St Bridget Prayers: The 15 Prayers in Full, and the Truth

The 15 prayers of St Bridget are fifteen meditations on the Passion of Our Lord, each preceded by an Our Father and a Hail Mary, traditionally prayed every day for a whole year. They are ascribed to St Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373), the widow and mystic whose whole life turned on the sufferings of Christ, and for five centuries they have been one of the best-loved Passion devotions of Catholic prayer-books. Below we give the full text of the fifteen prayers, how to pray them, where they come from, what the Church said in 1954 about the promises printed with them, and how they differ from the "12-year" St Bridget prayers.

What are the St Bridget prayers?

The devotion rests on an old account. St Bridget, it is said, long desired to know how many blows Our Lord had received in His Passion. He answered her that He had received 5,475 (some versions say 5,480), and that if she wished to honour them she should say fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys, with fifteen prayers He would teach her, every day for a year; at the end of the year she would have honoured each of His wounds. Fifteen prayers a day for 365 days makes 5,475, the number of the blows.

Each prayer begins with "O Jesus" and takes one moment of the Passion: the agony in the garden, the mockery, the nailing to the Cross, the words from the Cross, the thirst, the gall, the dereliction, the death, the piercing of the side. Each "remembers" a suffering and asks one grace in return: contrition and a good confession, deliverance from enemies, fear and love of God, a worthy Communion, and above all a holy death. Because each opens with the cry O, the series was known in medieval England as the Fifteen Oes.

How to pray the 15 prayers of St Bridget

• Every day for one year. Begin on any day; there is no fixed starting date. Pray the fifteen prayers daily until the same date the following year.
• Before each prayer, one Our Father and one Hail Mary. Fifteen of each in all, one for each prayer.
• At the end, the concluding prayer.
• How long does it take? Said slowly, about twenty to twenty-five minutes a day. They may be divided through the day, some in the morning and the rest at night.
• If a day is missed, the devotion is not "broken": take it up again the next day. These prayers are an act of love for the suffering Christ, not a contract with a penalty clause.
• For whom? For yourself, for a sinner, for the dying, for the holy souls. Several of the prayers ask expressly for a good death, and they are a fine preparation for one's own.

The full text of the 15 prayers of St Bridget

This is the English version long printed in Catholic prayer-books.

The First Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus Christ! Eternal Sweetness to those who love Thee, joy surpassing all joy and all desire, Salvation and Hope of all sinners, Who hast proved that Thou hast no greater desire than to be among men, even assuming human nature at the fullness of time for the love of men, recall all the sufferings Thou hast endured from the instant of Thy conception, and especially during Thy Passion, as it was decreed and ordained from all eternity in the Divine plan.

Remember, O Lord, that during the Last Supper with Thy disciples, having washed their feet, Thou gavest them Thy Most Precious Body and Blood, and while at the same time Thou didst sweetly console them, Thou didst foretell them Thy coming Passion.

Remember the sadness and bitterness which Thou didst experience in Thy Soul as Thou Thyself bore witness saying: "My Soul is sorrowful even unto death."

Remember all the fear, anguish and pain that Thou didst suffer in Thy delicate Body before the torment of the crucifixion, when, after having prayed three times, bathed in a sweat of blood, Thou wast betrayed by Judas, Thy disciple, arrested by the people of a nation Thou hadst chosen and elevated, accused by false witnesses, unjustly judged by three judges during the flower of Thy youth and during the solemn Paschal season.

Remember that Thou wast despoiled of Thy garments and clothed in those of derision; that Thy Face and Eyes were veiled, that Thou wast buffeted, crowned with thorns, a reed placed in Thy Hands, that Thou wast crushed with blows and overwhelmed with affronts and outrages.

In memory of all these pains and sufferings which Thou didst endure before Thy Passion on the Cross, grant me before my death true contrition, a sincere and entire confession, worthy satisfaction and the remission of all my sins. Amen.

