Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena: 9 Days with the Lady of Tepeyac
On December 12 the Church keeps the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who appeared in 1531 to an Indigenous man, Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac outside Mexico City, and left her image on his cloak. This page gives the complete nine-day novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, prayed from December 3 to December 11, with a free printable booklet of the same nine days.
Each day of this novena follows one moment of the story, from the first morning on the hill to the image unfolded before the bishop. If you want the full history of the apparitions and a reading of the image and its paintings, see our article on the Virgen de Guadalupe: history, meaning, and sacred art.
✦ The Novena as a Free Printable Booklet
The nine days below are also a booklet you can print at home: eleven illuminated pages, one painting and one short reading for each day, the prayer of the novena, and a line on every page to write your own intention. It is free, and there is nothing to fill in.
Download for US LetterDownload for A4
PDF, eleven pages, ready to print.
How to Pray the Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena
A novena is nine days of the same asking: not nine different prayers, but one request carried patiently, in imitation of the nine days the apostles prayed with Mary before Pentecost. How to pray it: each day, begin with the opening prayer, read the verse and the short reading of the day, then close with the prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe below, naming your intention. You may add one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.
The novena is traditionally prayed from December 3 to December 11, the nine days before her feast. If you begin late, begin anyway: nine days that end after the feast are still nine days.
Opening Prayer (every day)
O God, who hast placed us under the singular protection of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and willed that we should be filled with unceasing benefits: grant to thy suppliants that, as we rejoice in her memory on earth, so we may enjoy the sight of her in heaven. Amen.
This is the collect of the traditional Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in our own English translation.
The Nine Days
Day 1: The Hill of Tepeyac
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.
The Song of Solomon 2:12
Before dawn on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego was crossing the hill of Tepeyac on his way to Mass when he heard singing so beautiful he wondered if he had died. A lady called him by name, in his own language, and sent him to the bishop: she wanted a house built there.
She did not choose a priest. Ask her today to find you on your ordinary road.
Day 2: Send Someone Else
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
1 Corinthians 1:27
The bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, listened kindly and did not believe him. That evening Juan Diego went back to the hill and asked her to send someone of standing instead. I am nobody, he told her, a leaf, a small rope.
She answered that she had many servants, and chose him anyway. Name the thing you feel too small to carry, and do not ask to be excused from it.
Day 3: A Sign
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.
Isaiah 7:14
On Sunday he went back, waited for hours, and wept. The bishop asked for a sign. The Lady took no offence, and told him to return the next day: the sign would be given.
Asking for a sign is not always a lack of faith. Sometimes it is the only honest thing a careful man can say. Ask for one you will know when it comes.
Day 4: The Other Road
My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed.
Mark 5:23
He did not go back. His uncle, Juan Bernardino, had fallen gravely ill. Before dawn on Tuesday Juan Diego ran to fetch a priest and, ashamed, took the path around the hill so the Lady would not stop him.
She came down to meet him on the other road. Whatever you have been walking around this week, ask her to meet you there.
Day 5: Am I Not Here?
Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!
John 19:27
She did not scold him. She asked: Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection? She told him his uncle was already healed. At that hour she stood by Juan Bernardino’s bed and gave her name: Holy Mary of Guadalupe.
Say her question back to yourself today, slowly, and let it answer the fear you brought to this page.
Day 6: Roses in December
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isaiah 35:1
She sent him to the top of the hill, where only stones and cactus grew, and in December only frost. He found roses of Castile in bloom and carried them down in his cloak. She arranged them with her own hands and told him to open it before no one but the bishop.
Ask today for something to flower where you have stopped expecting it.
Day 7: Before the Bishop
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Luke 1:52
Before the bishop, Juan Diego opened his cloak. The roses fell to the floor, and on the rough cactus-fibre cloth was the Virgin, as she had appeared to him. The bishop and his household knelt before a poor man’s cloak.
The sign was not only the roses. It was who was holding them. Ask to be less impressed by standing, beginning with your own.
Day 8: Clothed with the Sun
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.
Revelation 12:1
Read the image as its first viewers did. She stands in front of the sun and above the moon, the old gods of the land, and she bows her head: she is not a goddess. Her hands are joined in prayer to someone greater than she is.
Everything in the picture points past her. Ask her today to turn you, too, towards her Son.
Day 9: No Other Nation
He hath not dealt so with any nation.
Psalm 147:20
In 1754 Pope Benedict XIV approved her feast on December 12. Tradition says he answered a copy of the image with this verse. Nearly five centuries later the cloak still hangs above the altar at Tepeyac, and millions come to see it every December.
Tomorrow is her feast. Bring back the request you have carried nine days, and leave it with her.
Closing Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe (every day)
Holy Mary of Guadalupe, who didst ask Juan Diego, Am I not here, I who am thy mother? Look upon me who come to thee in this need, and carry to thy Son the thing I now name before thee: (here make your request).
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. Saint Juan Diego, pray for us. Amen.
Her words to Juan Diego are taken from the Nican Mopohua, the account of the apparitions written in Nahuatl in the sixteenth century, here in our own translation.
✦ Free Christian & Catholic Printables
Love this one? Find it, and our complete collection of illuminated prayer cards, novenas and Scripture printables, ready to print, free, in one place.
When to Pray the Novena
The novena runs from December 3 to December 11 and ends on the eve of her feast on December 12, the day in 1531 when the image appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak. In 2026 it begins on a Thursday and ends on a Friday, with the feast on Saturday. It may also be prayed at any other time of need. If you love novenas, you may also want our Saint Jude novena and, in February, the Our Lady of Lourdes novena.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Our Lady of Guadalupe novena start?
It starts on December 3 and ends on December 11, so that the ninth day falls on the eve of her feast on December 12.
What did Our Lady of Guadalupe say to Juan Diego?
When Juan Diego tried to avoid her because his uncle was dying, she met him on the road and asked: “Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection?” She told him his uncle was already healed, and sent him to gather the roses that became the sign for the bishop.
Is there a printable Our Lady of Guadalupe novena?
Yes. The nine days on this page are also a free booklet of eleven illuminated pages, in US Letter and A4, with one painting and one short reading for each day and a line to write your intention. The download links are at the top of this page.
Can I pray the novena at another time of year?
Yes. December 3 to 11 is the traditional date, before her feast, but a novena may be prayed whenever you have something to ask. Many pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the unborn, for mothers, for the sick and for the Americas, of which she is patroness.
