The Confiteor Prayer in English and Latin

The Confiteor is the Church's general confession of sin, the prayer that begins "I confess to almighty God." Its name is simply its first word in Latin, Confiteor, "I confess." In it we accuse ourselves before God, before the Blessed Virgin, the Archangel Michael, St John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints, and before the brethren standing beside us; we strike our breast three times; and we beg all of them to pray for us. For more than a thousand years the Church has put this prayer on the lips of her priests and people whenever they draw near to holy things: at the foot of the altar, at night before sleep, at the threshold of the confessional and at the bedside of the dying.

The Confiteor prayer in English

This is the traditional English text of the Confiteor, the full form as the server says it at the foot of the altar in the Latin Mass and as the faithful have always learned it:

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, to all the Saints, and to you, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed: (strike the breast three times) 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, all the Saints, and you, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

When the prayer is said privately, at home or at night, the words "and to you, Father" and "and you, Father" are simply left out. When the priest says it at Mass, he addresses the people instead: "and to you, brethren… and you, brethren."

The Confiteor in Latin: Confiteor Deo omnipotenti

The Latin is the original, fixed in this form in the Roman Missal of St Pius V and said word for word in every traditional Mass in the world:

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatae Mariae semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Ioanni Baptistae, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et tibi, pater: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Ioannem Baptistam, sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes Sanctos, et te, pater, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

In the priest's own Confiteor, et tibi, pater becomes et vobis, fratres, and et te, pater becomes et vos, fratres. Line by line, the Latin and English answer each other closely:

• Confiteor Deo omnipotenti: I confess to almighty God.
• quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed.
• mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa: through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
• Ideo precor… orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum: therefore I beseech… to pray to the Lord our God for me.

How to pronounce Confiteor

In the Church's Latin the word is said con-FEE-teh-or, with the stress on the second syllable, and Deo omnipotenti is DEH-oh om-nee-po-TEN-tee. Mea culpa is MEH-ah KOOL-pah.

The Misereatur and the Indulgentiam

The Confiteor is never left hanging. Whoever hears it answers with a prayer for the one who has confessed, the Misereatur, and the priest then adds the Indulgentiam, making the sign of the cross. At Mass the server says the Misereatur for the priest:

May almighty God have mercy on thee, forgive thee thy sins, and bring thee to life everlasting.
R. Amen.

Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et, dimissis peccatis tuis, perducat te ad vitam aeternam.
R. Amen.

After the server's Confiteor the priest says it in the plural, Misereatur vestri… peccatis vestris… perducat vos, "have mercy on you… your sins… bring you," and continues:

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins.
R. Amen.

Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus.
R. Amen.

When we pray the Confiteor alone, we say the Misereatur for ourselves: "May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to life everlasting" (Misereatur nostri… peccatis nostris… perducat nos). The Indulgentiam is not the absolution of the sacrament of Penance, which only a priest gives in the confessional; it is a prayer of the Church begging pardon for all who have just confessed.

The meaning of the Confiteor

Every phrase of the prayer is weighed. We confess first to God, against whom every sin is committed, and then to the Saints, because sin is never a private affair: it wounds the whole Body of Christ, and the Saints are our brethren in that Body.

The five named are the great intercessors of the Roman Church. Our Lady comes first as Queen of all Saints. St Michael is the prince of the heavenly host and, in the Church's prayer, the one who presents souls before God; you may read of him in our page on St Michael the Archangel. St John the Baptist is the preacher of penance, the voice crying "Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2); his life is told in St John the Baptist: life, death, feast days and prayer. Saints Peter and Paul are the Apostles of Rome, to whom the keys and the preaching of the Gospel were entrusted.

We confess, too, to "you, brethren" or "you, Father," following St James: "Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved" (James 5:16). The Confiteor is a mutual confession: priest and people accuse themselves to one another, and each prays for the other.

"In thought, word, and deed" covers the whole range of sin; nimis, "exceedingly," refuses to make the account smaller than it is. The triple mea culpa is the heart of the prayer. It takes all blame on ourselves, without excuse, and it fulfils the promise of St John: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity" (1 John 1:9).

