Pope Francis canonized 14 men and women as saints on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
Among the canonized were 11 martyrs, an Italian priest with a missionary heart, a Canadian religious sister, and Saint Elena Guerra, also known as an “apostle of the Holy Spirit."
Saint Elena Guerra promoted the Chaplet to the Holy Spirit.
Saint Elena Guerra was born to a noble family in Lucca, Italy in 1835. At age eight, she received the sacrament of confirmation and felt a profound devotion to the Holy Spirit. Following her First Holy Communion, she sought to receive the Eucharist daily, something unique for the time in which she lived.
Saint Elena also benefited from secretly attending the lessons her brother received during his priestly formation. These lessons proved beneficial as she later taught young women in Lucca as part of her apostolic work, including the well-known Saint Gemma Galgani.
In 1870, Saint Elena made a pilgrimage with her father to Rome, filling her heart with desires for religious life, inspired by her love for the Blessed Sacrament and her ardent devotion to the Holy Spirit. She would come to found the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in 1882.
Her correspondence with Pope Leo XIII, which resulted in even a private audience with the Holy Father, led to the composition of prayers to the Holy Spirit, including the Holy Spirit Chaplet.
Inspired and encouraged by Saint Elena Guerra, Pope Leo XIII encouraged bishops and priests to spread devotion by praying the Novena leading up to Pentecost in preparation for the feast.
On May 5, 1895, Pope Leo XIII issued a document urging all bishops of the world to make this novena with the intention that “dissidents return to the true Church.”
Saint Elena firmly believed that Pentecost continues in the life of the Church. Throughout all times and places, “we only have to dispose of ourselves like [the Apostles] to receive [the Spirit] well, and he will come to us as he did to them.”
Saint Elena Guerra, “The Holy Spirit Apostle of Modern Times,” composed the following invocations to ask the Holy Spirit for the grace of a new Pentecost to renew the face of the earth.
How to Pray Saint Elena Guerra's Chaplet of the Holy Spirit
Opening Prayer:
— O God, come to my assistance. — O Lord, make haste to help me. — Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
The chaplet consists of seven septets, which are seven beads versus the ten beads of a decade.
On each of the seven beads, the following prayer is said:
“Father in the name of Jesus, send forth Your Spirit and renew the world.”
Then, conclude each septet with:
“O Mary, who by the work of the Holy Spirit, conceived the Savior, pray for us.”
The Seven Mysteries invoking the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
1- Come, O Spirit of Wisdom, detach us from earthly things and infuse in us a love and taste of heavenly things.
2- Come, O Spirit of Understanding, enlighten our minds with the light of Your eternal truth and the riches of holy thoughts.
3- Come, O Spirit of Counsel, make us docile to Your inspirations and guide us in the way of salvation.
4- Come, O Spirit of Fortitude, and give us strength, constancy, and victory in the battle against our spiritual enemies.
5- Come, O Spirit of Knowledge, be the Master of our souls, and help us to put into practice Your teachings.
6- Come, O Spirit of Piety, come to live in our hearts to possess and sanctify all of our affections.
7- Come, O Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, reign over our wills and make us always disposed to suffer every evil rather than to sin.
Invocation to Mary:
O most pure Virgin Mary, by your Immaculate Conception you were constituted by the Holy Spirit a chosen tabernacle of Divinity. Pray for us.
May the Divine Paraclete come soon to renew the face of the earth. Hail Mary…
O most pure Virgin Mary, by the Mystery of the Incarnation you were constituted by the Holy Spirit true Mother of God. Pray for us.
May the Divine Paraclete come soon to renew the face of the earth. Hail Mary…
O most pure Virgin Mary, persevering in prayer with the Apostles in the Upper Room, you were abundantly inflamed by the Holy Spirit. Pray for us.
May the Divine Paraclete come soon to renew the face of the earth. Hail Mary…
Let us pray.
Send Your Spirit, Lord, and transform us interiorly with Your gifts. Create in us a new heart that we may please You and be conformed to Your will. We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.