Night Prayers: How Catholics Pray Before Sleep

A traditional Catholic night prayer has a fixed shape, older than any of us: thank God for the day, examine the conscience, make an Act of Contrition, and commend body and soul to God before sleep. The Church herself prays this way every night in Compline, the last hour of the Divine Office, whose opening petition says everything a night time prayer must say: may the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. We give here the traditional order, the texts of the Church's own night prayers, and short forms for the family, for children, and for troubled sleep.

How to Pray at Night: The Traditional Order

The catechisms of the Church have always taught the faithful to close the day as deliberately as they open it. The Catechism of St Pius X counsels the Christian, before going to bed, to place himself in the presence of God as in the morning, to say the same prayers, to make a short examination of conscience and to ask God's pardon for the sins of the day; then, before falling asleep, to make the Sign of the Cross and give his heart to God. The traditional nightly prayer, kneeling at the bedside if possible, runs so:

1. The Sign of the Cross, placing ourselves before God.
2. Thanksgiving for the graces of the day — named, not vague.
3. Examination of conscience: a brief, honest review of the day's thoughts, words, deeds and omissions.
4. The Act of Contrition, asking pardon for what the examination has found.
5. The Church's night prayers — the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the prayers of Compline given below, with a commendation of the night to God, to Our Lady, and to the guardian angel.
6. The Sign of the Cross again, and sleep.

Five minutes suffice. What matters is not length but the turning of the whole day back toward God before it closes.

The Examination of Conscience and the Act of Contrition

The heart of the Catholic night prayer is not a text but an act: the daily examination of conscience. We ask the light of the Holy Ghost, review the day against the commandments and our duties of state, and see plainly where we have failed. The ascetical tradition regards this nightly review as the one exercise never to be omitted, because a fault seen and repented each night cannot harden into habit.

The examination ends in the Act of Contrition:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, because Thou art infinitely good, infinitely lovable, and sin displeaseth Thee. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy holy grace, never more to offend Thee, and to do penance.

This is the short form of the old night prayers; the longer form, "O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins...", is given with its history on the page linked above.

Perfect contrition — sorrow for love of God above all — remits sin even before Confession, with the resolve to confess. No Christian should sleep at enmity with God when this prayer stands ready at the bedside.

Compline: The Church's Night Prayer

The Church's official night prayer is Compline, the hour that completes the Divine Office each night in monasteries, convents and rectories across the centuries. On Sundays its psalms are the great night psalms, Psalms 4, 90 and 133, which St Benedict already appointed for every night; its prayers are the ones the faithful have always borrowed for their own bedside. Two above all belong in every Catholic's night prayer.

The Nunc Dimittis

The Canticle of Simeon, sung every night at Compline, is the prayer of a man ready to die in peace — which is exactly the disposition the Church wants in us at nightfall, since sleep is the daily image of death:

Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32, Douay-Rheims)

Visita, Quaesumus: The Prayer over the Dwelling

The collect that closes Compline asks God's protection over the house and all who sleep in it:

Visit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this dwelling, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy: let Thy holy angels dwell herein, to preserve us in peace; and let Thy blessing be always upon us. 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.

Evening Prayer and Night Prayer: Vespers and Compline

In the Church's usage the two are distinct. Vespers is the evening prayer of the Church, sung at the lighting of the lamps, a prayer of thanksgiving as the day's work ends; Compline is the night prayer proper, said immediately before sleep. A Catholic evening prayer at home may draw on either, but the bedside prayer of the faithful is the child of Compline.

A Good Night Prayer Before Bed

For those who want one short night prayer to learn by heart, the tradition offers the versicle the Church sings at Compline — the very words of Christ on the Cross (Luke 23:46; Psalm 30:6):

Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, God of truth.

To it the faithful add the Guardian Angel prayer, the classic commendation of the night to the angel God has set over us:

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

An Our Father, a Hail Mary, these two prayers and the Sign of the Cross make a complete short night prayer in under two minutes — a good night prayer in the oldest sense: a placing of the soul in God's hands.

A Night Prayer for the Family

Where the household prays together, the traditional family night prayer is the Rosary, or at least a decade of it, followed by the night prayers above said in common — the father or mother leading, all answering. Where even that is too much for small children, the commendation of the old night prayers, said by all together, serves:

Bless, O my God, the rest I am about to take to repair my strength, that I may serve Thee better. Holy Virgin, Mother of my God, and, after Him, my only hope; my good Angel, my holy Patron, intercede for me; protect me during this night, throughout the whole of my life, and at the hour of my death. Amen.

