift: nine days, 10 minutes a day with Mary, with the traditional prayer in full, the day’s Scripture and the Way of the Day — on video and in a free companion book.
The Church celebrates only three births in the whole year: the birth of Jesus, the birth of St. John the Baptist — and the birth of Mary, on September 8.
This feast was not invented yesterday. It was born in Jerusalem more than fifteen hundred years ago: around the year 450, Christians built a church over the ground tradition pointed to as the home of Joachim and Anne, Mary’s parents, beside the pool of Bethesda — the "Basilica of Saint Mary where she was born", which still stands today as the Church of Saint Anne. In the seventh century the feast reached Rome, and Pope Sergius I honored it with a great procession. And there is a hidden beauty in the calendar: September 8 falls exactly nine months after December 8, the Immaculate Conception. Before the Sun rises, the dawn is born.
The novena we pray here has a named source: it comes from "Mary, Help of Christians" by the Franciscan friar Fr. Bonaventure Hammer, O.F.M. (Benziger Brothers, 1909, now in the public domain), with nine meditations and nine prayers, one for each day — and the preparatory prayer of that novena was enriched with an indulgence by Pope Pius IX in 1863. We translated it faithfully from the original, and the book states, prayer by prayer, what is traditional text and what is our own writing.
Each day has a contemplative video of about 10 minutes with the complete novena: the Sub Tuum Praesidium — the oldest known Marian prayer —, the day’s prayer, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be prayed in full, the Word of God with a meditation, the Way of the Day, and the closing blessing with the invocation "Our Lady of the Nativity, pray for us!" — nothing abridged, so you can pray along from beginning to end.
On September 8, the feast: many Catholic families celebrate the birthday of the Mother of Heaven with a flower before her image, a lit candle and "happy birthday" sung with the children. The companion book in PDF carries the complete novena, the Prayer Booklet, and a QR code for each day that leads straight to the video.
“Mary was born a saint, and a great saint.”
With that certainty of St. Alphonsus the novena begins: when this child is born, salvation is at the door. Nine days to contemplate the birth that brought joy to the whole world — and to reach September 8, Our Lady’s birthday, with a petition made, renewed and offered.
Not just a prayer to repeat: it is the birthday gift you prepare for the Mother of God, one day at a time.
The novena of Fr. Hammer (1909), with the Sub Tuum Praesidium, each day’s prayer, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be in full — and the preparatory prayer indulgenced by Pope Pius IX in 1863.
Each day opens with a chapter: Joachim and Anne, the child born a saint, the daughter of kings, the gifts God gave her, the angels who rejoice, the holy name of Mary.
In its first pages the book sets out the research into the sources: what is traditional text, what is our own writing — and what is ancient tradition that is not Scripture, stated in so many words.
A contemplative video each day and the novena book in PDF, with the Prayer Booklet (Litany of Loreto, Ave Maris Stella) and a QR code — made to be printed and prayed in a group.
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Enter your best email and we release the "Nativity of Mary Novena" book in PDF right now — ready to be printed and prayed in a group.