One of my favorite devotions is to the Holy Souls in Purgatory; when I discovered the prayer of St. Gertrude the Great (below), I knew that it was going to figure in a very significant way in this little bench.

What does this mean for you?  With every rosary and chaplet, each time I string a Pater (Our Father) bead, I hold this bead close and pray this prayer.  By the time a rosary is complete, that’s 6,000 souls who have been released by God from Purgatory.  What a beautiful gift!  My fervent hope and prayer for every Miracoli sacramental is that the souls freed from Purgatory during the making of the piece will become powerful and reliable intercessors for the owner of the sacramental.  This is my hope and prayer for you.

The Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

Our Lord appeared to St. Gertrude and gave her this prayer with the promise that each time it was prayed 1,000 souls would be released from Purgatory:

Eternal Father,

I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus,

in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,

for the Holy Souls in Purgatory,

for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church,

for those in my own home and within my family.

Amen.

Approval and recommendation (sgd.) M. Cardinal Pahiarca
at Lisbon, Portugal, on March 4, 1936.

St. Gertrude the Great died in 1334, and her feast day is November 16th.  Her special devotions were to the Passion, the Holy Souls and to our Blessed Mother.