Striking the breast three times

At the words mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa the Roman Missal directs that the breast be struck three times. The gesture is the publican's in the Gospel: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). Our Lord says he "went down into his house justified" (Luke 18:14). The heart is struck because it is the seat of sin, and the blow is repeated because the confession grows: my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault.

Where the Confiteor is said

At the foot of the altar in the Traditional Latin Mass

The best-known Confiteor is the one that opens every Low and High Mass. After Psalm 42 and the versicle Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, "Our help is in the name of the Lord," the priest bows profoundly and says the Confiteor, addressing the people as fratres. The server answers with the Misereatur. Then the server, in the name of the people, says the Confiteor to the priest, tibi, pater, and the priest answers with the Misereatur and the Indulgentiam.

A few versicles follow (Deus, tu conversus, Ostende nobis), and only then, cleansed by this double confession, does the priest go up to the altar praying the Aufer a nobis. The whole sequence is laid out with the rest of the rite in the order of the Tridentine Mass, and the Iter Fidei missal gives it every day with the Mass of the day.

Before the Communion of the faithful

For centuries the Confiteor was said a second time, by the server alone, just before Communion was given to the faithful, followed by the Misereatur, the Indulgentiam, the Ecce Agnus Dei and the threefold Domine, non sum dignus. Here we must be exact. The Code of Rubrics of 1960, which governs the 1962 Missal, omits this second Confiteor when Communion is distributed during Mass. Many priests have nevertheless kept the old custom, so that in a good number of traditional chapels you will still hear the Confiteor before Communion; in others it is not said. Outside Mass, in the rite for giving Communion to the sick, the Roman Ritual still has it said before the Ecce Agnus Dei. Our prayers before and after Communion are a fitting companion to it.

At Compline (and formerly at Prime) in the Breviary

The Divine Office also keeps the Confiteor. It is said every night at the beginning of Compline, after the short lesson, the versicle Adiutorium nostrum and a silent Our Father during which we examine the day, with the same double form as at Mass: the one who leads says it first, the rest answer with the Misereatur, then confess in turn. It gives the hour its penitential character, as we explain in Compline, the night prayer of the Church.

Until the reforms of 1955 and 1960 it was also said at Prime, the first hour of the morning, as part of the Preces recited on days below the rank of double; the simplified rubrics suppressed these so-called dominical Preces, and with them the Confiteor at Prime, so that in the 1962 Breviary it belongs to Compline alone. If the Office is new to you, what is the Divine Office explains its eight hours.

In confession

The Roman Ritual directs the penitent to begin his confession with the Confiteor, in Latin or in his own tongue, or at least with its opening words, "I confess to almighty God, and to you, Father." In practice the faithful said the first part, up to "my most grievous fault," and then named their sins. It is a good custom, not an obligation, and it fits naturally into the steps given in how to go to confession. The Confiteor confesses that we have sinned; the prayer that expresses sorrow and the purpose of amendment is the Act of Contrition, which the priest asks us to make before absolution. A careful examination of conscience beforehand gives both prayers their matter.

At the bedside of the dying

The Roman Ritual also prescribes the Confiteor before Extreme Unction and before the Apostolic blessing given at the hour of death. The last prayer of confession many Catholics have heard on earth is the same one they learned as altar boys.

The Confiteor prayer, old version and new

People often search for "the Confiteor prayer old version" because they remember a longer prayer than the one heard in most parishes today. They are right: there are two forms.

The old version is the one given above. Its wording grew through the Middle Ages, with much variety from place to place, until St Pius V's Missal of 1570 made this text the only one for the whole Roman Rite, apart from a few ancient religious orders that kept their own. It is the Confiteor of the 1962 Missal and Breviary.

The new version came with the Missal of Paul VI in 1969–1970. It is markedly shorter. Its Latin begins Confiteor Deo omnipotenti et vobis, fratres. The Blessed Virgin is still named, together with "all the Angels and Saints," but St Michael, St John the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul have disappeared. A fourth way of sinning, et omissione, "and in what I have failed to do," has been added to thought, word and deed. Priest and people now say it once, together, instead of confessing in turn. It is only one of several options for the opening penitential act, and the Indulgentiam that followed it has dropped out of the Mass. The 1973 English translation went further still and reduced the triple mea culpa to "through my own fault"; the 2011 translation restored the threefold form.

