November 18th -26th: Great Novena to Jean-Marie de la Mennais: asking God for graces through his intercession, so that the Church may proclaim him blessed!
From the 18th to the 26th of every month – according to the tradition in the Congregation in the countries of the Northern hemisphere – we have 9 days of prayer with Jean-Marie de la Mennais. The November Novena takes quite a particular colour because it ends on the date chosen by the Congregation to celebrate the anniversary of the Founder’s death which falls on the. 26th December, within Christmastide.
It is not a special week only for the Brothers but for the entire Mennaisian Family throughout the world. In some sectors, this Novena is underlined in quite a particular way: by celebrations, meetings, parties, tournaments, competitions, etc. In other sectors, the Great Novena is lived more “discreetly”.
On this occasion, let us not be afraid first of all, to give thanks to God for the bicentenary of the Congregation which we are soon going to celebrate, and to give thanks for his Servant Jean-Marie de la Mennais whom he has given to the Church. Let us not be afraid of praying through him, so that God may grant our demands of grace and healing …
Let us take time – as members of the Mennaisian family to meet one another, to pray, to make known and to celebrate Jean-Marie de la Mennais, with the children and the young people who surround us and with all those who work on the immense field of education and evangelisation. At the heart of this Novena, on November 20th, we shall not forget to underline the international day of children’s rights. (http://www.journee-mondiale.com/98/journee-internationale-des-droits-de-l-enfant.htm )
The Superior General, Brother Yannick Houssay, reminded us that “we have to read Jean-Marie de la Mennais in order to know him, narrate him; perceive what was the heart of his spiritual intuition; penetrate his heart and his mind to try to get into his responses and make them our own…. To follow Christ by following Jean-Marie de la Mennais’ example, to ask for the intercession of our Founders, who continue to take care of their “little brothers”, we must be close to them … ” (March 2016, Letter to the Mennaisian Family)
Brother Dino De Carolis, Postulator General, encourages us thus:
“Let us ask the Brothers, the Daughters of Providence, the whole Mennaisian Family and those who love Father de la Mennais and often have recourse to him in prayer.
Let us offer our prayers through Brother Hyppolite-Victor. Not only was he the great architect of the proclamation of the heroicity of virtues of the Founder, but it was he who initiated the diocesan process in Rennes in order to recognise the healing of the little Josette until the submission of the file to the Sacred Congregation of Rites (now Congregation for the Causes of Saints), pending the opening of the official Roman procedure. 
We therefore invite the entire Mennaisian Family to give a particular emphasis to the great Novena of November.
Let us rekindle our devotion to the Founder so that his protection and example may be extended to the whole Church and to us his children.”
Contact : Bro Dino, Postulator E-mail : postulatore@lamennais.org
