Skip to content
Download

Prayers

The full text of every prayer, first and without preamble — then where it comes from, what it says and when to pray it.

Traditional prayers appear in the form in current use, with the history behind them. The ones we wrote are signed, and the page says so plainly. Where Catholics and Protestants pray differently, both practices appear side by side.

Family prayers

  • The Battle Rosary

    The Battle Rosary is a family prayer, composed by Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt and dedicated to Valéria Cristina Schmitt. It is prayed on the beads of the ordinary rosary: the opening in full and then, on the decades, two short invocations in place of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. This page gives the whole text.

    Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt

  • A prayer before leaving home

    This is a family prayer, composed by Adelan Maria Brandão for the moment of leaving the house. It is three lines: the Name of Jesus, the wounds and the wounded heart, and the Blood of Christ set between the one praying and danger. She wrote two forms, for praying alone and for praying with others.

    Adelan Maria Brandão

  • A prayer before a journey

    This is a family prayer, composed by Adelan Maria Brandão to be said before a journey. It asks for direction on the road, the guardian angel for company, and a safe return home — the same shape as the Catholic tradition’s blessings for travellers.

    Adelan Maria Brandão

  • The Divine Mercy Chaplet, as Prayed in a Family

    The two invocations are those of the chaplet recorded in 1935 by Faustina Kowalska, and were not written by the women this page credits. From Valéria Cristina Schmitt and Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt comes the way they prayed it at home: the Brazilian rosary opening, and their own wording of the two invocations of the decades.

    Valéria Cristina Schmitt and Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt

Traditional prayers

  • The Lord’s Prayer

    The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. The form recited in English comes from liturgical use and does not match the biblical text word for word; Scripture carries two versions, the longer one in Matthew 6:9-13 and a shorter one in Luke 11:2-4.

    First century, in the Gospel

  • The Hail Mary

    The Hail Mary is made of two halves from different centuries. The first joins the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Elizabeth’s, both in Luke 1. The second, the petition “pray for us sinners”, is not in the Bible: it appeared in the late Middle Ages and was only fixed in the sixteenth century.

    First half, first century; second half, late Middle Ages

  • The Creed

    Creed is the name of two different formulas. The Apostles’ Creed, the shorter one, is recited in the rosary and taught to children. The Nicene Creed, longer, is professed at Sunday Mass and in many Protestant services. This page gives both texts, in that order, and explains when each is used.

    Apostles’ Creed, older form from the fourth century; Nicene, councils of 325 and 381

  • Hail, Holy Queen

    Hail, Holy Queen is the Marian antiphon said at the end of the rosary and sung in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Latin text dates from the eleventh or twelfth century and its authorship is disputed. It calls Mary our advocate and asks her to intercede — and asks nothing else of her.

    Eleventh or twelfth century, in Latin, authorship disputed

  • The Guardian Angel Prayer

    The guardian angel prayer is the first prayer many Catholic children learn by heart, and it comes from a Latin quatrain, Angele Dei, of around the eleventh century. In four lines it asks the angel for four things: to light, to guard, to rule and to guide the one praying.

    Eleventh or twelfth century, in Latin

  • The Prayer to Saint Michael

    The prayer to Saint Michael was composed by Pope Leo XIII and ordered said at the end of every Low Mass from 1886. It asks for protection against evil, and its central petition — that God himself give the command to the devil — is a quotation from the letter of Jude.

    1886, composed by Leo XIII

  • The Glory Be

    The Glory Be, also called the lesser doxology, is the shortest prayer in common use: two sentences. The first names the three persons of the Trinity in the order of baptism. The second, added in the sixth century, states that it was always so — and it was added because of an argument.

    First sentence, second to fourth centuries; second, sixth century

  • The Act of Contrition

    The Act of Contrition is the prayer of repentance said in confession and in the examination of conscience at night. There is no single formula: several circulate, and what the rite asks for is the sorrow, not the exact words. This is the traditional English form.