The faithful who look for the old Confiteor are looking for a richer prayer, not just an older one. We confess before named intercessors, each with his own part in the work of our salvation, and priest and people confess to each other in turn. That is the form we keep, and the one we recommend to every Catholic.

How to pray the Confiteor at home

The Confiteor needs no book and no priest. A simple way to use it each night, in the spirit of Compline:

1. Make the sign of the cross and recall that you are in the presence of God.
2. Look back over the day: your thoughts, your words, your deeds, and the good you left undone.
3. Say the Confiteor slowly, without "and to you, Father," striking your breast at mea culpa.
4. Say the Misereatur for yourself: "May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to life everlasting. Amen."
5. Make an Act of Contrition and resolve to confess any grave sin as soon as you can.

The Confiteor is one of the prayers every Catholic should know by heart, and you will find it among the essential Catholic prayers we have gathered, alongside the Our Father, the Creed and the Act of Contrition.

Confiteor PDF and printable text

The full Confiteor, in English and in Latin, with the Misereatur and the Indulgentiam, is given above and prints exactly as it stands. Better than a sheet of paper, though, is to have it with you every day: Join early access here. gives the Confiteor at Mass and at Compline in Latin and English, works offline, and can remind you of your night prayer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Confiteor mean?

Confiteor is Latin for "I confess," the first word of the prayer. The Church names her prayers by their opening words, as she names the Gloria, the Credo or the Salve Regina, so the whole prayer is called the Confiteor.

When is the Confiteor said?

In the traditional rite it is said at the prayers at the foot of the altar at the start of every Mass, by priest and server in turn; by custom in many places before the Communion of the faithful; every night at Compline (and, before 1955, at Prime on lesser days); at the beginning of confession; and before Extreme Unction and the last blessing of the dying.

Is the Confiteor said at every Mass?

In the Traditional Latin Mass, yes: the double Confiteor at the foot of the altar belongs to every Mass, sung or low. It is left out only on the rare days when the Mass follows directly on another rite, notably after the Palm Sunday procession and at the Easter Vigil. In the Mass of Paul VI the Confiteor is one option among several, so many Sundays pass without it.

Does the Confiteor forgive venial sins?

The Confiteor is not a sacrament and cannot forgive mortal sin, which requires confession and absolution. But St Thomas Aquinas teaches that the general confession, the striking of the breast and the Our Father help remit venial sins, because they include a movement of detestation for sin (Summa Theologiae III, q. 87, a. 3). The fruit depends on the sincerity of the sorrow we bring to the words. The difference between the two kinds of sin is explained in mortal vs venial sin.

Why does the Confiteor name St Michael and St John the Baptist?

They stand with Our Lady and the Apostles Peter and Paul as the chief patrons of the Roman Church in her penitential prayer: St Michael as prince of the angels who defends souls before God, St John as the herald of penance who prepared the way of the Lord. The Missal of St Pius V fixed these names for the whole Roman Rite in 1570.

Can the laity say the Confiteor in Latin?

Certainly. The Latin is the Church's own text, and it is the form the server says at Mass for the whole congregation. Learning it by heart joins your private prayer to that of the altar and the choir.

What is the difference between the Confiteor and the Act of Contrition?

The Confiteor is a confession: it admits that we have sinned and asks the prayers of the Saints. The Act of Contrition is an act of sorrow: it detests sin for the love of God and resolves to amend. In confession the first may open the accusation; the second is required before absolution.

The Iter Fidei app gives the Confiteor at the foot of the altar each day in the traditional Missal, and at Compline each night, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Missale Romanum (1962), Ordo Missae and Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, on the prayers at the foot of the altar, the Confiteor, Misereatur and Indulgentiam, and the striking of the breast. Codex Rubricarum (1960), on the Communion of the faithful during Mass. Breviarium Romanum (1962), Ordinarium at Compline. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 87, a. 3. Rituale Romanum, on the Sacrament of Penance, Communion of the sick, Extreme Unction and the Apostolic blessing at the hour of death. St Pius V, bull Quo primum (1570). Holy Scripture (Douay-Rheims): Matt. 3:2; Luke 18:13-14; James 5:16; 1 John 1:9.