Novena for a Safe Pregnancy and Delivery

The novena for a safe pregnancy and delivery is nine days of prayer in which a mother with child, or those who love her, place the months of waiting and the hour of birth in the hands of God, through Our Lady and the patrons of mothers. Below are the nine days in full, the short prayers for labor, the patron saints of pregnancy, and the blessing the Church gives a mother before childbirth.

The full novena for a safe pregnancy and delivery

A novena is nine days of one petition, kept as the Apostles kept the days before Pentecost with Mary; our guide to what a novena is gives its history. Begin at any point of the pregnancy. Each day, say the opening prayer, the prayer of the day, and the closing prayers.

The opening prayer (said every day)

From The Christian Mother, a Catholic manual for mothers (imprimatur 1880):

Almighty and all-merciful God, Creator and Preserver of all things, Thou who, according to the counsel of Thy wisdom and goodness, hast blessed my matrimonial union, how many reasons have I not to thank Thee for having held me worthy to cooperate in the fulfilment of Thy fatherly intentions, according to which Thou hast again given existence to a man, destined to glorify Thy holy name for time and eternity! Oh, that I may understand well my part now and perform it! Bless me, O my God, and bless my child, which I consecrate to Thee. Thou hast given it to me, and I give it back to Thee. Preserve this precious pledge under Thy fatherly protection, and assist me that I may avoid, as much as possible, whatever may have a pernicious influence on it. Guard me against bad inclinations and inordinate desires; against anger and indignation; against vanity, and against all that is sinful and displeasing in Thy sight. Inspire my heart with sentiments of true piety, and direct all my inclinations towards what is good and pleasing to Thee, so that already now the growing heart of my child may become inclined to what is truly good and perfect.

Be Thou, O God! my protection and defence, so that nothing hurtful may happen to me. O Father of men and of my children, mercifully bring Thy work in me to perfection, and grant that I may one day praise Thy holy name in joy that a man has been born into the world. (Here name your intention.) Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Its last line echoes Our Lord: "A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world" (John 16:21).

Day 1 — The Annunciation: Our Lady's "Be it done"

Our Lady received her Child by a word of faith: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38). We ask the same surrender, to welcome this child and all its coming from God's hand.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Day 2 — The Visitation: the child who leaped for joy

"When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb" (Luke 1:41). We ask that this child, too, come to the light in joy, and pray Our Lady's song, the Magnificat:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Day 3 — St Anne, mother of the Mother of God

Mothers have gone to St Anne for centuries in the months of carrying a child. The collect of her feast, from the Roman Missal:

O God, who didst vouchsafe to bestow on blessed Anne the grace to become the mother of her who brought forth Thine only-begotten Son: mercifully grant that we who keep her feast may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Day 4 — St Raymond Nonnatus, the saint "not born"

St Raymond was taken alive from his mother's body after she died in labor, hence non natus, "not born." Butler calls him "the patron-saint of midwives, from the circumstances of his birth." We commend to him all who will attend the birth. His collect (31 August):

O God, who didst make blessed Raymund Thy Confessor wonderful in delivering Thy faithful from the captivity of the ungodly: grant us by his intercession that, loosed from the bonds of sin, we may with free minds fulfil what is pleasing to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Day 5 — St Margaret of Antioch, helper of women in childbirth

St Margaret, virgin and martyr, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was invoked by mothers in labor all through the Middle Ages. The collect of her commemoration (20 July):

May blessed Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, who was ever pleasing to Thee both by the merit of her chastity and by the confession of Thy power, implore Thy pardon for us, we beseech Thee, O Lord. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Day 6 — The holy angels: "to keep thee in all thy ways"

"He hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways" (Psalm 90:11), says the Church's blessing of an expectant mother. We ask the angels to guard mother and child, with the Guardian Angel Prayer:

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Day 7 — Bethlehem: the hour of birth

Our Lady gave birth far from home, with no room at the inn. We ask her to stand beside this mother when her hour comes, with the oldest Marian prayer of the Church:

We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

Day 8 — The prayer of the Church: "The earth hath yielded her fruit"

The priest says Psalm 66 over an expectant mother in the Roman Ritual. Pray it in union with that blessing:

May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us. That we may know thy way upon earth: thy salvation in all nations. Let people confess to thee, O God: let all people give praise to thee. Let the nations be glad and rejoice: for thou judgest the people with justice, and directest the nations upon earth. Let the people, O God, confess to thee: let all the people give praise to thee: the earth hath yielded her fruit. May God, our God bless us, may God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear him.

