Prayer for Parenthood
O good St Gerard, powerful intercessor before God and wonder worker of our day, confidently I call upon you and seek your aid. On Earth you always fulfilled God's designs, help me now to do the holy will of God.
Implore the Master of Life, from whom all paternity proceeds, to render me fruitful in offspring, that I may raise up children to God in this life, and heirs to the Kingdom of His glory in the world to come.
Amen.
Prayer for Safe Delivery
O great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted child of Mother of God, enkindle within my heart one spark of that heavenly fire of charity which glowed in your heart and made you an angel of love.
O glorious Saint Gerard, because when falsely accused of crime, you did bear, like your Divine Master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, you have been raised up by God as the patron and protector of expectant mothers.
Preserve me from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which I now carry, that it may see the light of day and receive the purifying and life-giving waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thanksgiving for a Safe Delivery
Good St. Gerard, Patron of Mothers, assist me in thanking God for the great gift of motherhood. During the months of my waiting I learned to call upon you and placed the safety of my child and myself under your powerful protection. The great lesson of your trust in God sustained me; your slogan, "God will provide," became my hope and consolation.
I thank God for a healthy and normal baby and my own good health. Help me to prize the great treasure of motherhood and obtain for me from God the graces to raise my child as a child of God.
Amen.
Prayer for a sick child
O most beloved Saint Gerard, who, like the Savior, loved children and by your prayers freed many from disease and even death, listen to us who are pleading for our sick child.
We thank God for the great gift of our son/daughter and ask God to restore our child to health if such be the Holy will. This favor we beg of you through your love for all children and mothers.
Present our promise to God to bring up the child as a good Christian and to guard them by word and example against the fatal leprosy of sin.
This favor we implore of you, O sainted Brother, through the tender love with which Jesus and Mary blessed your own innocent childhood.
Amen.
Novena to Saint Gerard
1st Day
Saint Gerard, ever full of faith, obtain for me that, believing firmly all that the Church of God proposes to my belief, I may strive to secure through a holy life the joys of eternal happiness.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us Pray
O Almighty and Everlasting God, who didst draw to thyself Saint Gerard, even from his tenderest years, making him conformable to the Image of Thy Crucified Son, grant we beseech Thee, that imitating his example, we may be made like unto the same Divine Image, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
2nd Day
Saint Gerard, most generous saint, who from thy tenderest years didst care so little for the goods of earth, grant that I may place all my confidence in Jesus Christ alone, my true Treasure, who alone can make me happy in time and in eternity.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us Pray
O Almighty and Everlasting God, who didst draw to thyself Saint Gerard, even from his tenderest years, making him conformable to the Image of Thy Crucified Son, grant we beseech Thee, that imitating his example, we may be made like unto the same Divine Image, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
3rd Day
Saint Gerard, bright seraph of love, who despising all earthly love, didst consecrate thy life to the service of God and thy neighbor, promoting God’s glory in thy lowly state, and ever ready to assist the distressed and console the sorrowful, obtain for me, I beseech thee, that loving God the only God and my neighbor for His sake, I may be hereafter united to Him for ever in glory.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us Pray
O Almighty and Everlasting God, who didst draw to thyself Saint Gerard, even from his tenderest years, making him conformable to the Image of Thy Crucified Son, grant we beseech Thee, that imitating his example, we may be made like unto the same Divine Image, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
4th Day
Saint Gerard, spotless lily of purity, by the angelic virtue and thy wonderful innocence of life thou didst receive from the Infant Jesus and His Immaculate Mother, sweet pledges of tenderest love, grant, I beseech thee, that I may ever strive in my life-long fight, and thus win the crown that awaits the brave and the true.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us Pray
O Almighty and Everlasting God, who didst draw to thyself Saint Gerard, even from his tenderest years, making him conformable to the Image of Thy Crucified Son, grant we beseech Thee, that imitating his example, we may be made like unto the same Divine Image, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
5th Day
Saint Gerard, model of holy obedience, who through thy life didst heroically submit the judgment to those who represent Jesus Christ to thee, thus sanctifying thy lowliest actions, obtain for me from God cheerful submission to His Holy Will and the virtue of perfect obedience, that I may be made comformable to Jesus, my model, who was obedient even to death.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
6th Day
Saint Gerard, most perfect imitator of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, do thou whose greatest glory was to be humble and lowly, obtain that I too, knowing my littleness in God’s sight, may be found worthy to enter the kingdom that is promised to the humble and lowly of heart.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
7th Day
Saint Gerard, unconquered hero, most patient in suffering, do thou who didst glory in infirmity, and faced cruel lies and disgrace didst rejoice to suffer with Christ, obtain for me patience and
resignation in my sorrows, that I may bravely bear the cross that is to gain for me the crown of everlasting glory.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
8th Day
Saint Gerard, true lover of Jesus in the Eucharist, do thou who didst kneel long hours before the Tabernacle, and there didst taste the joys of Paradise, obtain for me, I beseech thee, the spirit of prayer and an undying love for Jesus, that thus receiving frequently the Eucharist, I may daily grow in His holy love and merit the priceless grace of loving Him to the end.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
9th Day
Saint Gerard, most favorite child of heaven, to whom Mary gave the infant Jesus in the day of thy childhood, to whom she sweetly came before you didst close yours eyes in death, obtain for me, I beg thee, so to seek and love my Blessed Mother during life, that she may be my joy and consolation in this valley of tears, until with thee, before the throne of God, I may praise her goodness for all eternity. Amen.
(Hail Mary: recite nine times)
V. Pray for us, O Saint Gerard.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
For Special Blessings
Most Blessed Trinity, I, your child, thank You for all the gifts and privileges which You granted to St. Gerard, especially for those virtues with which You adorned him on earth and the glory which You now impart to him in heaven. Accomplish Your work, O Lord, so that Your kingdom may come about the earth. Through his merits, in union with those of Jesus and Mary, grant me the grace for which I now ask
(mention your intention).
And you, my powerful intercessor, St. Gerard, always so ready to help those who have recourse to you, pray for me.
Come before the throne of Divine Mercy and do not leave without being heard. To you I confide this important and urgent affair
(mention your intention).
Graciously take my cause in hand, and do not let me end this novena without having experienced in some way the effects of your intercession.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