The Second Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! True liberty of angels, Paradise of delights, remember the horror and sadness which Thou didst endure when Thy enemies, like furious lions, surrounded Thee, and by thousands of insults, spits, blows, lacerations and other unheard-of-cruelties, tormented Thee at will. In consideration of these torments and insulting words, I beseech Thee, O my Savior, to deliver me from all my enemies, visible and invisible, and to bring me, under Thy protection, to the perfection of eternal salvation. Amen.

The Third Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Creator of Heaven and earth whom nothing can encompass or limit, Thou Who dost enfold and hold all under Thy Loving power, remember the very bitter pain Thou didst suffer when the Jews nailed Thy Sacred Hands and Feet to the Cross by blow after blow with big blunt nails, and not finding Thee in a pitiable enough state to satisfy their rage, they enlarged Thy Wounds, and added pain to pain, and with indescribable cruelty stretched Thy Body on the Cross, pulled Thee from all sides, thus dislocating Thy Limbs.

I beg of Thee, O Jesus, by the memory of this most Loving suffering of the Cross, to grant me the grace to fear Thee and to Love Thee. Amen.

The Fourth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Heavenly Physician, raised aloft on the Cross to heal our wounds with Thine, remember the bruises which Thou didst suffer and the weakness of all Thy Members which were distended to such a degree that never was there pain like unto Thine. From the crown of Thy Head to the Soles of Thy Feet there was not one spot on Thy Body that was not in torment, and yet, forgetting all Thy sufferings, Thou didst not cease to pray to Thy Heavenly Father for Thy enemies, saying: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Through this great Mercy, and in memory of this suffering, grant that the remembrance of Thy Most Bitter Passion may effect in us a perfect contrition and the remission of all our sins. Amen.

The Fifth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Mirror of eternal splendor, remember the sadness which Thou didst experience, when contemplating in the light of Thy Divinity the predestination of those who would be saved by the merits of Thy Sacred Passion, Thou didst see at the same time, the great multitude of reprobates who would be damned for their sins, and Thou didst complain bitterly of those hopeless lost and unfortunate sinners.

Through the abyss of compassion and pity, and especially through the goodness which Thou didst display to the good thief when Thou saidst to him: "This day, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." I beg of Thee, O Sweet Jesus, that at the hour of my death, Thou wilt show me mercy. Amen.

The Sixth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Beloved and most desirable King, remember the grief Thou didst suffer, when naked and like a common criminal, Thou wast fastened and raised on the Cross, when all Thy relatives and friends abandoned Thee, except Thy Beloved Mother, who remained close to Thee during Thy agony and whom Thou didst entrust to Thy faithful disciple when Thou saidst to Mary: "Woman, behold thy son!" and to Saint John: "Son, behold thy Mother!"

I beg of Thee O my Savior, by the sword of sorrow which pierced the soul of Thy holy Mother, to have compassion on me in all my affliction and tribulations, both corporal and spiritual, and to assist me in all my trials, and especially at the hour of my death. Amen.

The Seventh Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Inexhaustible Fountain of compassion, Who by a profound gesture of Love, said from the Cross: "I thirst!" suffered from the thirst for the salvation of the human race. I beg of Thee O my Savior, to inflame in our hearts the desire to tend toward perfection in all our acts; and to extinguish in us the concupiscence of the flesh and the ardor of worldly desires. Amen.

The Eighth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Sweetness of hearts, delight of the spirit, by the bitterness of the vinegar and gall which Thou didst taste on the Cross for Love of us, grant us the grace to receive worthily Thy Precious Body and Blood during our life and at the hour of our death, that they may serve as a remedy and consolation for our souls. Amen.

The Ninth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Royal virtue, joy of the mind, recall the pain Thou didst endure when plunged in an ocean of bitterness at the approach of death, insulted, outraged by the Jews, Thou didst cry out in a loud voice that Thou wast abandoned by Thy Father, saying: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Through this anguish, I beg of Thee, O my Savior, not to abandon me in the terrors and pains of my death. Amen.