Day 9 — The Presentation: to the font and to the Temple

Mary and Joseph carried the Child to the Temple to offer Him to the Father (Luke 2:22). We ask that this child be brought safely to Catholic Baptism, and pray Simeon's canticle:

Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

The closing prayers (said every day)

The traditional prayer to St Gerard for an expectant mother, then one Hail Mary and the Glory Be:

O glorious St Gerard, because, when falsely accused of crime, thou didst bear, like thy Divine Master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, thou hast been raised up by God as the patron and protector of expectant mothers. Preserve me from danger, and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which I now carry, that it may see the light of day and receive the purifying and life-giving waters of Baptism, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

A prayer for pregnant women and a healthy pregnancy

The prayer for pregnancy most mothers want is one to say every day until the birth. The opening prayer of this novena is exactly that: it asks for the protection of the child and the holiness of the mother. Once the child is born, the same care goes on in A Mother's Prayer, said over children and home.

Prayer for safe labor and delivery

Labor is no time for long texts. Right after its opening, the Church's blessing of a pregnant woman says a versicle from Psalm 85, which a mother can repeat between pains, or her husband can say beside her:

Save thy handmaid, O my God, that trusteth in thee.

To it many add the ejaculation enriched with an indulgence by Pius IX and carried in the Raccolta, and the second half of the Hail Mary, which asks Our Lady's help "now":

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

These are prayers for laboring mothers short enough to breathe. When the child is born, give thanks first, with the Magnificat of Day 2.

St Gerard prayer for pregnancy and safe delivery

The traditional St Gerard prayer for expectant mothers is the one in the closing prayers above, unchanged. For nine days addressed to him alone, with his own daily petitions and a thanksgiving after the birth, pray the Novena to St Gerard Majella, most often kept from 7 to 15 October. His story is told more fully in St Gerard, Patron of Expectant Mothers.

Many mothers keep a blessed St Gerard handkerchief, recalling the story told below. It is a sacramental with no power of its own. To treat it as a charm that guarantees a birth would be superstition, which the Catechism of St Pius X counts among the sins against the First Commandment.

St Anne prayer for pregnancy

St Anne carried the Immaculate Virgin, and her feast was extended to the whole Church in 1584. For nine days spent wholly with her, pray the Novena to St Anne, which ends on her feast of 26 July.

Praying to conceive: a different novena

This novena is for a child already conceived. Couples still longing for a baby will find the prayers of Hannah, Sarah and Elizabeth gathered in the novena for fertility to conceive a baby.

The Church's blessing of a mother before childbirth

Among the blessings of the Roman Ritual (Rituale Romanum) is the blessing of a pregnant woman, Benedictio mulieris praegnantis in periculis partus: "in the dangers of childbirth." A priest gives it to a mother as her time draws near, and above all when the birth is feared to be difficult.

The priest begins with Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini and the versicle "Save thy handmaid" given above. In his prayers he recalls how God prepared the Blessed Virgin to be a worthy dwelling for His Son, and filled St John the Baptist with the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb. He begs God to guard the child she has conceived and to defend it from every snare of the enemy, so that, with the hand of His mercy serving as midwife (obstetricante manu misericordiae tuae), the child may come happily to the light and be kept for holy rebirth.

The mother is then sprinkled with holy water and Psalm 66 is said, followed by the versicle "He hath given his angels charge over thee." The priest asks God to visit the house, drive the enemy far from it, and let His holy angels dwell there to keep mother and child in peace, and blesses them both.

