Novena to Saint Mariana de Jesús - Seventh Day | Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success, Inc.

Novena Starts May 17th thru May 25th
Feast Day of St. Mariana de Jesus is May 26th.

"The soul that obtains the perfection of humility easily attains Divine Love, without adding any other exercise of penance or virtue. Furthermore, never will you find a heart that is filled with humility ever fail nor be emptied of anything when it is also occupied with Divine Love.”

Prayers to be said every day:

Act of Contrition

Prayer: My Sweet Jesus, as You rested among the lilies in your celestial garden, You turned Your eyes from Eternity to the most fragrant Lily of Quito. From the moment of her creation, you provided her with all of the sweet blessings that you bestow upon souls which are to be placed before Your throne; I now prostrate myself before Your Divine Majesty imploring Your divine mercy through the merits of Your faithful servant and affectionate spouse St. Mariana de Jesus. Grant me, Lord, by the imitation of St. Mariana’s heroic virtues, a soul that will emit the fragrance of virtue as hers did, for the glorification of Your most Holy Name. Amen.

My God of Infinite Holiness, One in Being and three in Person, I thank you for the innumerable graces with which you have bestowed upon your most affectionate servant, St. Mariana de Jesus, demonstrated through her example and holy life. O Lord, by the singular benefits that you grant to those who invoke her, with a lively faith in any tribulation, especially in times of plagues and earthquakes, continue to give to all devotees who appeal to you through St Mariana’s intercession the necessary graces. Do not deny the request I ask of You in this novena, if it will assist me to gain eternal salvation. Amen.

Day Seven

Prayer: Most blessed Mariana de Jesus, you were not chosen to consecrate your life to God in a cloister, as you so desired, but instead guided by Divine inspiration, you committed yourself to living a religious life in your own home until death. You guarded with the great scrupulosity and perfection the three vows that constitute this life, poverty, chastity and obedience.   By virtue of this total surrender of yourself in the springtime of youth, and by the fidelity whereupon you kept your holy vows until the death, attain for us from your most sweet Spouse, Jesus, the grace that I need to serve Him perfectly in the vocation in which Divine Providence has placed me. Amen.

Now make your request to the Holy Trinity for the special grace which you wish to receive through the merits of Saint Mariana de Jesus.
Say three Our Father’s, Hail Mary’s and Glory be’s.

Two men, Fratta and Accini, are on the verge of despair at the brink of an abyss. Mariana de Jesus appears and saves the car:

An Italian, Mr. Fratta recounts the following event: We left Babhoyo in an automobile in the direction of Ambato with five people: I sat in the front seat with the driver. The others sat in the back seat. We had arrived at a point in the road called, “The Lemon”. The edge of the highway was covered with grass; so that the highway seemed wider than it was. Tricked by this illusion, the driver got too close to the edge; the car started over the cliff toward the river, which at that time was deep and torrential.   Remaining on the edge of the cliff, the car balanced on its axle with all four wheels in the air.

All the travelers hurried from the car to the highway to save their lives. The car seemed ready to loose ground, and two supported the car by holding onto the trunk. The passers-by approached us to help us to pull the car from the precipice. We tied a heavy cable to the car and we all tried to move this car over the enormous boulder. Our efforts were useless. Then we sent someone to the city of Montalvo to bring a truck back to tow the car.

While we were working on the car, a young woman approached us dressed in black with a veil covering her head. She said; “Would you like the car back on the highway?” We replied that we would. She asked us “Are you devoted to Blessed Mariana de Jesus? I replied, “I am a devout Catholic; but not to Blessed Mariana, since I do not know who she is.”   Indicating that she wanted to help, she said, “Give me some money so that I can buy a candle”. Accini gives me the money and I gave her a coin; and we continued working on the car.

In a little while this young woman returned with the lighted candle. She placed the candle on a reddish stone and knelt to pray. At this point I realized that there was not a single house within 5 miles of this place. Later she came up to us with four strangers. She invited these four strange men to lift of the four corners of the car. They did as she asked. At that very moment, the car was found in the middle of the highway. Immediately I jumped into the car to see if the car would start. I noticed that it was in perfect condition.

My friends got into the car immediately to continue on our way. Before leaving, I asked my companions if they saw the young woman so I could thank her and give her a monetary reward, but nobody seemed to know where she went. Then I heard my friends say that this young woman must have been Blessed Mariana of Jesus who had been seen several times in this area but on the other side of the river. (When arriving at this point in the story, Fratta spoke with a quivering voice. This vigorous hefty fellow was deeply moved, and his eyes were filled with tears as he takes out his handkerchief to dry them. He was silent for a little while.) He continues: “While we traveled up the mountain, I was in deep thought and I became quite emotional. When arriving at the town, I stopped the car and left the car telling Accini that I was going to walk the rest of the way up the hill. The impression of this incident was so intense; I began to cry like a child.

When we returned to Guayaquil, I looked for an image of Blessed Mariana de Jesus and could not find one; some people told me that I would find one in the School of the Marianitas, on Chimborazo road. I went there. While the Mother Superior was being called for, I was invited into the receiving room. I fixed my eyes on a picture in which a young woman was sitting and teaching catechism to a group of children.   I felt a tremor of fear and admiration within me. She was the same one that approached to us on the highway of Babhoyo. I was on the verge of fainting. When the Mother Superior entered the room, I exclaimed, without even first greeting her: “She is the same one!, She is the same one!” I then explained all that occurred.

Fratta and Accini paid for a plaque and a statue of Mariana de Jesus and placed it on the rock at the place of the miracle. Today these men are great benefactors of the School of Marianitas. They have constructed a beautiful Chapel dedicated to their Benefactor, Saint Mariana of Jesus.

V. Pray for us, St. Mariana de Jesus.

R. So that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray: Oh God, who desired to have bloom in this age, Saint Mariana in virginal chastity and perpetual penance as a lily among thorns; I pray that through her merits and intercession I may deter my inclination to sin and vice and continue to follow on the road to perfection through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.