    Formula fixed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries

  • The Serenity Prayer

    The Serenity Prayer asks for three things: serenity to accept, courage to change, and wisdom to tell one from the other. It is attributed to the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, the attribution was disputed for decades, and the four-line short form has circulated in newspapers since the 1930s.

    1930s, attribution disputed

  • The Prayer of Saint Francis

    The prayer “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace” is not by Francis of Assisi. It appeared anonymously, in French, in a small Catholic bulletin in 1912, seven centuries after his death. The attribution grew out of a devotional card printed around 1918, and it was never undone.

    1912, anonymous, in French

  • The Rosary

    The rosary is not a prayer but a method: five decades of Hail Marys, each opened by an Our Father and closed by a Glory Be, while an episode from the life of Christ is held in mind. This page gives the sequence of the beads, the prayers in full, and the mysteries for each day.

    Present form fixed in the fifteenth century

  • The Angelus

    The Angelus is a prayer said three times a day at the sound of a bell: morning, noon and evening. In three versicles with responses, three Hail Marys and a closing prayer, it recalls the annunciation and the incarnation. In Eastertide it is replaced by the Regina Caeli. This page gives the whole text.

    Assembled between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries

  • The Memorare

    The Memorare is a short Marian prayer that asks for intercession by way of an argument: no one who turned to Mary was ever left unaided. It comes from a longer fifteenth-century Latin prayer, and the attribution to Bernard of Clairvaux does not survive scrutiny.

    Fifteenth century, in Latin; spread in the seventeenth

  • Sub Tuum Praesidium

    Sub Tuum Praesidium is the oldest surviving prayer addressed to Mary. The Greek text was found on an Egyptian papyrus now kept in Manchester, and it is very short: four lines asking for shelter and deliverance. Its date is disputed, from the third century to the eighth.

    A Greek papyrus from Egypt, dated somewhere between the third and eighth centuries

  • The Divine Mercy Chaplet

    The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed on an ordinary rosary, with two short invocations repeated: one on the large beads and one on the ten small ones. It was written down in Polish in 1935 by Faustina Kowalska. This page gives the opening and the invocations in full, in the order of the beads.

    Written down in 1935, in Poland

  • Come, Holy Spirit

    The prayer to the Holy Spirit has two parts: the versicle “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful” and the collect that follows it, taken from the Mass of Pentecost. It is prayed before studying, deciding, preaching or opening the Bible.

    A collect of the eighth century or earlier; the versicle taken from a psalm

  • Prayer to Saint Anthony

    This is a prayer to Saint Anthony written for this site and signed by the person who wrote it. Most of the texts circulating under that name are modern devotional compositions of uncertain authorship, so this page publishes ours and tells the history of the devotion instead.

    A thirteenth-century devotion; this text was written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • Prayer to Saint Jude

    This is a prayer to Saint Jude written for this site and signed by the person who wrote it. Jude Thaddaeus is one of the twelve apostles, distinct from Judas Iscariot, and devotion invokes him in causes that look lost. His feast is 28 October.

    A first-century apostle; this text was written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • Prayer to Our Lady of Aparecida

    This is a prayer to Our Lady of Aparecida written for this site and signed by the person who wrote it. The devotion begins in 1717, when three Brazilian fishermen pulled a small clay statue from a river in two pieces and then filled their nets.

    October 1717, on the Paraíba do Sul river in Brazil; this text was written in 2026

  • To Thee, O Blessed Joseph

    The prayer “To thee, O blessed Joseph” was written by Leo XIII in 1889 and ordered to be said after the rosary in October. It is one of the very few prayers in current use whose author and date are known exactly, and it asks protection for the Church and for whoever prays it.

    15 August 1889, in Rome

  • Prayer of Saint Benedict

    The prayer of Saint Benedict is the text stamped in initials on his medal: a request that the cross be light, and a refusal addressed to the devil in verse. Benedict did not write it — he died in the sixth century, and the lines appear in a manuscript of 1415.

    Verses attested in 1415; the medal in its present form since 1880

  • Prayer to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots

    This is a prayer to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots written for this site and signed by the person who wrote it. The devotion comes from a painting made around 1700 in Augsburg, Germany, and reached South America through the future Pope Francis.

