Catholic Morning Prayer: The Traditional Full Form

Catholic morning prayer is the set of prayers by which a Christian, on rising, adores God, renews the theological virtues, asks for the grace of the day and offers it to Him before anything else is done. The traditional prayer books give it a fixed order: the Sign of the Cross, an act of adoration, the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity, thanksgiving, a resolution, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Creed, the Confiteor, an invocation of Our Lady and of the Guardian Angel, and the offering of the day. Below is that full form, as printed in the Daily Missal of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre (1934), followed by a short form, a children's form, and Prime, the morning Hour of the Church's own Office in the Breviary of 1962.

The traditional Catholic morning prayers in full

The order that follows is the one our app uses. It takes about ten minutes, said slowly, kneeling if possible. The prayers are given in the traditional English of the old Catholic prayer books.

1. The Sign of the Cross and the presence of God

On rising, make the Sign of the Cross and place yourself in the presence of God.

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.

The first gesture of the day is a profession of the Trinity and of the Cross; our article on the Sign of the Cross explains why the Church has always begun everything with it. In Latin: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

2. Act of adoration

Most holy and most august Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that Thou art here present. I adore Thee with the sentiments of the deepest humility, and I render Thee with all my heart the homage due to Thy sovereign Majesty.

3. The Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity

The three theological virtues are renewed every morning, because the whole Christian life rests on them.

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe all the truths that Thou hast revealed and that Thou teachest us through Thy Church, because Thou canst neither deceive nor be deceived.

Act of Hope

O my God, I hope with firm confidence that Thou wilt grant me, through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy grace in this world, and, if I keep Thy commandments, eternal happiness in the next, because Thou hast promised it and Thou dost faithfully keep Thy promises.

Act of Charity

O my God, I love Thee with my whole heart and above all things, because Thou art infinitely good and infinitely lovable; and I love my neighbour as myself for the love of Thee.

These are the short forms. The Latin forms indulgenced in the Raccolta are longer and close with the words In hac fide (spe, caritate) vivere et mori statuo, "in this faith (hope, charity) I resolve to live and to die."

4. Thanksgiving and offering of the day

My God, I most humbly thank Thee for all the graces Thou hast granted me until now. It is again by an effect of Thy goodness that I see this day; I wish to spend it in serving Thee alone: I consecrate to Thee all its thoughts, words, actions and sufferings. Bless them, O Lord, that not one may fail to be animated by Thy love and to tend to Thy greater glory.

5. The morning resolution

Adorable Jesus, divine model of the perfection to which we ought to aspire, I will strive, as far as I can, to make myself like Thee: meek, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable and resigned like Thee. I will especially do my utmost not to fall again this day into the faults I so often commit, and of which I sincerely desire to correct myself.

This is the place to name, in the silence of the heart, the one fault you mean to fight today, and the occasion where you expect to meet it.

6. Asking for the grace of the day

My God, Thou knowest my weakness. I can do nothing without the help of Thy grace. Do not refuse it to me, O my God; proportion it to my needs; give me strength enough to avoid all the evil Thou forbiddest, to practise all the good Thou expectest of me, and to bear patiently all the sufferings it may please Thee to send me.

7. The Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

8. The Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

9. The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
Our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into hell;
the third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy Catholic Church;
the Communion of Saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and life everlasting.
Amen.

The articles of the Creed are explained one by one in our page on the Apostles' Creed.

10. The Confiteor

I confess to Almighty God,
to blessed Mary ever Virgin,
to blessed Michael the Archangel,
to blessed John the Baptist,
to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
and to all the Saints,
that I have sinned exceedingly in thought,
word, and deed;
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
Therefore I beseech blessed Mary
ever Virgin,
blessed Michael the Archangel,
blessed John the Baptist,
the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
and all the Saints,
to pray to the Lord our God for me.

The morning Confiteor is a general avowal of sinfulness, not a confession of particular sins; it can be followed by an Act of Contrition if the conscience is troubled.

