St. Ignatius, Baltimore, will hold its traditional Novena of Grace, a nine-day prayer to St. Francis Xavier, March 4-12.
It will be the 151st novena at the 740 N. Calvert St. church, a devotion which started there before the Civil War.
Francis Xavier was a Jesuit missionary who labored in India and Japan in the 16th century. This year marks the 502nd anniversary of his birth.
Father Brendan Hurley, S.J., associate pastor of St. Ignatius and director of the St. Francis Xavier House of Prayer, will conduct the novena daily in conjunction with the 12:10 p.m. Mass in the Chapel of Grace.