The Tenth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Who art the beginning and end of all things, life and virtue, remember that for our sakes Thou wast plunged in an abyss of suffering from the soles of Thy Feet to the crown of Thy Head. In consideration of the enormity of Thy Wounds, teach me to keep, through pure love, Thy Commandments, whose way is wide and easy for those who love Thee. Amen.

The Eleventh Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Deep abyss of mercy, I beg of Thee, in memory of Thy Wounds which penetrated to the very marrow of Thy Bones and to the depth of Thy Being, to draw me, a miserable sinner, overwhelmed by my offenses, away from sin and to hide me from Thy Face justly irritated against me, hide me in Thy Wounds, until Thy anger and just indignation shall have passed away. Amen.

The Twelfth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Mirror of Truth, symbol of unity, link of Charity, remember the multitude of wounds with which Thou wast covered from head to foot, torn and reddened by the spilling of Thy adorable Blood. O Great and Universal Pain which Thou didst suffer in Thy virginal Flesh for Love of us! Sweetest Jesus! What is there that Thou couldst have done for us which Thou hast not done! May the fruit of Thy sufferings be renewed in my soul by the faithful remembrance of Thy Passion, and may Thy Love increase in my heart each day, until I see Thee in eternity, Thou Who art the treasury of every real good and every joy, which I beg Thee to grant me, O Sweetest Jesus, in Heaven. Amen.

The Thirteenth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Strong Lion, Immortal and Invincible King, remember the pain which Thou didst endure when all Thy strength, both moral and physical, was entirely exhausted, Thou didst bow Thy Head, saying: "It is consummated!"

Through this anguish and grief, I beg of Thee Lord Jesus, to have mercy on me at the hour of my death when my mind will be greatly troubled and my soul will be in anguish. Amen.

The Fourteenth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! Only Son of the Father, Splendor and figure of His Substance, remember the simple and humble recommendation Thou didst make of Thy Soul to Thy Eternal Father, saying: "Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit!" And with Thy Body all torn, and Thy Heart Broken, and the bowels of Thy Mercy open to redeem us, Thou didst Expire. By this Precious Death, I beg of Thee O King of Saints, comfort me and help me to resist the devil, the flesh and the world, so that being dead to the world I may live for Thee alone. I beg of Thee at the hour of my death to receive me, a pilgrim and an exile returning to Thee. Amen.

The Fifteenth Prayer

Our Father. Hail Mary.

O Jesus! True and fruitful Vine! Remember the abundant outpouring of Blood which Thou didst so generously shed from Thy Sacred Body as juice from grapes in a wine press.

From Thy Side, pierced with a lance by a soldier, blood and water issued forth until there was not left in Thy Body a single drop, and finally, like a bundle of myrrh lifted to the top of the Cross Thy delicate Flesh was destroyed, the very Substance of Thy Body withered, and the Marrow of Thy Bones dried up.

Through this bitter Passion and through the outpouring of Thy Precious Blood, I beg of Thee, O Sweet Jesus, to receive my soul when I am in my death agony. Amen.

The concluding prayer

Said once, after the fifteenth prayer.

O Sweet Jesus! Pierce my heart so that my tears of penitence and love will be my bread day and night; may I be converted entirely to Thee, may my heart be Thy perpetual habitation, may my conversation be pleasing to Thee, and may the end of my life be so praiseworthy that I may merit Heaven and there with Thy saints, praise Thee forever. Amen.

Where the 15 prayers come from

The fifteen prayers are medieval. They are found in Latin, beginning O Iesu Christe, aeterna dulcedo te amantium, in Books of Hours of the fifteenth century, especially in England, and in English translation as the Fifteen Oes, which William Caxton printed about 1491. Their ascription to St Bridget is traditional; it is natural, because no saint of the Middle Ages meditated the Passion more than she did, but it cannot be proved, and the prayers are not part of the book of her Revelations. Their worth does not depend on the attribution. They are sound, deeply Catholic prayers, full of Scripture and of the theology of the Cross, and they teach the soul to do what St Bridget did from the age of ten: to look at the Crucified and to love Him.

