The Complete Manual of Catholic Piety / Containing a Selection of Fervent Prayers, Pious Reflection, and Solid Instructions, Adapted to Every State of Life. To Which is Annexed a Supplement, Containing Excellent and Approved Devotions, With the Epistles and Gospels for All the Sundays and Festivals of the Year.

by William Gahan

As the fragrant rose in pleasing spring,
To God's own Son a spouse most dear,
A martyr rare of Christ our King,
St. Winefrid did flourish here.
Descended great of British race,
In faith was firm, in hope secure,
With holy works and soul of grace,
From worldly filth preserved pure.
Caradock this sacred maiden slew,
Because she did resist his lust;
But heaven's immediate vengeance flew,
And doomed his soul for ever curst.
Stained with spots of reeking blood,
Where Caradock's sword sever'd the head,
A healing stream immediate flow'd,
Perpetual token of the deed.
Here God supreme doth wonders work,
The blind to see, the dumb to speak;
Diseases which in bodies lurk,
Are cur'd where faith is not too weak.
O glorious Virgin Winefrid,
To us the raging sea appease;
And free us so from Satan's dread,
That he on us may never seize.

A Prayer To St. Winefrid.

O blessed Winefrid! O pure Virgin, and glorious martyr, so especially elected, so divinely graced, and wonderfully restored from death to life! O singular hope of all that fly unto thee with full confidence and humility. Though unworthy, yet we thy devoted pilgrims make our addresses to thee! O sanctuary of piety, look upon us with patient eyes, receive our petitions, accept our offerings, and present our supplications to the throne of mercy, that through thy powerful intercession God will be pleased to bless this our pilgrimage, and grant us our requests and desires: through Jesus Christ, his Son, who with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Another Prayer To St. Winefrid.

O blessed Winefrid! O glorious Virgin and Martyr, who hast admirably beautified with the purple of thy blood the rare purity of thy innocent life, whom God has so specially chosen, so highly privileged, and so wonderfully restored to life again, gracing thee with the honour of a living martyr, causing a fountain miraculously to spring, bearing a perpetual memory of thy name, for the relief of all diseased and distressed pilgrims who shall devoutly beg thy powerful intercession. O blessed Winefrid, hear my prayers, and receive my humble supplications, or any poor devoted pilgrim's, and obtain that by thy pious intercession, God, of his infinite mercy, will be pleased to grant us a full pardon and remission of our sins, and a blessing to this our pilgrimage, and that we may increase and persevere in God's grace, and enjoy him eternally in heaven. This we beg of thee, O blessed Virgin and Martyr, for Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour's sake. Amen.

The Golden Litany,

Briefly Commemorating Our Blessed Redeemer's Life
And Passion.