11. Invocation of Our Lady and of the Guardian Angel

Invoke the Blessed Virgin and your Guardian Angel.

We fly to thy protection,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions
in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Amen.

Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
to whom God's love commits me here;
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.

The Sub tuum praesidium is among the most ancient prayers to Our Lady; in Latin it runs: Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genetrix: nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. The Latin of the Angel prayer, with its history, is in our article on the Guardian Angel prayer.

12. The morning offering

Finally, offer your day to God.

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

This is the household form of the offering. The form of the Apostleship of Prayer, which offers the day "for the intentions of all our associates" and the Holy Father's intention of the month, together with its Latin text, its origin at Vals in 1844 and the other variants, is set out in our article on the Morning Offering.

A short Catholic morning prayer

On a morning when there is no time for the full form, the tradition keeps the essentials: the Sign of the Cross, one Our Father and one Hail Mary, and the offering of the day. Said with attention, these few lines are a complete morning prayer, because they contain the three things that matter: adoration of the Trinity, the prayer Our Lord Himself taught, and the gift of the whole day to God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(Our Father, Hail Mary.)

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

The full form can then be taken up later, or the Angelus at its proper hour can carry the morning's intention forward.

A children's morning prayer

Children are taught the same prayers, cut to their measure. The usual order in a Catholic family is: the Sign of the Cross; "My God, I love Thee with my whole heart"; the Our Father and the Hail Mary; the Angel of God; and a short word giving the day to Jesus. The Angel of God is the children's morning prayer above all others, because its rhyme is easily learnt and it is addressed to a friend the child is told never leaves him:

Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
to whom God's love commits me here;
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.

A family morning prayer, said together before breakfast, may follow the same short order, with the father or mother leading and the children answering.

Prime: the Church's own morning prayer

Besides the private prayers of the faithful, the Church has her own public morning prayer: the Hours of the Divine Office. In the Roman Breviary of 1962 two Hours belong to the morning. Lauds, the Office of praise sung at daybreak, closes the night Office with the psalms of praise and the Benedictus; Prime, the Hour of the "first hour" of the day, is the Church's prayer at the beginning of work. Lauds celebrates the rising light and the Resurrection; Prime asks God's protection for the day's labour. Our article on the Breviary explains the whole cycle of the Hours.

Prime opens with the hymn Jam lucis orto sidere, which is a morning prayer in itself:

Jam lucis orto sídere,
Deum precémur súpplices,
Ut in diúrnis áctibus
Nos servet a nocéntibus.

Now that the star of light has risen,
let us humbly pray to God,
that in the deeds of the day
He may keep us from all that harms.

The hymn goes on to ask that God bridle the tongue, guard the eyes from vanity, keep the heart pure and tame the pride of the flesh by sobriety, so that when night returns we may sing His glory. After the psalms, Prime has its collect, which the faithful may well make their own each morning:

Collect of Prime

Dómine Deus omnípotens, qui ad princípium hujus diéi nos perveníre fecísti: tua nos hódie salva virtúte; ut in hac die ad nullum declinémus peccátum, sed semper ad tuam justítiam faciéndam nostra procédant elóquia, dirigántur cogitatiónes et ópera. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

O Lord God almighty, who hast brought us to the beginning of this day: save us this day by Thy power, that this day we may turn aside to no sin, but that our words may ever go forth, and our thoughts and works be directed, to the doing of Thy justice. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Later in the Hour comes the reading of the Martyrology for the next day, and then a second prayer in the same spirit:

Dirígere et sanctificáre, régere et gubernáre dignáre, Dómine Deus, Rex cæli et terræ, hódie corda et córpora nostra, sensus, sermónes et actus nostros in lege tua, et in opéribus mandatórum tuórum: ut hic et in ætérnum, te auxiliánte, salvi et líberi esse mereámur, Salvátor mundi: Qui vivis et regnas in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

Vouchsafe, O Lord God, King of heaven and earth, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern this day our hearts and bodies, our senses, words and deeds, in Thy law and in the works of Thy commandments: that here and for ever, by Thy help, we may deserve to be saved and free, O Saviour of the world: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Prime is part of the Breviary of 1962. It was suppressed in the reform that followed the Council's constitution on the liturgy of December 1963, and the reformed Office of 1971 calls its own dawn Hour "Morning Prayer," which is why that phrase, searched online, mostly returns the modern book. The traditional Office keeps both Lauds and Prime.