    A painting made around 1700 in Augsburg; this text was written in 2026

  • Prayer to Saint George

    This is a prayer to Saint George written for this site and signed by the person who wrote it. George was a soldier martyred around the year 303; the dragon only enters the story a thousand years later. His feast is 23 April.

    Martyred around the year 303; this text was written for Faith Flame in 2026

Prayers for a situation

  • A prayer for anxiety

    This is a short prayer to say when anxiety tightens its grip. It asks for breath, not for certainty about tomorrow. It was written for this site and carries the name of the person who wrote it. Praying does not replace treatment, and this page says so before anything else.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for fear

    This is a short prayer to say when fear takes hold. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for the fear to disappear; it asks that the fear not decide in your place. Below it are the passages where “do not be afraid” always comes with a reason attached.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for depression

    This is a short prayer for the days when praying feels pointless and nothing is felt at all. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for joy; it asks for strength for small things. Depression is an illness, it has treatment, and praying does not replace that treatment.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for healing the sick

    This is a prayer to say for someone who is ill. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for healing and does not promise it, because a prayer that promises a result leaves whoever does not get one convinced they failed. Praying is not a substitute for medical treatment.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer before surgery

    This is a short prayer for the night before an operation and again while waiting. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not promise a good outcome: it asks protection for the hands operating, calm for those waiting, and company for the one going in. Praying does not replace medical preparation.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer to overcome addiction

    This is a prayer for anyone trying to quit something. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for one day rather than for the whole victory, because a day is a promise that can be kept. Addiction has treatment, and free support groups exist in almost every town.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for grief

    This is a prayer for someone who has lost a person they loved. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for the absence to end, does not explain the death and hurries nothing: it asks for company on the days grief arrives without warning. It is for the ones left behind.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for someone who died

    This is a prayer entrusting to God someone who has died. It was written for this site and it is signed. Praying for the dead is a Catholic practice and it assumes purgatory; most Protestant churches pray instead for those left behind. This page sets out both readings and decides between neither.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for loneliness

    This is a prayer for the days when loneliness presses hardest. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for two things rather than one: the company of God, and the nerve to take the first step towards somebody. Scripture treats company as a need, not a luxury.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for discouragement

    This is a prayer for the middle of something long, when the willingness runs out before the deadline does. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for enthusiasm, which nobody can order: it asks for steadiness, and for the clarity to tell persisting from merely being stuck.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for my children

    This is a prayer for your children, written for this site and signed. It works for a small child and for a grown one who no longer lives here. It is not remote control: it asks for keeping, for patience, and for whatever can still be repaired.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for the family

    This is a prayer for the family as it actually is, written for this site and signed. It does not describe the family in the photograph: it asks a blessing on the silent table, on whoever has left the house, and on the first step after a hurt — preferably yours.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for my parents

    This is a prayer for your parents, written for this site and signed. It works for people with a good relationship and for people without one. It asks for care over their health, patience for the repetition of old age, and courage for the conversations there is still time to have.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for a healthy pregnancy

    This is a prayer to pray during pregnancy, written for this site and signed. It asks for calm, for sleep and for steadiness at the scans, and it promises no outcome, because no honest prayer promises one. It also works for whoever is waiting on the outside: the partner, the grandparent, anyone.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer of protection for the home

    This is a prayer of protection for the home, written for this site and signed. It asks for keeping over whoever comes in and whoever goes out, and over what ruins a house from inside. It is not a charm: praying does not replace locking the door.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer to ask forgiveness

    This is a prayer to ask forgiveness, written for this site and signed. It begins by admitting what was done, with no mitigation. And it does not stop at God: it asks for the courage to repair what can still be repaired, because confessing and repairing are two different things.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer to forgive someone

    This is a prayer to forgive someone, written for this site and signed. Forgiving is not reconciling, is not pretending it did not hurt, and obliges nobody to go back. The prayer asks for both sides to be released, and it allows forgiving from a distance without guilt.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer to find a job

