*Christmas novena*

🇻🇦✝️🎉

An Italian priest named Father Charles Vachetta is credited with writing a novena in 1721 to inspire his parishioners during Advent. Today, that novena is known as the “Christmas novena.”

The nine-day prayer begins on Dec. 16 and concludes on Christmas Eve. Drawing from the Psalms and Old Testament prophecies foretelling the coming of the Messiah, the novena includes a daily Scripture reading, a meditation, an antiphon, the Magnificat, intercessions, and a closing prayer.

Vachetta, the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate in Turin, Italy, also composed an included canticle, or hymn, called “Let the Heavens Be Glad.”