Novena Prayer to St. Francis De Sales

O great prelate, most blessed saint, model of bishops, the glory of the Church. Thou wast and ever shall be revered on earth as a man according to God's own heart, and a most perfect imitator of our adorable model, Jesus Christ. Thou wast the champion of the Faith whose zeal extirpated heresy; the ardent victim of charity and docile disciple of that heavenly spirit Who spoke by thy pen, and rendered thy inspired doctrine the treasure of the Church. O good and faithful servant, thou hast now entered into the joy of thy Lord; the divine and Holy Object of thy love on earth is now thy reward exceedingly great in heaven. O amiable saint, whose tender, compassionate charity was always the refuge of the miserable, despise not our supplications. Since thy conduct on earth toward all thy fellow-creatures, particularly the weakest, marked thee out, like thy beloved Master, as the friend of sinners, show thyself such to us, by obtaining for us the intentions of this novena. 

Receive us, O great Master of solid perfection into the number of those whom thou didst form according to the true spirit of the religious state. Teach us those heavenly virtues which thy blessed life, no less than thy word, so constantly inculcated. Thou wast one of the most humble of men, though gifted with all that could exalt thee before God and the world; O plant in our hearts that root of every virtue, humility. Thou wast an angel of peace, whose presence alone gave consolation to the most afflicted hearts, and whose heavenly meekness succeeded in gaining the most obdurate sinners; obtain, then, for us, also, that peace of God which surpasseth all understanding; a condescending meekness in our conduct toward our neighbor. But principally teach us thy own favorite lesson of perfect conformity to the will of God, that we may repose tranquilly in the arms of His adorable Providence; that we may cast all our solicitude on God, so as "to ask for nothing and to refuse nothing;" at least to ask for nothing more earnestly than the treasure of His divine love, and to refuse nothing so resolutely as the misfortune of consenting to sin. Amen.