The promises of the St Bridget prayers: what the Church said

The prayers have travelled for a long time together with a list of promises: that whoever says them for a year will deliver fifteen souls of his family from Purgatory, that fifteen sinners of his family will be converted, that he will know the day of his death beforehand, and many more. Here the Church has spoken, and we must be plain.

On 28 January 1954 the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office published a monitum, a warning, in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (vol. 46, 1954, p. 64). It concerned a booklet entitled The Secret of Happiness: the fifteen prayers revealed by the Lord to St Bridget in the church of St Paul at Rome, printed at Nice and elsewhere in several languages.

The decisive words are these: cum vero in eodem libello asseratur S. Birgittae quasdam promissiones a Deo fuisse factas, de quarum origine supernaturali nullo modo constat, caveant Ordinarii locorum ne licentiam concedant edendi vel denuo imprimendi opuscula vel scripta quae praedictas promissiones continent — "since this booklet asserts that certain promises were made by God to St Bridget, of whose supernatural origin there is no proof whatever, let local Ordinaries take care not to grant permission to publish or reprint booklets or writings that contain these promises."

Three things follow. First, the warning struck the promises, not the prayers: the fifteen prayers themselves were not condemned and may be prayed by any Catholic. Second, the promises are not to be presented as a guarantee from God, and we do not reproduce them here. Third, the prayers are not among the indulgenced prayers of the Raccolta; their value is simply that of a fervent meditation on the Passion, which is no small thing. Every good prayer obtains grace; none of them works by its count, and to think that a fixed number of words binds God would be superstition, not faith. Pray them for love of the Crucified, and leave the rest to Him.

The 12-year St Bridget prayers (the seven prayers)

Many who search for "St Bridget prayers" are looking for something else: the 12-year prayers, also called the seven prayers of St Bridget. This is a different devotion. It consists of an opening prayer and seven short prayers on the seven sheddings of Our Lord's Blood — the Circumcision, the agony in the garden, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the piercing of the side — each preceded by an Our Father and a Hail Mary, said every day for twelve years. Some leaflets mix the two devotions and speak of the fifteen prayers said for twelve years; they are not the same thing.

We must be honest about this form too. The seven prayers are not found in St Bridget's Revelations, and their wording is plainly much later than the fourteenth century. The promises circulated with them (no Purgatory, the conversion of relatives, foreknowledge of one's death) have no more authority than those the Holy Office examined in 1954, and the same caution applies to them. There is no harm, and much good, in meditating daily on the Precious Blood. Those who love that devotion will find a traditional and well-tried form of it in the Chaplet of the Precious Blood, and a short daily devotion to Our Lord's wounds in the Chaplet of the Five Wounds.

For a nine-day prayer to St Bridget herself, with all the prayers for each day and her feast-day collect, see the novena to St Bridget of Sweden.

Who was St Bridget of Sweden?

Birgitta, Bridget in English, was born about 1303, the daughter of Birger, governor of Upland, the principal province of Sweden. When she was ten a sermon on the Passion moved her deeply, and that night she seemed to see Our Lord on His cross and to hear Him say, "Look upon me, my daughter." "Who has treated you thus?" she asked. "They who despise me, and spurn my love for them." Butler's Lives of the Saints says that "the impression made upon her mind was never effaced, and from that time the sufferings of her Redeemer became the centre of her spiritual life."

Married before she was fourteen to Ulf Gudmarsson, she was a wife for twenty-eight years and the mother of eight children, one of whom is honoured as St Catherine of Sweden. She served at the court of King Magnus II, warned the king and queen against their excesses, and after her husband's death in 1344 gave herself wholly to God as a penitent. Her revelations, written down in Latin by her confessors, concerned the Passion, the Nativity, and the great affairs of the Church and of the kingdoms of her time. She founded at Vadstena the monastery of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, the Bridgettines.

