In many Catholic families the aunt is also the godmother, which changes the nature of this prayer entirely. She made a promise at a font on your behalf, or you made one on your niece’s or nephew’s. Praying for her is the other half of it.
Historical Context
It is better to say plainly that there is no patron of aunts than to assign one. What the tradition does have is St Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin and the grandmother of Christ, honoured since at least the sixth century as the saint of a family’s older women — the ones who hold a household together without being at the centre of it. Her feast, kept with her husband St Joachim, is 26 July, and it is the natural day to remember an aunt.
A Prayer for My Aunt
Lord, thank you for my aunt,
who has been family to me without ever having to be.
Bless the life she has made, which I only see part of.
Keep her in health, and in the company of people who are kind to her.
Where she has carried this family quietly, let her be thanked —
and if we have never thanked her, prompt me to.
St Anne, who raised a daughter for God,
pray for the women of my family, and for her.
Amen.
A Birthday Prayer for an Aunt
Father, today is my aunt’s birthday,
and I want the year ahead to be good to her.
Give her health in her body and quiet in her mind.
Give her something to look forward to.
Let her be surrounded today by the people she loves,
and let her know she is held in the prayers of the family
on the days when no one telephones.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Prayer for an Aunt Who Is My Godmother
Canon 872 of the Code of Canon Law says the sponsor is to “help the baptised person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism, and to fulfil faithfully the obligations inherent in it.” That duty does not lapse when the godchild grows up, and it is worth answering.
Lord, my aunt stood for me at the font
before I could say anything for myself,
and answered in my name.
Whatever she promised there, honour it in me.
Reward her for the years she has prayed for me
without telling me she was doing it.
And when she is old, let me be to her
what she was to me when I was small.
Amen.
A Prayer for an Aunt Who Is Ill
God of all consolation, my aunt is unwell.
Be close to her in the long hours,
and steady the hands of those who care for her.
Give her patience with her own body.
If she is alone, send someone today.
St Raphael, medicine of God, pray for her.
Amen.
If the illness is serious, ask her parish for the Anointing of the Sick. It is not only for the dying, and a family member can make the call.
Best Times for This Prayer
- On her birthday, and on 26 July, the feast of St Anne.
- On the anniversary of a baptism she stood for.
- When she is ill, or newly widowed, or living alone.
- When she has been the one holding the family together.
- When you have not telephoned her in a long time.
- At her funeral, and on the anniversary of her death.
Scripture Connection
“And Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country… and she remained with her about three months.” — Luke 1:39, 56
Elizabeth is Mary’s kinswoman, not her sister or her mother — the aunt-shaped relation in Scripture, a woman of the extended family whose house you can arrive at unannounced and stay in for three months. The Visitation is the only extended-family visit the Gospels describe at length, and the whole of it is one relative taking another in.
Related prayers
If the relationship is a godparent one, the Godmother Prayer covers the promise from her side. For the generation above, see A Grandmother’s Prayer, and for a mother, A Mother’s Prayer.
Praying in the other direction — for the children rather than the aunt — the site has the Niece Prayer and the Prayer for My Nephew.
