Twelve stars

A short Marian chaplet for the December feast.

Named for the woman in Revelation crowned with twelve stars, this chaplet honours the Immaculate Conception on twelve beads and is prayed especially in the novena before 8 December.

How to Pray It

1. Begin: O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
2. On the first bead: the Our Father.
3. On each of the twelve beads: a Hail Mary, followed by Blessed be the holy and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
4. Conclude with three Glory Bes in honour of the Trinity and the prayer below.

The Closing Prayer

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
prepared a worthy dwelling for Your Son:
grant, we beseech You,
that as You preserved her from every stain
by the anticipated death of Your Son,
so we too may be cleansed and come to You.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

About This Chaplet

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception, defined in 1854, holds that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her existence — not by exemption from Christ’s redemption but by receiving it in advance. Four years later, at Lourdes, a girl who had never heard the term was told: I am the Immaculate Conception.