Peace Novena

OUR LADY, QUEEN OF PEACE, pray for us!

Join us in praying our Peace Novena in honor of Our Lady of Peace -- from August 6th, to August 14th, 2007. This is an opportunity for all of us to pray for peace in the world and in our hearts. The Novena will be prayed after the daily 7 a.m. & 12:15 p.m. Masses at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and after all the Sunday Masses at both Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and Holy Family Church. Copies of the novena in English & Spanish will be available in the church vestibule or online for those who wish to pray at home. With all of the problems in the world, there certainly is no question regarding the importance of saying a Novena with the intention for peace in our world and in our hearts!!

Our Lady, Queen of Peace is the patroness of the Hawaiian Islands. The first Catholic missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands arrived at Honolulu Bay on July 7, 1827. These missionaries were members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of Perpetual Adoration and upon their arrival in the islands dedicated their labors to the patroness of the Congregation, Our Lady Queen of Peace and placed the Islands under her protection. It was in her honor that these missionaries erected the first Catholic Church.

After more than a decade of contentious relations with the Hawaiian government, the missionaries were finally allowed to proceed with their evangelization work. In thanksgiving, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace was erected. Completed in 1843, a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace was placed in the niche above the main altar. The Cathedral was solemnly blessed and dedicated to Our Lady of Peace on the feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1843. Blessed Damien of Molokai was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The original statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace is located in the Convent Chapel of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Picpus, France. During the troubled days of the Commune, in 1871, the populace, incited by atheistic leaders, invaded churches, chapels and convents, destroying every emblem of religion that fell into their hands. The chapel of Our Lady Queen of Peace became their prey. The Superior, with tears in her eyes, begged them to spare their beloved shrine; and, strange to say, the rabble went away, leaving it unharmed. When the tempest of the persecution subsided, the statue was again returned to its usual place and honored and venerated by a phalanx of devout souls. On July 9, 1906, the statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace was solemnly crowned in the name of Pope Pius X by his Eminence Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris. Every year on July 9 the feast of Our Lady Queen of Peace is celebrated with great solemnity in the Congregation of the Fathers and Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and Perpetual Adoration.

During World War I Pope Benedict XV added the title Queen of Peace to the Litany of Loreto.

The Novena prayer will be available online very soon! Please join us in prayer asking the Lord to grant us the gift of His peace.

Da pacem Dómine in diébus nostris: quia non est álius qui pugnet pro nobis, nisi tu Deus noster. Amen
Give us every day Your peace, Lord: for there is no one else who would defend us but You, our God. Amen