- The origin of the “54 Days’ Rosary Novena”
In order to be continuously in the presence of Our Lady, Bartolo Longo ” Apostle of the Rosary ”, beatified by Pope John-Paul II in 1980, felt the urge to write a novena to the Virgin of Pompei.
Following is his story account: “In the month of August 1879, as I was seriously ill, I wrote a prayer in honour of Our Lady of Pompei in view of obtaining her graces; it is the Novena to Our Lady of Pompei seeking her graces in desperate situations.”
On 3rd March 1884, a young girl named Fortuna Agrelli received a revelation on this special devotion from the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the time, suffering from three distinct incurable illnesses, her case had been abandoned by the medical doctors. In the last resort, the young girl and her family had started to pray a rosary novena.
Our Lady appeared before Fortuna in the same way as she had appeared before Saint Bartolo Longo a few years before, seated on a high throne, a rosary in her hand, and holding the Infant-Jesus on her knees, with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Sienna surrounding her.
The young invalid greeted the Holy Virgin with those words: “Queen of the Holy Rosary, have mercy on me, and make me well again! I have already offered you a novena of prayers, O Holy Mary, but have not yet received your assistance. I want so much to recover soon”.
“My child, answered the Holy Virgin, you have invoked me under different titles and I have granted you some favours. Now, since you have addressed me as “Queen of the Rosary” which sounds so pleasant to me, I cannot refuse the favour you seek; this is my most precious and dear title. Thus, if you pray three novenas, you will be granted everything.”
On another occasion, the Queen of the Holy Rosary appeared to the young girl and told her “Whoever wishes to obtain some favours from me should say three rosary novenas for the request, followed by three rosary novenas for thanksgiving.
Having followed Our Lady’s instructions, the young girl was cured and recovered full health.
2. How to pray the Rosary Novena during 54 days?
A novena takes nine days. Our Lady said to the young Fortuna « make three novenas asking for a grace and then three novenas in thanksgiving ». So we suggest you to make 6 novenas, spread over 54 days.
To make this novena, you must pray a rosary (5 decades) every day during 27 days. You should medidate on the mysteries asking the grace you want to obtain. Immediately after that first part, you should pray a rosary in thanksgiving during 27 days, even if you have not obtained the grace you asked for.
This is how the six rosary novena has started. It is called the « 54 days rosary novena »
To pray this novena correctly, you must pray the rosary every day during 54 days without missing one day and you must meditate on the relevant mysteries.
This means that you always start the novena with the joyful mysteries (whatever day of the week you start the novena). The second day you pray the sorrowful mysteries and, on the third day, you pray the glorious mysteries.
On the fourth day, you pray the joyful mysteries again and so on during 54 days.
One can wonder why the luminous mysteries are not mentioned. This is because Our Lady gave us this novena in 1884, when the luminous mysteries did not exist yet. So this novena only comprises joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.
We are told that Pope Leon XIII was very impressed by the miracle of Fortuna’s cure, which was obtained by the « 54 days rosary novena ».
This late Pope wrote 17 encyclicals about the rosary and asked all faithful catholics to pray the rosary devotely. The following popes did the same.
3. Intentions
In Belgium and throughout the world, troubled times are right upon us. It is difficult to obtain individual or social peace. The laws which do not correspond to God’s laws and commandments tend to destroy Faith, Life and Peace. These laws are leading the world to a major crisis.
Therefore, let us implore God’s graces as He is our Father. May He be touched by the requests that His creatures address to their Holy Mother. If possible, from the bottom of our hearts, let us unite our prayers to those of our friends and relatives and spread the treasures of the rosary, holy viaticum and defence which will lead us to the happiness that never ends.
Let us live those 54 days in the presence of all the saints and martyrs of our countries. If we reflect upon their lives, our faith, our hope and our charity will continue to grow.
In the strict sense of the word, the rosary is a « little hat » similar to a crown. In the Middle Ages, people used to put a crown of roses on Our Lady’s statues, each rose representing a prayer, therefore the word « rosary ».