THE SAINT OF VOCATIONS

Spiritual Director of Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

Feast day: June 1
; 1851 – 1927
Beatified By: 7 October 1990 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: 16 May 2004 by Pope John Paul II

The message and the mission of Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia is not only valued among those involved in vocation ministry and those who have at heart the formation of the clergy but also by all those who have come to understand the need of prayer for more vocations in the Church.

DAILY PRAYER

O Most Holy Virgin, You have kept in Your Immaculate Heart the Divine Command of Jesus:

“Pray therefore to the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest”

and You have raised all priestly and apostolic vocations,

which have bloomed in the Church at all times

We ask of You this Spirit of prayer and that You may present the supplications which we raise to the Lord of the Harvest so that He send to the world an abundance of holy laborers

for His greater Glory and for the Salvation of Souls.  Amen.

St. Annibale Maria di Francia

TUESDAY May 23 – DAY ONE:
Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia, you were entrusted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the soul of the Servant of God Luisa Piccaretta. Now, through the intercession of our Little Mama Luisa, and under the Blue Mantle of Our dear Blessed Mother, Mary, we entrust to you our prayers in this Novena for abundant vocations to the Holy Priesthood.
Blessed Pope John Paul II described you, St Annibale Maria di Francia, as “an anticipator and precursor of the modern pastoral care of vocations.”  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

WEDNESDAY May 24 – DAY TWO:
Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia, you who were the Extraordinary Confessor to our Little Mama, the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, once said:  “What are these few orphans we attend to, these few people we bring the good news to, compared to the millions who are lost and abandoned as sheep without a shepherd?…I looked for an answer and I found a complete one in the words of Jesus: “Beg the harvest master to send out laborers to gather his harvest.”  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

THURSDAY May 25 – DAY THREE:
Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia, you once asked: “Who will evangelise the poor if there are no evangelisers? Who will lead the people in God’s ways, if there are no pastors?”
You understood the importance and great need of holy laborers.  Now more than ever we need Vocations to the Holy Priesthood.  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

FRIDAY May 26 – DAY FOUR:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, in your love for children and the poor you discovered another and greater poverty, which was the lack of good workers. You spent your whole life countering this poverty.  Today we suffer more than ever the poverty of good workers in the vineyard.  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

SATRUDAY May 27 – DAY FIVE:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, you yourself strived to become a model of the “good laborer” spoken of in the Gospels, and to be a priest “according to the Heart of Jesus.”  Our hearts yearn for “good laborers,” priests “according to the Heart of Jesus.”  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer. 

SUNDAY May 28 – DAY SIX:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, you looked at the poor of the city with the eyes of Jesus and saw them as “sheep without a shepherd.”  Look now upon our poor souls with the eyes of Jesus and have pity on our souls who are so often as “sheep without a shepherd.”  Jesus wants laborers to harvest His people, therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

MONDAY May 29 – DAY SEVEN:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, in diving into the richness of the Gospel you found the Rogate pearl of great price, which means “…pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His harvest.” (Mt 9:37-38; Lk 10:2).  These words were engraved into your heart.  To you we come to enflame the hearts of men to the Holy Priesthood and send workers into His Harvest. Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

TUESDAY May 30 – DAY EIGHT:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, it became your life to pray to God the Father, the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into His Harvest so that many would know the joy of the Gospel.  It is now our obligation, our desire, our joy to pray for vocations as you did.  Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

WEDNESDAY May 31 – DAY NINE:
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, you used to say: “We should love children with tender and fatherly love. This is the secret of secrets to gain them to God”.  There are so few today who desire to be priests, tender fathers, who love with a fatherly love who would lead souls to our Heavenly Father. Therefore we pray with you, through Luisa Piccarreta, your own prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary begging the Master of the Harvest to send laborers to His Harvest.
Pray the daily prayer.

THURSDAY June 1 – FEAST DAY OF ST ANNIBALE MARIE DI FRANCIA

Every year, the Popes remind the universal Church that still today salvation comes to us through the work of many and holy ministers of the Gospel and that to obtain them from God we must pray.

Prayer for Priestly Vocations

Jesus, Good Shepherd, you said:

“The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few.”

We lovingly embrace Your invitation:

“Pray the Heavenly Father to send forth laborers into His harvest.”

Inspire in us a holy crusade for vocations

under the loving care of St. Annibale Maria Di Francia

whom Blessed Pope John Paul II described as

“an anticipator and precursor of the modern pastoral care of vocations.”

Grant us abundant holy priests!

