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Summary
- The Roman Ritual’s “Blessing of a pregnant woman in the dangers of childbirth” asks that, “with the hand of your mercy as midwife,” the child may “come happily into the light”; a priest gives it, and the words can be prayed at home.
- US bishops published a Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb, approved by the Vatican in 2012.
- Short prayers cover the last weeks, the start of labor, contractions, a cesarean, complications, the medical team, the baby’s father, a premature baby and the moment of birth.
- A novena in The Garden of the Soul recalls Mary’s nine months of carrying Christ; Catholics ask the prayers of St. Gerard Majella (d. 1755) and St. Margaret of Antioch by popular devotion.
- The churching prayer in the 1888 Manual of Prayers thanks God, who “hast turned the pains of the faithful at childbirth into joy”; Jesus used the same image in John 16:21.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Exodus 1:17; Psalm 127:3; 139:13; Isaiah 40:11; 66:9; Luke 1:41–42; John 16:21). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Rituale Romanum, with appendix of blessings. Baltimore: John Murphy, 1873. Appendix, Benedictio mulieris praegnantis in periculis partus, pp. 507–509. https://archive.org/details/ritualeromanum00cath_0
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Vatican Approves English and Spanish Texts for ‘Blessing of a Child in the Womb’” (2012). https://www.usccb.org/news/2012/vatican-approves-english-and-spanish-texts-blessing-child-womb
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. The Hail Mary, p. 34; The Churching of Women, pp. 457–458. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- England, John. The Garden of the Soul, enlarged edition. New York: D. & J. Sadlier, 1871. On Novenas, “A Novena to the Blessed Virgin.” https://archive.org/details/GardenOfTheSoul1871
- Magnier, John. “St. Gerard Majella.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06467c.htm
- MacRory, Joseph. “St. Margaret.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09652b.htm
