Part of our mission statement at Idylls Press is to contribute to a new Catholic literary renaissance. There’s a great deal of work to be done toward that end, especially in the often overlooked area of writing, publishing and promoting quality Catholic fiction; but nothing will be accomplished without the wisdom and grace of God. To that end, we’re asking our readers to join with us in praying this prayer as a novena (once a day for nine days, or once an hour for nine hours in a day) to the Divine Word, Eternal Beauty, sometime during the Easter Season, to beg God for a new springtime in the Catholic arts, particularly literature. (We in Clan Murphy and are saying our novena in union with the Divine Mercy novena, beginning Good Friday and ending on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday.)

God bless you all, and thank you for your prayers and support.

Pray for a Catholic Literary Revival

O, Jesus, Who said, “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass,” You are the Living and Eternal Word through Whom all that exists was made and is sustained. You delighted in proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom by means of stories.

Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, St. Joseph (Your guardian , Mary’s chaste spouse, and protector of Christ’s faithful), St. Francis de Sales (patron of Catholic writers), Cardinal John Henry Newman (patron of Catholic essayists and novelists), Pope John Paul II the Great (patron of Catholic poets, artists, playwrights, and personalists), and all the holy men and women throughout the ages who have spread the Kingdom of Goodness, Truth and Beauty by means of words and images, we ask You humbly but confidently for the graces we need to contribute to a renewed culture of beauty (in service of love and life), including a Catholic literary revival, for our times.

1. Our Father

2. Hail Mary

3. Glory Be

Jesus, Eternal Beauty, we trust in You.

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Amen.