Support UsAbout the Holy Family NovenaYou’re invited to pray the Holy Family Novena with the sisters
Sr. Catherine Fedewa penned this popular prayer in 1989Put on, as God’s chosen ones…heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience...
And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.
Second Reading, Feast of the Holy Family Col. 3: 12
Since the 1989 Christmas season, friends of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth have been praying the special Holy Family Novena with the sisters for the nine days leading up to this feast on the Church calendar.
The Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday between Christmas and January 1. This year, the Feast falls on Sunday, Dec. 27. Today, the novena is prayed across the country in English, Spanish and Polish. This particular custom has its roots with the sisters in Pittsburgh. During the summer of 1989, Sr. Cathy Fedewa was on retreat in Toledo, Ohio. “I sat down during the holy hour one day, and all of a sudden, an idea came to me for this novena,” Sr. Cathy recalls. “It definitely was an inspired piece; I had no preconception about doing this. I don’t know where it came from, but the words were just there.” Each day of the prayer focuses on a different aspect or form of family life, some of them non-traditional. “For all families…for new families…for families in pain…for persons without families…for our brothers and sisters throughout the world…” Sr. Cathy explains, “When I was thinking about this prayer, all of those different aspects of family life came to me.” That holiday season, the sisters in Pittsburgh received ecclesiastical permission from the Diocese of Pittsburgh to print the novena; they sent it to friends and family on their mailing list, invited them to join the sisters in praying the novena. Eventually, the custom spread across what is now the U.S. province of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth – and beyond. Of note: The Spanish translation was provided by the Sons of the Holy Family, a congregation of men founded in Spain with homes in Maryland and New Mexico. “We made a special connection there,” Sr. Cathy says. To order copies of the novena in English, Polish or Spanish, please one of these buttons: REQUEST
A HOLY FAMILY NOVENA BOOKLET - PDF FORM >
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Contact Development
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Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth
National Development Office
310 N River Road
Des Plaines, IL 60016
847-298-6760 ext. 14
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Katherine Barth
National Develoment Director
847-298-6760 ext. 14
kbarth@nazarethcsfn.org
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Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth
Regional Development Office
4001 Grant Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19114-2999
215-268-1040
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Sr. Carol Mockus, CSFN
Asst. Dir. - Development, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic & New England
215-268-1040
cmockus@nazarethcsfn.org
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