The same Ritual gives the blessing of a mother after childbirth, the churching of women. In it she comes to give thanks for her safe delivery, as Our Lady came to the Temple at Candlemas, and the priest recalls that by the childbearing of the Blessed Virgin God turned the pains of mothers into joy.

Ask a priest for both blessings; our directory of Latin Masses near you can help you find a priest of the traditional rite.

How to pray the novena

• When to begin. Any day: when you first know you are expecting, in the ninth month, or so that the ninth day falls on the expected day of birth. In a difficult or high-risk pregnancy, begin at once.
• Fitting feasts. The Annunciation (25 March), the Visitation (2 July), St Margaret (20 July), St Anne (26 July), St Raymond Nonnatus (31 August) and St Gerard (16 October). The 1962 liturgical calendar shows each in its place.
• With the sacraments. Join the nine days to a good confession and Holy Communion where you can.

Who are the patron saints of pregnancy?

Our Lady comes before all, the Mother who gave birth to God. St Paul writes that the woman "shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety" (1 Timothy 2:15).

St Gerard Majella (1726–1755), a Redemptorist lay brother of southern Italy, was falsely accused by a young woman of a sin against purity, and kept silence until she retracted. A girl to whom he once left his handkerchief, saying she might need it one day, called for it years later in mortal danger in childbirth, and was safely delivered. He died at Materdomini, near Caposele, on 16 October 1755 and was canonized by St Pius X on 11 December 1904. His feast of 16 October is kept by the Redemptorists and where it has been granted; it is not in the universal calendar of 1962.

St Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin, is known from ancient tradition rather than the Gospels; Butler notes the shrine Justinian dedicated to her at Constantinople in the sixth century.

St Raymond Nonnatus (d. 1240), a Catalan friar of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom, gave himself as a hostage for Christian captives in Algiers. His birth made him the patron of midwives and of women in labor.

St Margaret of Antioch, virgin and martyr, was among the best-loved saints of the Middle Ages; Butler judges her Acts legendary, but the Roman Martyrology keeps her passion on 20 July.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you pray for a safe delivery?

Pray the nine days beforehand, then simply in the hour itself, accepting in advance whatever God permits: Thy will be done.

Can I pray this novena for my daughter or the safe delivery of a grandchild?

Yes. A novena may always be offered for another. Name the mother and her child at the intention each day.

Can a husband pray the novena for his wife?

Yes, and it is fitting that he should. He may say the opening prayer for her, changing "me" to "her," and join his wife in the closing prayers each evening.

What if I miss a day of the novena?

Simply take it up again the next day. A novena is an act of perseverance, not a formula that fails on a missed day; some prefer to add the missed day at the end.

Is the prayer to St Gerard for expectant mothers approved by the Church?

It is a devotional prayer, long printed in Catholic prayer-books and spread by the Redemptorists, St Gerard's own congregation. It asks a canonized saint to intercede before God, and adds nothing to the Church's teaching.

What if the birth does not go as we prayed?

A novena is a petition, not a bargain. God hears every prayer, but He answers it as He sees best for the souls concerned. The Church entrusts every mother and child, in every outcome, to His mercy.

The Iter Fidei novena app keeps these nine days with you to the hour of birth, with a daily reminder, offline access and the prayers in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims: Luke 1:38-55, Luke 2:22-32, John 16:21, 1 Timothy 2:15, Psalms 66, 85:2 and 90:11; Rituale Romanum, Benedictio mulieris praegnantis in periculis partus and Benedictio mulieris post partum; Missale Romanum 1962, collects of St Anne (26 July), St Margaret (commemoration, 20 July) and St Raymond Nonnatus (31 August); The Christian Mother (imprimatur 1880), "Prayer for a Mother when with Child"; the traditional prayer to St Gerard for an expectant mother, as carried in Redemptorist prayer-books; the Raccolta (Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation); Butler's Lives of the Saints (St Anne, St Margaret, St Raymund Nonnatus); canonization of St Gerard Majella by Pope St Pius X (1904); Catechism of St Pius X, Part III, on the First Commandment (superstition).