Novena to St Expeditus

The novena to St Expeditus is a nine-day prayer to the Roman soldier-martyr whom the Church honours on 19 April and whom the faithful have long invoked for urgent causes — a matter that will not wait, a deadline, a sudden need, a decision that must be made today rather than "tomorrow." His very name has come to stand for haste in the service of God: he is the enemy of procrastination and the patron of things that must be settled now. Below we give the full nine days of the novena word for word, the shorter prayer many say in a pressing emergency, and an honest account of who this saint is and why the Church invokes him. If you are new to this form of prayer, our guide to what is a novena explains the nine days and where the custom comes from.

A note on this devotion

St Expeditus belongs to the old Roman Martyrology — his name is set down under 19 April among the martyrs of Melitene in Armenia — so he is no modern invention; the traditional books know him. At the same time, the Church has always been sober about how little history records of him: the details of his life, the famous story of the crow, and the emblems in his images are pious legend rather than documented fact, and the older scholarship is careful to say so. We give the devotion in full because it is ancient in root, widely sought, and entirely orthodox in what it asks — repentance, the theological virtues, and final perseverance — while keeping the martyr himself in the modest light the tradition gives him. Honour him as the Church does: as a soldier who died for Christ and now pleads for those who cannot afford to wait.

The full 9-day novena to St Expeditus

The traditional novena is prayed once a day for nine days. Each day carries the same frame — an Act of Contrition, a short prayer to the martyr on the theme of that day, three Our Fathers in honour of the Most Holy Trinity, and a concluding prayer in which you name your intention — but the daily prayer to St Expeditus changes, moving from faith and hope through the carrying of the cross to the grace of a holy death. Say it slowly, at a fixed hour, with your request held plainly before God.

Each day, begin with the Act of Contrition:

My Lord Jesus Christ, Father of endless charity, I am heartily sorry for my sins. Grant me, therefore, pardon of my sins and the grace I ask of You through the merits of the sorrows of Your loving Mother and the virtues of Your martyr, Saint Expeditus.

Then say the prayer for the day.

Day 1 — for faith

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the lively faith which was granted you by Bon Dieu (God), I ask you to awaken the same faith in my heart, that I may also believe wholeheartedly that there is a Good God, but most importantly that I may be saved from offending Him.

Day 2 — for hope

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the admirable hope given you by Bon Dieu (God), pray that those of little belief may be penetrated by some rays of hope so that they also receive eternal blessings; please pray that ardent hope in Bon Dieu be also given me and hold me steadfast in the midst of sufferings.

Day 3 — for love of God

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the endless love which Our Lord planted in your heart, please remove from mine all the shackles tied by worldliness, that without them I may love only Bon Dieu (God) in all eternity. Amen.

Day 4 — to carry the cross

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, who knew fully well the teaching of the Divine Teacher to carry the cross and follow Him, ask Him for the graces I need that I may fight my own passions.

Day 5 — for the virtues

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the bountiful graces you received from Heaven that you may conserve all your virtues, grant also that I may get rid of all the feelings that block my way to Heaven.

Day 6 — for humility

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the sufferings and humiliations which you received for the love of Bon Dieu (God), grant me also this grace which is very pleasing to Bon Dieu, and free me from anger and hardness of heart which is the stumbling block of my soul.

Day 7 — for the spirit of prayer

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, you know that prayer is the golden key that will open the Kingdom of Heaven, teach me to pray in a manner which is desirable to Our Lord and to His Heart, that I may live only for Him, that I may die only for Him, and that I may pray only to Him in all eternity.

Day 8 — for purity of intention

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the clean desire that reigned in all your feelings, word and actions, please let them guide me also in my endless search for the glory of Bon Dieu (God) and the good of my fellowmen.

Day 9 — for final perseverance

Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, who was so much loved by the Queen of Heaven, that to you nothing was denied, ask her, please my advocate, that through the sufferings of her Divine Son and her own sorrows, I may receive this day the grace I ask of you; but above all the grace to die first before I commit any mortal sin. Amen.

After the prayer of the day, on every day, say three Our Fathers in honour of the Most Holy Trinity, and close with the concluding prayer:

O Saint Expeditus, my protector, in you I place my hope that my petitions may be granted if they are for my own good. Please ask Our Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, for the forgiveness of my sins, and the grace to change my life, particularly the grace I now ask — (here name your intention) — and I promise to follow your example and to recommend your devotion to others.