    This is a prayer for anyone looking for work, written for this site and signed. It does not promise a job and does not treat faith as a method for getting one. It asks for today’s bread, for dignity while the waiting lasts, and for the nerve to keep applying. The passages below discuss work without promising prosperity.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer to get out of debt

    This is a prayer for anyone in debt, written for this site and signed. It asks for no money from the sky and promises no payoff: it asks for the nerve to look at the real number, steadiness to negotiate, and patience for a slow way out. Debt is settled with arrangements and a budget.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer before an exam

    This is a prayer for the minutes before an exam, written for this site and signed. It asks for no answers and promises no pass: it asks for calm, for the return of what you actually studied, and for honesty in the room. Praying does not study for anybody, and this page says so before anything else.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for a safe journey

    This is a prayer for before a journey, written for this site and signed. It asks for company and good sense on the road, not immunity: praying is no substitute for a seatbelt, a rested driver or a serviced car. Below are the passages where Scripture treats travel — including one in which the ship goes down.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for making a decision

    This is a prayer for when a choice has to be made, written for this site and signed. It does not ask for a sign from heaven: it asks for clean motives, counsel from sensible people, and the nerve to decide on the information that exists today. Waiting for a sign is often a polite way of not deciding.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer of thanksgiving

    This is a prayer of thanksgiving, written for this site and signed. It does not treat gratitude as payment for a request granted: saying thank you buys nothing and was never a condition of anything. Below is the passage about the ten who were cleansed, in which the nine who never returned stayed clean.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

Prayers for a moment of the day

  • A morning prayer

    This is a short prayer to say as the day begins. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for an easy day: it asks that you still be the same person once the day turns hard. Below it, the Christian habit of praying at daybreak.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • An evening prayer

    This is a prayer to say before sleep. It was written for this site and it is signed. It treats the day as a closed thing: it asks forgiveness for what can no longer be repaired and hands over the rest. Below it, the tradition of Compline and the verses that tie sleep to trust.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • Prayer before meals

    This page gives three short graces to say before eating: one for any table, one for a family table, and one of a single line. All three were written for this site and they are signed. Below them, where the Christian custom of blessing the table actually came from.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for the start of the week

    This is a prayer for Monday morning, when the whole week turns up at once. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for strength in daily portions rather than courage for all five days together. Below it, the manna, which spoiled whenever anybody stored it.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer for the start of the month

    This is a prayer for the first of the month, when the bills, the deadlines and the pay that already has owners all arrive. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for the nerve to open the statement and for the memory that people stand behind the numbers.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A new year prayer

    This is a prayer for the turn of the year. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not promise a better year: it asks that when you slip you start again the following week rather than waiting for next January. Below it, what the Christian calendar does with the date.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer before studying

    This is a short prayer to say before sitting down to study. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for attention, for understanding that is real rather than convincing, and for the humility to go back over whatever did not land. Below it, where the habit comes from.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer before work

    This is a prayer for the start of the working day. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not ask for success: it asks for honesty where nobody checks, for a stopping time, and for the difference between what you do and what you are worth. Below it, work before the fall.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A Sunday prayer

    This is a prayer for Sunday. It was written for this site and it is signed. It is the only one in this series that does not ask for a fresh start: it asks for permission to stop. Below it, why Christians moved to the first day of the week and what the commandment about rest says.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A prayer before reading the Bible

    This is a short prayer to say before opening the Bible. It was written for this site and it is signed. It asks for as much understanding as today allows, patience with the rest, and the nerve to hear whatever you did not come looking for. Below it, the tradition of lectio divina.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A birthday prayer

    This is a birthday prayer, written for this site and signed. It wishes no luck: it thanks God for the years already spent, asks forgiveness for what was done with them, and asks that you stop waiting for the year life finally begins. Below it, the birthdays in the Bible.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026

  • A Christmas prayer

    This is a Christmas prayer to say before the meal. It was written for this site and it is signed. It does not pretend December is restful, or that every chair at the table is filled. Below it, what the Gospels actually report about the birth and what tradition added afterwards.

    Written for Faith Flame in 2026