May these holy priests be the salt of the earth, the light of the world,

the city placed on the mountaintop for the salvation of mankind redeemed by Your Precious Blood.

Look on us Lord Jesus and our need for holy priests.

Help those young men you are calling to hear clearly Your Solemn and Authoritative Voice

and to generously respond with their “Fiat!” to Your loving call.

Holy Mary Mother of God and Mother of priests, Mother and guardian of vocations,

pray with us, pray for us and pray for all those young men

called from the beginning of time by Our Triune God

to be holy priests today in our troubled world. Amen.

Prayer of Consecration to Saint Annibale Maria di Francia

Saint Annibale Maria di Francia, Our Lord and Savior gave you the mission of making the Divine Will known to the world. Jesus said to Luisa, “One who has completed his mission on earth can say,

‘My mission is finished,’ but one who has not completed it

must complete it from Heaven.”

I ask for all that is needed to help you fulfill your mission,

and I Consecrate myself to you, Saint Annibale Maria di Francia,

this day and always.

Lord Jesus grant all that is needed to make the Divine Will known, for You said,

“How I love and yearn that the Divine Will be known.

And so much is My interest that I will be disposed to give whatever graces to who wants

to occupy himself with making It known.”

Let me be one with Saint Annibale Maria di Francia, and use me as you wish

to fulfill his mission of making the Divine Will known to the world.

Mother Mary, because of my nothingness I am incapable of making the Holy Divine Will known.

Therefore, help me and guide me in everything.

Let me be one with Saint Annibale Maria di Francia, and use me as you wish

to fulfill his mission of making the Divine Will known to the world.

Little Luisa, I ask that I may always take to heart your words:

“It is the absolute Will of God that we interest ourselves in making the Divine Will known,

even at the cost of our own lives.”

Let this be our most sacrosanct duty to Jesus and Mary,

that the Kingdom of God be established on earth as It is in Heaven.

Let me be one with Saint Annibale Maria di Francia, and use me as you wish

to fulfill his mission of making the Divine Will known to the world.

I make this Consecration in the Holy Divine Will

through Christ Our Lord.   Amen.

The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will; Day 6

Lesson of the Queen of Heaven:

Dearest daughter, trust your Mama (Blessed Mother) and pay attention to My Lessons; they will serve you to make you abhor your will, and to make you long within yourself for that Divine Fiat, whose Life I so much yearn to form in you.
My daughter, you must know that the Divinity was assured about Me through the Test It wanted—while everyone believes that I did not have any test, and that it was enough for God to make the Great Portent He made of Me, of Conceiving Me without original sin. Oh, how they deceive themselves. On the contrary, He asked of Me a Proof which He has asked of no one. And He did this with Justice and with Highest Wisdom, because, since the Eternal Word was to descend into Me, not only was it not decorous that He find in Me the original sin, but it was also not decorous for Him to find in Me a human will operating. It would have been too unseemly for God to descend into a creature in whom reigned the human will. And this is why He wanted from Me, as Proof, and for My whole life, My will, in order to secure the Kingdom of the Divine Will within My Soul. Once He secured this in Me, God could do with Me whatever He wanted; He could give Me anything, and I can say that He could deny Me nothing.
For now, let us go back to the point we reached. I will reserve the narration of what this Divine Will did in Me during the course of My Lessons.
Now listen, My daughter: after the Triumph in the Test, the Divine Fiat took the Sixth Step in my soul by having Me take Possession of all of the Divine Properties, as much as it is possible and imaginable for the creature. Everything was Mine—Heaven and earth, and even God Himself, whose very Will I possessed. I felt I was the Possessor of Divine Sanctity, of Divine Love, of Divine Beauty, Power, Wisdom and Goodness. I felt I was Queen of Everything; nor did I feel a stranger in the House of My Celestial Father. I felt vividly His Paternity and the Supreme Happiness of being His Faithful Daughter. I can say that I grew up on the Paternal knees of God, nor did I know other love or other science but that which My Creator administered to Me. Who can tell you what this Divine Will did in Me? It Elevated Me so High, It Embellished Me so much, that the very Angels remain mute, nor do they know where to begin to speak about Me.
Now, My dearest daughter, you must know that, as soon as the Divine Fiat had Me take Possession of Everything, I felt Myself the Possessor of Everything and of Everyone. With Its Power, Immensity and All-seeingness, the Divine Will enclosed all creatures in My soul, and I felt a little place in My Maternal Heart for each one of them. From the moment I was conceived, I carried you in My Heart, and— O, how much I Loved you, and I Love you. I Loved you so much, that I acted as your Mother before God; My Prayers, My Sighs, were for you; and in the delirium of Mother, I said: “O! How I wish to see My daughter Possessor of Everything, just as I am.”
Therefore, listen to your Mama: do not want to recognize your human will any more. If you do so, everything will be in common between Me and you; you will have a Divine Strength in your power; all things will turn into Divine Sanctity, Love and Beauty. And I, in the Ardor of My Love, just as the Most High sang My Praises, “All Beautiful, All Holy, All Pure are You, O Mary!” I will say: “Beautiful, Pure and Holy is My daughter, because she Possesses the Divine Will.”