In 1349 she went to Rome for the Jubilee and never returned to Sweden. There she lived by a strict rule, served the sick, the poor and the pilgrims, fed the Swedes who came to the city, and wrote again and again to the Popes at Avignon to return to Rome. She made a last pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1371–1372, and died in Rome on 23 July 1373. Boniface IX canonized her in 1391. In the 1962 calendar her feast is kept on 8 October, with this collect from the Missal:

O Lord our God, who didst reveal to blessed Bridget, through Thine only-begotten Son, the secrets of Heaven: grant unto us Thy servants, by her loving intercession, to rejoice in the revelation of Thine eternal glory. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

The Church's judgement on her revelations, as Butler recalls after Benedict XIV, is a sober one: approved revelations receive not the assent of divine faith, but only a human faith, "according to the dictates of prudence," as probable and worthy of pious belief. St Bridget herself, Butler adds, "always submitted her revelations to the judgement of the pastors of the Church." The same spirit is the right one for the prayers that bear her name.

Praying the Passion with St Bridget

Whatever their origin, the fifteen prayers belong to the great current of Catholic devotion to the Passion, the same that gave the Church the Stations of the Cross. Each prayer is a small station: it stops before one suffering of Christ, looks at it, and draws from it a grace for the soul. Read alongside the Gospel accounts of the Passion of Jesus Christ, they become a year-long school of compunction and love.

St Bridget prayers PDF and audio

We do not offer a PDF: the full text of the fifteen prayers and the concluding prayer is above, and the page prints as it is. For a devotion kept every day for a year, a phone is a better companion than a sheet of paper: the Iter Fidei app carries the traditional prayers and devotions to the Passion, with a daily reminder, offline. Join early access here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the St Bridget prayers?

Fifteen prayers on the Passion of Christ, each beginning "O Jesus" and preceded by an Our Father and a Hail Mary, traditionally said every day for one year to honour the wounds of Our Lord. They are ascribed to St Bridget of Sweden and were known in medieval England as the Fifteen Oes.

How long does it take to say the St Bridget prayers?

About twenty to twenty-five minutes a day, said slowly, with the fifteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys. They may be divided through the day.

Are the promises of the St Bridget prayers approved by the Church?

No. On 28 January 1954 the Holy Office declared that the supernatural origin of these promises is in no way established, and told bishops not to allow them to be printed (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 46, 1954, p. 64). The prayers themselves were not condemned.

How do you pray the 12-year St Bridget prayers?

The 12-year devotion is a separate set of seven short prayers on the seven sheddings of Christ's Blood, each preceded by an Our Father and a Hail Mary, said daily for twelve years. It is a later devotion, not found in St Bridget's writings, and its promises carry no guarantee from the Church.

Can I start the 15 prayers of St Bridget on any day?

Yes. There is no fixed date; the year is counted from the day you begin. Many like to begin on a feast of the Passion, in Lent, or on her feast, 8 October.

Is St Bridget of Sweden the same as St Brigid of Kildare?

No. St Brigid of Kildare is the Irish abbess of the sixth century, patroness of Ireland, honoured on 1 February; the prayers on this page are ascribed to St Bridget of Sweden, of the fourteenth century. St Brigid has her own devotion, the novena to St Brigid of Ireland.

The Iter Fidei app carries the traditional prayers to the Passion, the novenas of the saints and the Missal of 1962, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Butler's Lives of the Saints, St Bridget, Widow, 8 October. Missale Romanum, Mass of St Bridget, collect Domine Deus noster. Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, Monitum of 28 January 1954, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 46 (1954), p. 64. The Fifteen Oes, in English Books of Hours and printed by William Caxton (c. 1491). Benedict XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione.