How will you celebrate Feb. 2, Feast of Our Lady of Good Success?

Novena to Our Lady of Good Success

Hail Mary Most Holy, Beloved Daughter of God the Father, Through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, grant thy good success to this request (name request)...

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be... Saint Michael, pray for us.

Hail Mary Most Holy, Admirable Mother of God the SonThrough the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, grant thy good success to this request (name request) ...

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be... Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

Hail Mary Most Holy, Most Faithful Spouse of the Holy GhostThrough the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, grant thy good success to this request (name request) ...

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be... Saint Raphael, pray for us.

Hail Mary Most Holy, Temple and Sacrarium of the Most Holy Trinity. St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, pray for us.

Our Lady of Good Success, thou who art the all-powerful intercessor before the Most Holy Trinity, deign to hear and answer my request - so long as it contributes to the salvation of my soul and the glory and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.

Salve Regina…(Hail holy Queen...)

***

To celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Good Success, the good people of Quito, Ecuador, pray the traditional Rosary of the Dawn.

The Rosary of the Dawn

At 4:30 a.m. on the day of the procession, we gathered before Our Lady in the darkened Church praying for “good success.”

As five o’clock neared, the first groups of people slowly filtered in. They soon started coming in spurts and then in torrents – people of all ages, men, women and children, fragile elderly ladies, husky men and young students. Whole communities of religious nuns filed in until we were astonished to see the church jammed with nearly a thousand people.

Before Quito awoke, the procession formed outside and Our Lady returned to parade in triumph through the main streets and central square.

It was then that I saw that my wish was granted. I had a privileged place in the procession right next to the statue helping to direct the litter bearers amid the crowd. As I looked upon the sea of Ecuadorian faces, I saw their supreme jubilation. We were showered (if not pelted) with rose petals in a display of contagious Latin exuberance.

It was as if the people were unshackled from their modern miseries and, forgetting themselves, now only thought of their queen and mother. The somber strains of the Spanish hymns filled the streets speaking of a tender child-like devotion:

O my mother who art in heaven
Send counsels to my heart
And when sad, weeping I call upon thee
And thy sweet blessings thou will bestow.

For a brief moment, I had a glimpse of the kind of Catholic souls that built those great churches. When a whole society is imbued with this kind of enthusiasm for the Faith, its churches rise to heaven… and heaven comes down to earth.

Click here for the complete story of a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Good Success, in Quito, Ecuador.