Prayer of Parents for Priestly and Religious Vocations 

O God, grant that at least one of our sons may become a priest
or religious brother, and one of our daughters a religious sister.
We ourselves want to live as good Christians, and to guide our
children always to do what is right, so that we may receive the
grace, O God, to be allowed to give Thee a holy priest, brother, or
sister! Amen.

(Conclude with an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be)

Prayer for Priestly and Religious Vocations

Priest: Let us pray for priestly and religious vocations.
All: O God, we earnestly beseech Thee to bless the Church with many priests, brothers, and sisters, who will love Thee with their whole hearts, be faithful to their vocations, and gladly spend their entire lives to teach Thy truths, serve Thy Church, and to make Thee known and loved.
Priest: Bless our families, bless our children.
All: Choose from our homes those who are needed for Thy work.
Priest: O Mary, Queen of priestly and religious vocations:
All: Pray for us. Pray for our priests, seminarians and religious.  Obtain for us the grace of many more. Amen.

(Please offer your reception of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month for vocations)

The Example of Lu Monferrato

The little village of Lu, northern Italy, with only a few thousand inhabitants, is in a rural area 90 kilometers east of Turin. It would still be unknown to this day if, in the year 1881, the family mothers of Lu had not made a decision that had “serious consequences”.

The deepest desire of many of these mothers was for one of their sons to become a priest or for a daughter to place her life completely in God’s service. Under the direction of their parish priest, Msgr. Alessandro Canora, they gathered every Tuesday for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, asking the Lord for vocations. They received Holy Communion on the first Sunday of every month with the same intention. After Mass, all the mothers prayed a particular prayer together imploring for vocations to the priesthood.

Through the trusting prayer of these mothers and the openness of the other parents, an atmosphere of deep joy and Christian piety developed in the families, making it much easier for the children to recognize their vocations.

Did the Lord not say,“Many are called, but few are chosen” (Mt 22:14)? In other words, many are called, but only a few respond to that call. No one expected that God would hear the prayers of these mothers in such an astounding way.

From the tiny village of Lu came 323 vocations!: 152 priests (diocesan and religious), and 171 nuns belonging to 41 different congregations.

Every ten years, the priests and sisters born in Lu come together from all around the world. Fr. Mario Meda, the long-serving parish priest of Lu, explained that this reunion is a true celebration, a feast of thanksgiving to God who has done such great things for Lu.

The prayer that the Mothers of Lu prayed was short, simple, and deep:

O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest!
I myself want to live as a good Christian
and want to guide my children always to do what is right,
so that I may receive the grace, O God, to be allowed to give you a holy priest! Amen.

This picture is indeed unique in the annals of the Catholic Church. From 1 to 4 September 1946, the majority of the 323 priests and religious met in their village of Lu for a reunion which attracted world-wide attention.

 The rural village of Lu in Italy.