Mary, the Help of Christians

Mary, the Help of Christians is a book of novenas in preparation for the principal feasts of the Blessed Virgin, compiled by Rev. Bonaventure Hammer. The contents list, among others, rules for the proper observance of novenas and a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The guidance on prayer says to read the meditation slowly, reflecting on each point of the thought or mystery treated, and to consider what you can learn from it. The introduction says that no Catholic denies that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator through whose merits we became reconciled to God. The introduction adds that it is a doctrine of our faith that God willingly grants us grace if the saints, and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, the queen of saints, intercede for us. One practice asks readers to consider how Mary receives the angel's message and says she is troubled and disturbed at the praise, at the reverence of the angel. One prayer asks, "My queen, my Mother, turn not thy gracious eyes from me."