The Visita, quaesumus above is itself the Church's own night prayer for the family and the home, and may be said by the head of the house over all.

A Child's Night Prayer

A child's night prayer must be short enough to be truly his own. The Guardian Angel prayer is the classic; with it the Catechism of St Pius X teaches the words with which to give the heart to God before falling asleep:

My Lord and my God, I give Thee my heart;
Most Holy Trinity, grant me the grace to live well and to die well;
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I commend my soul to you.

Teach the child to add one thanksgiving and one sorrow in his own words — the seed of the adult examination of conscience. Other traditional bedtime prayers for children and adults are given in their own article.

A Prayer for Sleep and Peace

Scripture itself gives the prayer for a peaceful sleep, in the psalm that opens Compline on Sundays:

In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest: for thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope. (Psalm 4:9-10, Douay-Rheims)

When sleep will not come, or the mind churns with the day's cares, the tradition counsels not new formulas but repetition of the simplest ones: the Holy Name of Jesus, slowly; the In manus tuas above; a decade of the Rosary on the fingers in the dark. Rest is asked for, then left in God's hands: "when he shall give sleep to his beloved" (Psalm 126:2, Douay-Rheims).

A Powerful Night Prayer for Protection

The most powerful night prayer for protection is the one the Church has prayed at Compline since the Rule of St Benedict, every night until the reform of the psalter in 1911 and every Sunday in the Breviary of 1962: Psalm 90 (91), the psalm of him "that dwelleth in the aid of the most High", who "shall not be afraid of the terror of the night." It is God's own answer to the fears of the dark, and no private composition surpasses it. To it the faithful add the Visita, quaesumus, the St Michael prayer, and the Sign of the Cross over the bed. The full text of Psalm 90 and the other traditional prayers against evil are given in A Prayer for Protection.

The power of a night prayer is not in the intensity of its wording but in the One to whom it turns. A sober psalm prayed with faith is stronger than any dramatic formula prayed as a charm.

Night prayer closes the circle that the Morning Offering opens: the day begins by being given to God and ends by being returned to Him, examined, repented, and entrusted. A Christian who keeps both has made his whole day a prayer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to pray at night?

Follow the Church's traditional order: the Sign of the Cross, thanksgiving for the day, a brief examination of conscience, the Act of Contrition, then the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Compline prayers with the Guardian Angel prayer. Five minutes at the bedside suffice; regularity matters more than length.

What is the most powerful night prayer?

Psalm 90 (91), which the Church has sung at Compline for centuries, and still every Sunday, as her shield against "the terror of the night," together with the commendation Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Its power lies not in the formula but in God, to whom every line turns.

What is the Catholic night prayer?

The Church's official night prayer is Compline, the last hour of the Divine Office, with its night psalms, the Nunc Dimittis, and the collect Visita, quaesumus. At home, the traditional Catholic night prayer is the examination of conscience, the Act of Contrition, and these Compline prayers in a short form.

What is a short night prayer before bed?

The versicle of Compline: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, God of truth," followed by the Guardian Angel prayer and the Sign of the Cross. These are the words of Christ on the Cross applied to sleep, and they take less than a minute.

What is a good night prayer for family?

The traditional family night prayer is the Rosary, or a decade of it, prayed in common, followed by the Visita, quaesumus — the Church's own prayer asking God to guard the dwelling and set His angels over all who sleep in it. Where children are small, the short commendation Bless, O my God, the rest I am about to take, said together, serves.

What is a good prayer for peaceful sleep?

Psalm 4, which opens Compline on Sundays: "In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest: for thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope." When sleep will not come, repeat the Holy Name of Jesus slowly or pray a decade of the Rosary in the dark, leaving rest itself in God's hands.

The Iter Fidei app carries Compline and the traditional night prayers, in Latin and English with audio, so the day can end as the Church ends it. Join early access here.

Sources. Psalms 4, 90 (91) and 126, and Luke 2:29-32 and 23:46, Douay-Rheims Bible; the office of Compline, Roman Breviary; Catechism of St Pius X on the pious exercises for each day; Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, Daily Missal (1934), evening prayers; the Guardian Angel prayer (traditional).