Triduum Prayers and Perpetual Novena in Honor of St. Martin de Porres

ACT OF CONTRITION

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because I have offended You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.

OPENING PRAYERS

Most humble Martin de Porres, your charity embraced not only your needy brethren but also the very animals of the fields. We hail you and invoke you, splendid example of charity! Listen to the prayers of your needy brethren that, by imitating your virtues, we may live contented in that state in which God has placed us, and carrying with strength and courage our cross, we may follow the footsteps of our Blessed Redeemer and his most afflicted Mother, that at last, we may reach the Kingdom of Heaven through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

INVOCATIONS

(On Thursday, any of the three sets could be used, cfr. page 4; for the Triduum, a set each day)

(A)
Leader: By your intense love for man's spiritual needs and cares, and your desire to discover God's goodness in all things,

People: Guide me, St. Martin, that I may see God in all things.

Leader: By your shining example in Christian detachment from worldly and material pleasures that made you nearer to what is supernatural and divine,

People: Pray, St. Martin, that I may continually grow spiritually in God's grace.

Leader: By your practice of strict poverty as a means to attain your holiness and intimate friendship with God,

People: We implore you, St. Martin, make us poor in heart and spirit

PRAYER

    O Lord, you have given to the world a glorious apostle of humility, St. Martin de Porres. Guide us by his example and strengthen us through his intercession in our efforts to conform our hearts to the humble heart of your crucified Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

    (You may now ask for the favor you wish to obtain through the intercession of St. Martin)

    OUR FATHER ... HAIL MARY ... GLORY BE.

PRAYER OF PETITION

St. Martin de Porres, you always had sympathy for the poor and those who were suffering. We need you help and now ask for it with great confidence in your goodness and power. The favors you received from God encourage us now to ask your intercession. We ask you most humbly to be friend us and assist us from your place in heaven. When you were here on earth, you spent your life loving God and your neighbor. Now that you live in the presence of God, intercede for us and beg the Divine Physician to give us health of soul and body. Amen.

LITANY IN HONOR OF ST. MARTIN DE PORRES

Lord, have mercy on us.
        Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
        Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
        Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
        Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father or heaven,
            Have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
            Have mercy on us.

God, the Holy Spirit,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,

St. Martin, ever in the presence of God, Pray for us.

St. Martin, faithful servant of Christ,

St. Martin, perfect adorer of the Holy Eucharist,

St. Martin, ardent devotee of the Mother of God,

St. Martin, Lover of Mary's Rosary,

St. Martin, honored son of St. Dominic,

St. Martin, paragon of humility,

St. Martin, performing menial tasks with holy o ardor,
St. Martin, model of obedience,
St. Martin, strong in self-denial,
St. Martin, lover of heroic penance and mortification,
St. Martin, totally given to holy poverty,
St. Martin, shining example of worldly and material detachment,
St. Martin, apostle of mercy,
St. Martin, winged minister of charity,
St. Martin, miraculously conveyed to far-distant lands,
St. Martin, seeking the conversion of sinners,
St. Martin, protector of the tempted and the repentant,
St. Martin, compassionate to the sorrowful,
St. Martin, consoler of the afflicted,
St. Martin, peacemaker of all discords
St. Martin, healer of the sick and suffering,
St. Martin, father of the poor,
St. Martin, helper of those in distress,
St. Martin, guardian of the homeless,
St. Martin, comforter of the dying,
St. Martin, promoter of inter-racial brotherhood,
St. Martin, patron of social justice,

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,
        Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,
        Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,
        Have mercy on us.

CLOSING PRAYER

St. Martin de Porres, I turn to you in my sorrow to ask for your friendly protection. Intercede for me with our merciful Father so that I may be truly sorry for all my sins and be freed from the evils that afflict me. Ask that I might have something of your spirit of love and self-sacrifice and so be at all times resigned to God's holy will. O heavenly Father, in the name of your Son and his beloved Mother, and by the merits of your faithful servant, St. Martin de Porres, help me in my needs. Amen.

OTHER INVOCATIONS

(B)

Leader: By the strong faith wherewith you believed in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

People: Help me, St. Martin, dispel my unbelief.

Leader: By the enduring hopes wherewith you relied on the Holy Eucharist as your consolation in this life's pilgrimage,

People: St. Martin, pray for my final perseverance.

Leader: By that charity wherewith you were united to Christ immolated on the Cross,

People: St. Martin, obtain for us the grace that will fill us with love for God and our neighbor.

(C)

Leader: By the purity of heart wherewith you have preserved your innocence,

People: Help us, St. Martin, possess a pure heart, that we may see God.

Leader: By your vow of chastity wherewith you have consecrated yourself to a greater service to God and his people,

People: Lead us, St. Martin, to a more dedicated service to our Christian community.

Leader: By that self-denial wherewith you have mortified your flesh,

People: Pray for us, St. Martin, that we may overcome evil and not fall into temptation.

BLESSING OF THE SICK

(After the Novena or the Mass; may be given privately too)

Priest:    Our help is in the name of the Lord

All:    Who made heaven and earth.

Priest:    O Lord hear my prayer

All:    And let my cry come to you.

Priest:    The Lord be with you

All:    And also with you.

Priest:    Let us pray:

    Look down O Lord, we beseech you, upon your servants who have grown weak under the weight of their sickness and comfort the souls which you have created; that being chastened in spirit, they may recognize your power to heal and save them. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

    May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you to defend you to preserve you to guide you, to protect you to bless you; he lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy spirit forever and ever. Amen.

LIFE OF ST. MARTIN

        St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in the year 1579, the son of a Spanish father and a colored mother. As a young man he learned the art of a dispenser of medicines, and afterwards when he joined the Dominican Order he practised this for the sake of the poor. He led a humble and austere life and had a great devotion towards the Holy Eucharist. He died in the year 1639.

        In his homily for the canonization of St. Martin de Porres on May 6, 1962, Pope John XXI II pointed out the Saint's love for Christ crucified and for the most Holy Eucharist, a love which extended to his neighbors whom he saw as God's children and his own brothers - “a love that sprang from humility and an unclouded faith.”

        “He made every effort,” continues the Holy Father, “to bring sinners to repentance: he nursed the sick devotedly, procuring food, clothes and medicine for those too poor to buy them. Peons, negroes and half-castes, who were treated as all but slaves, these he worked for to the limits of his abilities, offering them every help and tenderness until he truly deserved his popular title, `Martin the Charitable.'

        “This holy man, who so powerfully drew men to God by his words, example and goodness, still has the power to lift our minds up to God. May Martin's example help as many as possible to realize, to their great spiritual good, that to follow Christ and to obey him is our delight and blessedness.”

HYMN

        Saintly Martin, we have learned
        from the holy way you trod
        How your heart with ardor burned
        For the vision of your God.

Ref:    When you gazed upon the cross
        and behold your Savior dead,
        how your spirit felt the loss,
        how you longed to die instead.

        In the sick, the weak, the poor,
        you beheld the friends of Christ
        and you hastened to the door
        where affliction heal held its tryst.