Lord, have mercy upon us!
Christ, have mercy upon us!Lord, have mercy upon us!
God, the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
Have mercy upon us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
God, the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of mankind,
Have mercy upon us.
O sacred Trinity of Persons, in unity of essence,
Have mercy upon us.
O blessed Jesus, true God and true man,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy power in creating heaven and earth,
and all things therein contained,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy goodness in making man to
thine own image and likeness,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy mercy in redeeming man after his fall,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy unspeakable love,
in making choice of the blessed
Virgin Mary for thy Mother,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the ineffable mystery of thine Incarnation,
whereby thou didst vouchsafe to unite
thy divine person to our frail nature,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy immaculate Conception,
and nine months imprisonment within the
sacred body of the blessed Virgin Mary,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy blessed nativity in the poor stable at
Bethlehem,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the hunger, cold, and the other
inconveniencies thou didst endure in thy tender
body, when laid in the crib between an ox and an ass,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy painful circumcision, on the eighth
day after thy birth, when thou didst first shed
thy precious blood for our sake,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the adorable name of Jesus,
which was then given thee,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the mystical offerings of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh, which the wise men
presented thee, whom by a miraculous star thou
didst summon out of the East, to adore thee in
thine infancy,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the oblation thou didst make of thyself to
thine eternal Father, when in the temple thou wert
acknowledged by Simeon and Anne, and ransomed with
a pair of doves by thy poor Virgin Mother,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy flight into Egypt to avoid the cruelty
of king Herod, and all thou didst there suffer
with thy blessed Mother and St. Joseph,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy return from thence to Nazareth, and
the obedience thou didst there pay to thy parents,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy being lost by thy parents in
Jerusalem, where thou wert again found by them,
after three days' search, sitting in the temple in
the midst of the doctors,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the sacred and hidden life thou didst lead
in Nazareth, with holy Mary and Joseph, from the
twelfth to the thirtieth year of thine age,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy humble reception of baptism in the
river Jordan by the hands of St. John,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy forty days' fast in the desert, where
thou didst obtain repeated victories over the
three temptations of the devil,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy first miracle of changing water into
wine at the marriage feast of Cana,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the zeal which thou didst show for the
honour of thy eternal Father, in casting the
buyers and sellers out of the temple,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy condescending to discourse with
the Samaritan woman sitting at the fountain.
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy excessive charity in healing the young
man of Capharnaum, Simon Peter's mother-in-law,
and a multitude of other infirm persons,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the power thou didst manifest in appeasing
the tempest at sea, walking on the water, and
enabling St. Peter to do so likewise,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy efficacious calling of Peter, Andrew,
James, and John, from their boats, and Matthew
from the receipt of custom, to follow thee,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the choice of thy twelve apostles, and the
divine sermon thou didst deliver to them on the
Mount, in which is exhibited the model of a
perfect Christian life,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the mercy thou didst show to the penitent
Magdalen, preferring her to the Pharisee, and
pardoning her sins,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the sending of the apostles to preach thy
gospel to the people,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy miraculous feeding of five thousand
persons with five loaves of bread, and four
thousand with seven loaves,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy appointment of Peter to be the rock on
which thou wouldst build thy church, for his
having confessed thee to be Christ the Son of the
living God,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy glorious transfiguration on Mount
Thabor, in the presence of three of thy disciples,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy instructing us in the virtue and
efficacy of prayer, and by giving us a model
thereof in the divine "Our Father," &c.
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy inflamed desire to redeem mankind,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy meek and humble entry into Jerusalem
on Palm-Sunday, riding upon an ass,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy humility in washing the feet of thy
disciples, even those of the traitor Judas,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy ineffable love manifested in the
institution of the sacrifice and sacrament of thy
precious body and blood,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the prayer thou didst thrice repeat in the
Garden of Mount Olivet, when a bloody sweat
trickled down thine agonized body,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy condescending to receive a kiss from
the mouth of the traitor Judas,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy being apprehended, bound, and brought
before the tribunals of Annas and Caiphas,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the blows, buffets, and opprobrious usage
thou didst endure the night before thy
crucifixion,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy presentation to the pagan judge,
Pilate, in the quality of a notorious criminal,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy being sent before Herod, and
scornfully treated by that wicked king and his
soldiers,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the cruel and contumelious whipping
thou didst endure at the pillar,
Have mercy upon us.Through the barbarous clamours of the people to
have Barrabas, the murderer, released, and the
innocent Jesus put to death,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the false accusations, suborned witnesses,
slanders, and calumnies, brought against thee by
the Jews,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the shameful stripping off thy clothes,
and exposing thy naked body to the multitude,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the pressing of a crown of sharp
pointed thorns on thy sacred head,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy being clothed in a purple garment, and
derided as a mock king, having a reed put into thy
hand for a sceptre,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the scoffing salutations, insulting
reflections, and scornful adorations, whereby thou
wert mocked by the Jews and the soldiers,
Have mercy upon us.
Through their spitting on thy divine face,
and striking thy sacred head,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy being exposed to the people in the
most lamentable condition, Pilate saying to the
multitude: Behold the man!
Have mercy upon us.
Through the horrid clamours and repeated
vociferations of the Jews, "Away with him! Crucify him!"
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy meek and patient hearing of the
sentence of death pronounced against thee,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy bearing thy heavy cross on thy sacred
shoulders,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the painful stretching of thy naked body
on the cross as on a rack, and fastening thy hands
and feet thereto with gross nails,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the compassion thou hadst for thy
sorrowful Mother, and beloved disciple, standing
at the foot of thy cross,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy excessive charity in praying for thy
persecutors, and murderers, and in promising
Paradise to the penitent thief,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the seven last speeches thou didst utter
on the cross whilst thou wast suspended thereon
for the space of three hours,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the vehement thirst thou didst then
suffer, and the gall and vinegar which was given
thee to drink,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy last agony, in which thou didst
commend thy blessed soul into the hands of thy
heavenly Father,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the piercing of thy side with a lance, and
the water and blood which issued therefrom,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the descent of thy departed soul into
Limbo, to conquer the devils, and set the ancient
fathers at liberty,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the taking down of thy dead body from the
cross by Joseph, of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, in
order to its burial,
Have mercy upon us.Through thy glorious resurrection from death to
life on the third day,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thy appearing to thy blessed Mother, to
Mary Magdalen, to Peter and the other apostles,
frequently comforting and confirming them during
the space of forty days,
Have mercy upon us.
Through thine admirable ascension into heaven, in
the sight of thy sacred Mother and thy disciples,
Have mercy upon us.
Through the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost
on thy apostles in the form of fiery tongues,
Have mercy upon us.
Through all thine actions and sufferings during
thy thirty years sojourning amongst men, and by
all that is pleasing to thy divine Majesty in
heaven and on earth,
Have mercy upon us.
V, Graciously hear our prayers, O Lord.
R. And let our cry come unto thee.