How to pray Catholic morning prayer

When. Immediately on rising, before the day's business begins, and before the telephone. The prayer books say: on waking, make the Sign of the Cross and give your first thought to God. The full prayers are best said once dressed, kneeling.

Where. Before a crucifix or a holy image, at a fixed place in the house. Many families take holy water on the way there.

How long. The full form takes about ten minutes; the short form, one. It is better to say the short form every day than the long form once a week.

What comes after. The Angelus at six in the morning, noon and six in the evening carries the morning's offering through the day; our article on the Angelus gives its full text. The Catechism of St Pius X lists morning and night prayers among the pious exercises it counsels to every Christian for each day, and the day closes as it opened, with the night prayers before sleep.

Catholic morning prayer for today

The prayers above do not change from day to day: they are the same every morning, and that is their strength. What changes is the Church's day itself, the feast or the season, the saint of the Martyrology, the collect of the Mass. To pray "today's" morning prayer in the traditional sense is to add to the fixed prayers the collect of the day's Mass, or to say Prime of the day from the Breviary.

Catholic morning and evening prayer PDF

We do not offer a PDF. The complete text is on this page and prints as it is, but the better way is the Iter Fidei app: it serves these morning prayers and the night prayers in Latin and in English, with audio to pray along, gives you the day's feast and Office of the 1962 Breviary, reminds you each morning, and works offline. Rather than print a sheet that stays in a drawer, install the app and keep the prayers in your pocket: Join early access here..

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Catholic morning prayer?

There is no single prayer by that name: Catholic morning prayer is a traditional sequence said on rising, made up of the Sign of the Cross, adoration of God, the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity, thanksgiving, a resolution, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Creed, the Confiteor, an invocation of Our Lady and the Guardian Angel, and the offering of the day. The Church's official morning prayer is the Divine Office, at Lauds and Prime.

How do you pray Catholic morning prayer?

Make the Sign of the Cross on waking, then, once dressed, kneel before a crucifix and say the prayers in the order given above, slowly and attentively. If time is short, say the Sign of the Cross, an Our Father, a Hail Mary and the morning offering.

What time is morning prayer in the Catholic Church?

Private morning prayers are said on rising, whatever the hour. In the Divine Office, Lauds is sung at daybreak and Prime at the first hour of the day, roughly six in the morning by the old reckoning of the hours.

What is morning prayer in the Breviary?

In the Roman Breviary of 1962 the morning Hours are Lauds and Prime. Lauds is the Office of praise at dawn; Prime is the prayer at the start of the day's work, with the hymn Jam lucis orto sidere and the collect Domine Deus omnipotens, given in full above.

What is the morning offering prayer?

It is the short act by which the whole day, its prayers, works, joys and sufferings, is given to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It closes the traditional morning prayers.

What is a good short Catholic morning prayer?

The Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the morning offering together make a complete short morning prayer. The collect of Prime, O Lord God almighty, who hast brought us to the beginning of this day, is another excellent one.

What is a good morning prayer for children?

The Sign of the Cross, "My God, I love Thee with my whole heart," the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Angel of God, followed by a word giving the day to Jesus. Short, rhymed and said every day, it is learnt by heart within weeks.

The Iter Fidei app serves the traditional morning and night prayers in Latin and in English, with audio and a daily reminder, together with the 1962 Breviary and Missal. Join early access here.

Sources. Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., Daily Missal (1934), morning prayers; Roman Breviary (1962), Ordinary of Prime and hymn Jam lucis orto sidere; the Raccolta, Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity; Catechism of St Pius X, pious exercises for each day.