9 days of prayer for our families

With this novena, let Saint Anne and Saint Joachim guide you to Jesus, through all stages of family life: youth, singleness, celibacy, marriage, infertility, widowhood...

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Why pray this novena?

Objective of this novena:

  • To ask for the intercession of St. Anne and St. Joachim to guide us at every stage of family life.
  • To ask for blessings for our families and to pray especially for those most affected by the current social and political context, which weakens families.

How wonderful to be able to pray with those who taught the Virgin Mary to pray!

Who are St. Anne and St. Joachim?

According to tradition, when they were very old, Joachim and Anne miraculously became the parents of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Saviour and thus the mother of mankind. 

St. Anne and St. Joachim formed Mary's heart to virtue and innocence!

If we believe that Mary is our mother in Heaven, then let us be certain that St. Anne and St. Joachim are our heavenly "grandparents"! They welcome us into their grandparental hearts.

The programme

Concretely, every day you will receive:

✔️Some information to get to know these saints better,

✔️A reflection on this beautiful couple,

✔️The prayer for each day,

✔️A concrete action, following the example of saint Anne and Joachim.

Novena for Families Intentions

Day 1 - Grandfathers and grandmothers; old men and old women; widows and widowers

Day 2 - Single men and women

Day 3 - Fiancés, spouses

Day 4- Couples with marital problems

Day 5- Infertile or sterile couples

Day 6 - Pregnant women and expected children

Day 7- Fathers and mothers of families

Day 8 - Children and young people, the future of the Church, of society, of the world!

Day 9- Consecrated persons, vocations

What does the church tell us about praying for families?

Pope Francis asks us to pray for families and focuses his universal prayer intention on "our families".

The family must be protected. There are many dangers it faces: the pace of life, stress.... Sometimes parents forget to play with their children. The Church has to encourage and be at the side of families, helping them to discover ways to overcome all these difficulties. Let us pray that families in today's world may be accompanied with love, respect and advice. And in a special way, may they be protected by States.

Pope Francis

Depose your intentions here

They will be deposed at the feet of the Statue of Saint Anne in Carrascosa del Campo where a veneration has existed since at least the 14th century and is now continued by the brotherhood of Saint Anne.

Novena prayer

Prayer to Saint Anne and Saint Joachim

Most illustrious and glorious patriarch St. Joachim and most gracious St. Anne, how great is my joy to consider that they were chosen among all the saints of God to give divine fulfilment and enrich the world with the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy! By such a singular privilege, they have come to have the greatest influence over both Mother and Son to obtain for us the graces we most need. With great confidence I have recourse to their powerful protection and entrust to them all my spiritual and material needs and those of my family. Especially the particular grace which I entrust to your solicitude and strongly desire to obtain through your intercession. As you were a perfect example of interior life, obtain for me the gift of the most sincere prayer. May I never set my heart on the transient goods of this life. Give me a lively and constant love for Jesus and Mary. Obtain for me also a sincere devotion and obedience to the Holy Church and to the Pope who governs it, so that I may live and die with faith, hope and perfect charity. May I always invoke the holy names of Jesus and Mary, and thus be saved. Amen.