Notice what the nine days do. They do not simply repeat "give me what I want," but ask first for faith, hope, and love; then for strength to carry a cross and master the passions; then for humility, prayer, and pure intention; and only on the ninth day for the particular grace — and even then chiefly for the grace of a holy death. This is why the novena is safe to pray: it forms the soul before it asks the favour, and leaves the outcome, as every true devotion does, in the hands of God.

The shorter prayer to St Expeditus for an urgent need

Because St Expeditus is the saint of the pressing case, many keep beside the full novena a shorter prayer said in a sudden emergency — before a court date, when the rent is due, when work has run dry, when a matter must be resolved before the day is out. It is not a substitute for the nine days but a cry of confidence in the moment of need. One common form opens:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I call forth the power and presence of Saint Expeditus in my time of need. I offer my body, heart, mind and soul upon your altar of light. I have faith, trust and complete confidence that you will be my strength in this time of need.

Then the need is named, an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be are added, and — in the old custom — the suppliant promises, if the grace is granted, some act of thanksgiving and to make the martyr known. A word of caution belongs here: bring St Expeditus your urgent cause, but ask as a Christian asks, if it be for my own good and Thy will be done. To treat any saint as a lever that forces God's hand, or to bargain as though prayer were a transaction, slides into superstition, which the Church condemns. The martyr is a fellow-servant who pleads for us before the throne, not a mechanism.

The novena for urgent causes and impossible situations

St Expeditus and St Jude are the two great friends of the desperate case, and the faithful often go to both. Where St Jude is invoked for the cause that seems hopeless, St Expeditus is invoked for the cause that is urgent — the thing that cannot wait for tomorrow. Pray the nine days above with your particular emergency named at the concluding prayer: a lawsuit, a sudden debt, a medical result, a job that must be found this month, a reconciliation that must not be put off. When the matter is not only pressing but seemingly beyond all remedy, join his novena to the novena to St Jude, patron of impossible cases, and to the Litany of Our Lady of Sorrows — for the ninth day itself sends us to the Mother of Sorrows, "so much loved by the Queen of Heaven," through whose grief the martyr begs our grace.

St Expeditus for work, students, and travellers

Beyond the general grace of urgency, tradition names St Expeditus the patron of several who need quick and sure help. He is invoked by merchants and traders, by sailors and navigators — for whom he stands beside the patron of travellers — and by students facing examinations and deadlines, who may pair his novena with a prayer to the patron saint of students. Those seeking employment often bring the same petition to him that they bring to the novena to St Joseph, the patron of workers: name the work you need at the concluding prayer, and ask first for the strength to labour honestly and only then for the place itself.

How to pray the novena to St Expeditus

A novena is nine consecutive days. Choose a fixed hour and keep it; missing a day is best repaired by beginning again rather than doubling up. Because his feast is 19 April, many begin the novena so that its ninth and last day falls on or just before the feast — starting around 10 or 11 April — but it may be prayed at any time of urgent need, and need not wait for April. Some keep an intensified form, the "nine-hour" novena, praying the nine days' prayers over nine hours of a single day when the case is truly pressing; the words are the same, only the interval shorter.

Pray it in a state of grace where you can, join it to Holy Mass or Communion, and name one intention and hold to it through all nine days. Above all, ask in submission: the martyr's own ninth-day prayer begs, before any favour, "the grace to die first before I commit any mortal sin." A soul that prays like that has already received the best thing the novena can obtain. For a fuller portrait of the saint himself, see our page on St Expedite.

Who is St Expeditus? The story of the saint

St Expeditus is named in the old Roman Martyrology under 19 April, among a group of soldier-martyrs — Hermogenes, Caius, Expeditus, Aristonicus, Rufus and Galata — put to death at Melitene in Armenia. Tradition makes him a centurion of the Roman army during the persecution under Diocletian, at the turn of the fourth century, who embraced the faith of Christ and was beheaded for refusing to renounce it. Of his life beyond this the records tell us almost nothing, and the Church has never pretended otherwise; his place in the calendar rests on the martyr-lists, not on a biography.

