Novena to St John Bosco

The novena to St John Bosco is the nine-day prayer said to Don Bosco — the great apostle of the young, founder of the Salesians, and one of the Church's surest patrons for children, students, and every need of a working household. It is prayed most fittingly from January 22 through January 30, closing on his feast day, January 31, though it may be said before any need at any time of year. Below we give the full novena prayer as it is prayed, the traditional Salesian form with its nine daily themes, a short version, guidance on how to keep the nine days, and the true story of the saint himself, grounded in Butler's Lives of the Saints.

When to pray the novena to St John Bosco

St John Bosco's feast falls on 31 January in the traditional calendar, and the nine days leading up to it — 22 to 30 January — are the classic time to pray his novena. But a novena is a private devotion of nine days' persevering prayer, and it may be begun whenever a soul has need of his help: for a struggling child, an exam, a wayward young person, work, or any grace. If the meaning of nine days is new to you, see our short guide to what is a novena. The whole point is perseverance — nine days of the same trusting petition, in imitation of the Apostles and Our Lady, who prayed nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost.

The novena prayer to St John Bosco

This is the prayer at the heart of the devotion. Begin each day with the Sign of the Cross. It is said once on each of the nine days, with your particular request named where the prayer marks it:

Saint John Bosco, father and teacher of youth, in need of special help I appeal with confidence to you, for I require not only spiritual graces, but also temporal ones, and in particular... (here name your request).

May you, who on earth had such great devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary Help of Christians, and who always had compassion for those who were suffering, obtain from Jesus and His heavenly Mother the grace I now ask, and also a sincere resignation to the will of God.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Each day the prayer is closed with one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, and, if you wish, the collect of his feast:

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.

Let us pray. O God, who didst raise up Saint John Bosco, Thy confessor, to be a father and teacher of the young, and through him, with the help of the Virgin Mary, didst will that new families should flourish in Thy Church: grant, we beseech Thee, that inflamed with the same fire of charity, we may be able to seek souls and to serve Thee alone. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

That is the entire novena in its simplest and most-prayed form: the invocation, the three prayers, the collect, said the same way for nine days running.

The traditional Salesian novena: the nine days

The Salesians — the religious family Don Bosco founded — keep a fuller form in which each of the nine days takes up one facet of his holiness. The daily prayer above stays the same; only the meditation and the intention shift from day to day. Pray the invocation, then hold before God the theme of the day, then close with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

• Day 1 — His mission to poor and abandoned youth. "It is enough that you are young for me to love you very much." We ask Don Bosco's zeal for every neglected and endangered child.
• Day 2 — Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and holy purity. We ask the frequent Communion and the spotless purity he taught his boys.
• Day 3 — Fidelity to the Pope and the Church. We ask a firm, filial love of the Holy Father and of the whole Church.
• Day 4 — Devotion to Mary Help of Christians. We ask the childlike confidence in Our Lady that Don Bosco carried all his life.
• Day 5 — Devotion to Saint Joseph. We ask the patronage of the guardian of the Holy Family for our own homes and work — a devotion Don Bosco shared, and one you may deepen with the novena to St Joseph.
• Day 6 — The Salesian charism of gentleness. We ask that spirit of loving-kindness by which he won souls without punishment.
• Day 7 — The apostolate of the good press. We ask a love of sound Catholic reading and a hatred of what corrupts.
• Day 8 — Missionary zeal. We ask a heart wide enough to desire the salvation of all peoples, as he sent his sons to the ends of the earth.
• Day 9 — Paradise, the goal of life. We ask to keep heaven always before our eyes, and to labour and suffer for it as he did.

A short novena prayer to St John Bosco

For those who want a briefer daily petition — for a child at school, or to keep through a busy week — this shorter invocation may be used in its place, said once a day for nine days with your intention named:

O holy patron of youth, Saint John Bosco, I come to you with confidence in your nearness to Jesus. I need your help, your prayers, your intercession before God for the grace I now ask... (name it). By your love for Mary our Mother, pray for me; by your love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, pray for me; by your love for all who suffer, pray for me. Obtain for me the grace I ask, and with it a true acceptance of the will of God and a perfect trust in Him. Amen.

The novena for students and for children

Because St John Bosco gave his whole life to the young, his novena is the natural prayer of parents, teachers, and students. He is the patron saint of students, of schoolchildren and apprentices, and of editors and publishers; and he formed a boy-saint, St Dominic Savio, under his own roof. Pray it for a child preparing an examination, for a son or daughter who has drifted from the Faith, for a young person in danger, or for your own studies and work. Name the child and the need plainly in the prayer above; ask first for the salvation of the soul, and then for the grace you seek — Don Bosco, who never stopped caring for souls in danger, does not forget a mother's or a teacher's petition.

Is there a St John Bosco novena PDF?

The full text you need is on this page: the daily prayer, the collect, and the nine daily themes above. Print or copy it and keep it beside you for the nine days — that is all a "novena PDF" ever contains. Better still, pray it with day-by-day reminders so no day is missed; the Iter Fidei app carries the novena and the prayers of St John Bosco in Latin and your own language, with audio, so you can pray it from your phone. However you keep it, the substance is the same nine days of steady, trusting prayer.

