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Novena Calculator (When to Start a Novena)

Find when to start a novena so its ninth day ends on the eve of the feast — Christmas, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Divine Mercy, Pentecost, Saint Jude and more — with all nine dates listed.

Feast

Year of the feast

Feast date (for "another feast")

The ninth day falls

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How it works

Traditional novena: day 1 = feast − 9 days, day 9 = feast − 1 (the eve) · ending on the feast: day 1 = feast − 8 · movable feasts from Easter E: Divine Mercy = E + 7 (novena starts on Good Friday), Pentecost = E + 49 (novena starts the day after Ascension), Sacred Heart = E + 68

A novena is a prayer said on nine consecutive days, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost. Most novenas are prayed so that the ninth day falls on the eve of the feast — the Christmas novena (Novena de Aguinaldos) runs from December 16 to 24, the novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe from December 3 to 11 and the Divine Mercy novena from Good Friday to the Saturday after Easter. Some devotions end on the feast day itself; choose that option if your prayer booklet says so. For any other saint, pick "another feast" and enter its date.

Worked example

For Christmas 2026 (Friday, December 25) with the traditional ending on the eve, day 1 is Wednesday, December 16, 2026 and day 9 is Thursday, December 24, 2026 — the dates of the Novena de Aguinaldos and the Mexican Posadas. Choosing to end on the feast day would run the novena from December 17 to December 25.

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia — Novena · USCCB — Liturgical Year

Frequently asked questions

When do I start a novena?

Count back nine days from the feast: start nine days before it so you finish on the eve. For a feast on December 12, start on December 3 and finish on December 11.

When does the Christmas novena start?

On December 16, finishing on Christmas Eve, December 24. In Colombia and Ecuador this is the Novena de Aguinaldos; in Mexico the Posadas are held on the same nine nights.

When does the Divine Mercy novena start?

On Good Friday, ending on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter), as Saint Faustina recorded in her diary.

What if I miss a day of the novena?

Most devotional guides suggest simply continuing — or saying the missed day's prayer together with the next — rather than starting over. A novena is a devotion, not a rule.

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This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.