His fame owes much to a single vivid legend, cherished in the devotion though not in the histories. On the day he resolved to become a Christian, it is said, the devil appeared to him in the form of a crow and croaked "Cras!" — Latin for "tomorrow" — urging him to delay his conversion. The soldier crushed the bird underfoot and cried "Hodie!" — "Today!" — and gave himself to Christ at once. This is why his images show him as a young Roman soldier holding a cross inscribed hodie, his foot upon a crow whose beak still spells cras. Whatever its origin, the tale carries the whole meaning of the devotion: the great enemy of the soul is the endless tomorrow, the good resolution forever postponed, and St Expeditus is the saint who answers it with today.

From this comes his patronage. He is honoured as the patron of urgent causes and speedy solutions, and against procrastination — the saint to invoke when a good thing must be done and not deferred, whether the conversion of a heart or the settling of a pressing affair. His cult spread widely through France, Latin America, and the ports of the world, carried especially by sailors and traders who needed swift help; New Orleans keeps a particular devotion to him. He belongs, with St Jude, St Rita, and the other helpers of the hard case, to the Church's long company of intercessors for those at the end of their own resources — of whom you can read more among the litany of the saints in our guide to the Litany of the Saints.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the novena to St Expeditus for?

It is prayed above all for urgent causes — a matter that cannot wait, a pressing deadline, a sudden need, a decision or resolution that must be made today. St Expeditus is the enemy of delay and the patron against procrastination, so the faithful bring him lawsuits, debts, examinations, job searches, health scares, and above all the good resolution too long postponed. The nine days ask first for faith, hope, and love, and only on the last day for the particular grace — and chiefly for a holy death.

When is St Expeditus' feast day, and when should the novena begin?

His feast is 19 April, the day on which the old Roman Martyrology names him among the martyrs of Melitene. Many begin the novena around 10 or 11 April so that its ninth day falls on or just before the feast, but it may be prayed at any time of need. In an especially pressing case some pray the "nine-hour" form, saying the nine days' prayers across nine hours of a single day.

Is St Expeditus a real saint?

He is a genuine name in the traditional Roman Martyrology, honoured on 19 April as a martyr — so the Church's old books do know him. But little of his life is historically documented, and the vivid details, including the story of the crow, are pious legend rather than recorded fact, as the older scholarship is careful to say. We honour him as the Church does: as a soldier who died for Christ, in the modest light the tradition allows.

What is St Expeditus the patron saint of?

He is the patron of urgent causes and speedy solutions, invoked against procrastination, and honoured by merchants, sailors and navigators, and students facing deadlines and examinations. His emblem — the cross marked hodie, "today," and the crow marked cras, "tomorrow," beneath his foot — sums up his patronage: he is the saint of today, against the endless postponing of what is good.

Why is St Expeditus shown with a crow and the word "today"?

By tradition, when the young soldier resolved to become a Christian, the devil appeared as a crow croaking "Cras" — "tomorrow" — to make him delay. He trod the bird underfoot and declared "Hodie" — "today" — converting at once. His images keep the scene: a cross inscribed hodie in his hand, a crow inscribed cras under his heel. It is a picture of the whole devotion — the good deed done today, not deferred to a tomorrow that never comes.

Can I pray the novena to St Expeditus for a job or for money?

Yes — bring him the urgent need for work or for provision, naming it plainly at the concluding prayer, much as one does in the novena to St Joseph, patron of workers. Ask first for the grace to labour honestly and for God's will, then for the place or the help you need. Do not treat the prayer as a bargain or a charm that compels a result; that would be superstition. Ask as a Christian asks, if it be for my good, and leave the outcome to Providence.

Is there a printable PDF of the 9-day novena to St Expeditus?

The complete text is the nine days given in full above — the Act of Contrition, the day's prayer to St Expeditus, three Our Fathers, and the concluding prayer with your intention named. You may copy it to keep beside you for the nine days. The Iter Fidei app also carries the whole devotion with a reminder for each day and audio, so it can be prayed from a phone without a printed sheet; for the wider selection, see our guide to the best Catholic prayer apps.

Pray this novena to St Expeditus with a reminder for each of the nine days and audio to pray along in the Iter Fidei app. Download it here.

Sources. Roman Martyrology, 19 April (the martyrs of Melitene in Armenia, among them Expeditus); the traditional nine-day Novena to St Expeditus (Act of Contrition, the nine daily prayers, and the concluding prayer) as carried in Catholic prayer-books; on superstition, Catechism of the Council of Trent and the Catechism of St Pius X on the First Commandment.