Repeat the following Novena prayers every day for 9 consecutive days.

Lord, for love of you
St. Peter Claver became the faithful servant of slaves.
Through his prayer help us to see
the true dignity of the human family,
all children of one father
and to spend ourselves for their salvation.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Dear saint of our modern times,
you were permeated with compassion for the oppressed,
for human beings sold as slaves.
While alleviating their natural ills,
you also took away their spiritual ills,
and taught them the surpassing knowledge of Christ.
Inspire many of our contemporaries
to become self-sacrificing missionaries like you.

Amen.

Litany of St. Peter Claver

Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, hear my prayer.
Jesus Christ, graciously hear my prayer.

God the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, immaculate Mother of God,
Pray for us.

Saint Peter Claver, worthy son of Saint Ignatius,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
zealous disciple of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
emulator of the apostle of the Indies and Japan,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
Apostle of the Negroes,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
who didst procure for the slaves
the holy liberty of the children of God,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
who didst sign thyself: Slave of the Negroes forever,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
shining light of Cartagena and of America,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
model of evangelical laborers,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
tender father of the poor, the widows, and the orphans,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
refuge of all the unfortunate,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
who didst make and fulfill the heroic vow
of consecrating thyself entirely to the service of slaves,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst make thyself all to all
in order to gain all to Jesus Christ,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who wast superior to all the vicissitudes of life
by thine unalterable confidence in God,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who in thine inexhaustible charity
didst cure so many sicknesses and relieve so many miseries,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst despise the riches of the earth
in order to embrace evangelical poverty,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst prefer to the honors of the world
the ignominies of the Cross,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst always seek to be forgotten
and to be accounted for nothing among men,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst glory in knowing nothing else but Jesus Crucified,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou who didst incessantly reduce thy body to servitude
by the most rigorous austerities,
Pray for the Negroes.

Prodigy of innocence and of mortification,
Pray for the Negroes.

Living example of humility and of abnegation,
Pray for the Negroes.

Model of obedience and submission,
Pray for the Negroes.

Courageous and intrepid apostle
in the midst of obstacles and contradictions,
Pray for the Negroes.

Martyr by the privations,
and sufferings which thou didst endure
for the salvation of souls,
Pray for the Negroes.

Fervent adorer of Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar,
Pray for the Negroes.

Contemplator and faithful imitator of Jesus suffering,
Pray for the Negroes.

O thou for whom the name and remembrance of Mary
was ever a source of graces in all thy labors,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
honor and ornament of the Society of Jesus,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
illustrious by the numerous miracles thou didst work,
Pray for the Negroes.

St. Peter Claver,
charitable and zealous protector of all those who invoke thee,
Pray for the Negroes.


Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Graciously hear the intercession of Thy servant in behalf of the poor Negroes.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us.

Let us pray:

O God, Who in order that wretched slaves might come to the knowledge of Thy Name,
didst endow St. Peter Claver, Thy confessor,
with wonderful self-denial and eminent charity:
grant that, by virtue of his example,
many souls may be inspired with compassion for the poor Negroes
and may courageously devote themselves to their conversion.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen

St. Peter Claver,
Pray for us.

O God, Who calling to the knowledge of Thy Name
the Negro tribes sold into slavery, didst,
in order that he might be a help to them,
imbue blessed Peter with marvelous patience and charity:
giving ear to his prayers,
vouchsafe unto us to seek only the things which are of Jesus Christ,
and thereby to love our neighbor in deed and in truth.
Through the same Christ our Lord,
Who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth,
one God, world without end.

R. Amen.