How to pray this novena

A novena is not measured by the number of its words but by the constancy and confidence of the soul that says them. Keep these few points and you will pray it well:

1. Choose your dates. For the feast, begin on 22 January and pray through the ninth day on 30 January, so the novena closes as 31 January dawns. Otherwise begin whenever your need arises, and count nine days forward.
2. Pray once each day, at a fixed hour. Say the invocation, name your intention, and close with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (adding the collect and the daily theme if you keep the fuller Salesian form).
3. Name one clear intention and carry it through all nine days. Where you can, join the novena to Mass or Holy Communion, or at least a decade of the Rosary.
4. Ask in submission. Beg the grace you name, but ask also, as the prayer does, for "a sincere resignation to the will of God." The surest novena is the one prayed by a soul content to receive either the favour it named or the better thing God chooses to send.

Who is St John Bosco?

St John Bosco — "Don Bosco" — was born in 1815, the youngest son of a peasant-farmer in a Piedmontese village. He lost his father at the age of two and was raised by his saintly, hard-working mother, "Mamma Margaret." At nine he had the dream that shaped his whole life: he saw himself among a crowd of fighting, blaspheming boys he could not tame, when a mysterious Lady told him, "Not with blows, but with gentleness and charity must you win these friends." The children turned from wild beasts into lambs. From that hour he knew his vocation was the young.

Poor as he was — his very clothes for the seminary were given in charity, the mayor supplying his hat, the parish priest his cloak — he was ordained a priest and, under the guidance of St Joseph Cafasso, gave himself to the neglected apprentices and waifs of Turin. He gathered them on Sundays into what he called a "festive oratory": catechism, Mass, games, music, and food, all together. Driven from place to place because his lively band was too much for any landlord, he at last found a home in the Valdocco quarter, where he and Mamma Margaret took destitute boys into their own house, opened workshops for shoemakers, tailors, and printers, and built a church under the patronage of his favourite saint, St Francis de Sales — from whom his order would take its name.

In 1859, with a handful of companions, he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco; in 1872, with St Mary Mazzarello, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians for poor girls; and he gathered his lay helpers into the Salesian Cooperators. What began with a few street-boys became, in his lifetime, a religious family of hundreds spreading across Europe and into the missions of South America. He was a tireless builder of churches — including, at two Popes' request, the basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome — and a prolific writer of popular Catholic books, for he believed as firmly in the power of the good press as in the pulpit. Numerous miracles, mostly of healing, were worked through his prayers, and he was renowned for reading the secrets of souls.

His method was all his own: love, seen and felt. "I do not remember ever to have used formal punishment," he wrote near the end of his life. "By God's grace I have always been able to get not only observance of rules but even of my bare wishes." Worn out by his labours, he died in Turin in the early morning of 31 January 1888. Forty thousand people came to venerate his body, and the whole city turned out for his funeral. He was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI, who said of him that "in his life the supernatural almost became the natural, and the extraordinary ordinary." He is the patron of youth, of schoolchildren and apprentices, of students, and of editors and publishers — and his feast is kept, in the traditional calendar, on 31 January. For his full life and legacy, see our portrait of St John Bosco.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do you start the novena to St John Bosco?

For his feast, begin the novena on 22 January and pray it through 30 January, so the ninth day closes as his feast day, 31 January, arrives. Outside that season, you may begin whenever a need presses and simply count nine consecutive days of prayer.

What is St John Bosco the patron saint of?

St John Bosco is the patron of youth above all — of children, schoolchildren, students, and apprentices — and also of editors, publishers, and Catholic printers, because of his tireless work with the good press. He is invoked for young people in danger of soul or body, for students facing examinations, and for the needs of families.

How many days is the St John Bosco novena?

Nine. The word novena comes from the Latin for "nine," and the devotion is nine consecutive days of prayer, said once each day with one intention carried throughout — in imitation of the nine days the Apostles and Our Lady spent in prayer before Pentecost.

Can I pray this novena for my children or students?

Yes — this is one of its most fitting uses. St John Bosco gave his whole life to the young and formed St Dominic Savio under his own care. Name the child or student plainly in the prayer, ask first for the good of the soul, and then for the grace you seek, whether an examination, a conversion, or protection from danger.

When is St John Bosco's feast day?

His feast is kept on 31 January, the day of his death in 1888. It is his principal feast in the Church's calendar and the day to which the novena traditionally leads.

Where can I find the St John Bosco novena in full?

The complete text is on this page: the daily prayer "Saint John Bosco, father and teacher of youth," the closing Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and collect, and the nine daily Salesian themes. Copy it to keep beside you for the nine days, or pray it with reminders and audio in the Iter Fidei app, so no day is missed.

Pray this novena to St John Bosco with day-by-day reminders and audio, alongside the litanies, chaplets and prayers of the Church in Latin and your own language, in the Iter Fidei app. Download it here.

Sources. Butler's Lives of the Saints (St John Bosco, 31 January; born 1815, died 31 January 1888, canonized 1934); the traditional novena prayer "Saint John Bosco, father and teacher of youth" and the collect of his feast, as carried in the Salesian prayer-books; St Luke 24 and Acts 1–2 (the nine days of prayer before Pentecost).