Book of Heaven:  Volume 25; November 14, 1928

…After this, my lovable Jesus made Himself seen as a tiny little child, who, throwing His arms around my neck, told me: “My mama, My mama…. One who does My Divine Will becomes mother; My Divine Fiat embellishes her for Me, transforms her, and renders her fecund, in such a way as to give her all the qualities in order to be a true mother. And I keep forming this mother with the reflections of the Sun of My Divine Volition, and I glory and take so much pleasure in calling her My mama, My mama…. And not only do I choose her as My mother, but I call many more tiny little ones and give to them My mother as their mother.”

And while He was saying this, He showed me many little boys and girls around me; and the child Jesus said to them: “This is My mother and your mama.”

The little ones made feast and drew all around me together with Jesus; and Jesus added: “These little ones you see are no other than the first cohort of the children of My Divine Volition. In It, all will be little, because My Divine Will has the virtue of preserving them fresh and beautiful, just as they came out of Our creative hands. And since It called your littleness to live in It, it is right that, as the first one, you be the tiny little mama of the tiny little children.”

 ***

Book of Heaven
Volume 25; November 14, 1928

. . . After this, my lovable Jesus made Himself seen as a tiny little child, who, throwing His arms around my neck, told me (Luisa Piccarreta):  “My mama, My mama….  One who does My Divine Will becomes mother; My Divine Fiat embellishes her for Me, transforms her, and renders her fecund, in such a way as to give her all the qualities in order to be a true mother.  And I keep forming this mother with the reflections of the Sun of My Divine Volition, and I glory and take so much pleasure in calling her My mama, My mama….  And not only do I choose her as My mother, but I call many more tiny little ones and give to them My mother as their mother.”

And while He (Jesus) was saying this, He (Jesus) showed me (Luisa) many little boys and girls around me (Luisa); and the child Jesus said to them:  “This is My mother and your mama.” 

The little ones made feast and drew all around me together with Jesus; and Jesus added:  “These little ones you see are no other than the first cohort of the children of My Divine Volition.  In It, all will be little, because My Divine Will has the virtue of preserving them fresh and beautiful, just as they came out of Our creative hands.  And since It (Divine Will) called your (Luisa’s) littleness to live in It, it is right that, as the first one, you (Luisa) be the tiny little mama of the tiny little children (of the Most Holy Divine Will).”

The body of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta was transferred to Saint Maria Greca on July 3, 1963

***

Prayer on the holy picture (with relic) printed immediately after Luisa Piccarreta’s death with the authorization of Archbishop Reginaldo Addazi O.P.
 (Note: Archbishop Reginaldo Addazi O.P. gave Luisa the title of Servant of God) 

PRAYERS

to implore the beatification of the Servant of God

LUISA PICCARRETAI

O Most Sacred Heart of my Jesus, who chose your humble Servant LUISA as the herald of the Kingdom of your Divine Will and the angel of reparation for the countless sins that grieve your Divine Heart, I humbly pray you to grant me the grace that through her intercession I implore of your Mercy, so that she may be glorified on earth as you have rewarded her in Heaven. Amen.

Pater, Ave, Gloria.

I

O Divine Heart of my Jesus who gave to your humble Servant LUISA as a victim of your Love the strength to suffer all her life the spasms of your painful Passion, grant that for your greatest glory the halo of the blesseds may shine around her head. And through her intercession grant me the grace that I humbly implore of you…

Pater, Ave, Gloria.

III

O Merciful Heart of my Jesus who, for the salvation and sanctification of so many souls, deigned to preserve for long years on earth your humble Servant LUISA, your little Daughter of the Divine Will, hear my prayer: that she may be glorified by your holy Church without delay. And through her intercession, grant me the grace that I humbly beseech of you…

Pater, Ave, Gloria.

Nulla osta:
Trani, 27 November 1948

ARCHBISHOP REGINALDO ADDAZI, O.P.