Prayers
54 prayers of the Catholic tradition, in English, with a note on each saying what it is and when people pray it. Search by name, by another name for the same prayer, or by what you are actually facing.
Try a name like Memorare, another name for the same prayer like Salve Regina, or simply grief or before surgery.
6 prayers
Prayers for Others
For family, for the sick and the dying, for the dead, and for priests.
- Eternal Rest2 forms
The prayer said for someone who has died — at the graveside, on an anniversary, or whenever they come to mind. The De Profundis, traditionally prayed with it, is given as well.
- Prayer for the Dying
Said at a deathbed, by anyone present — a priest is not required for this. It can be prayed aloud with the dying person or silently beside them.
- Prayer for a Sick Person
For someone else who is ill — the prayer of the person sitting in the chair rather than lying in the bed.
- Prayer for Priests and Vocations
For those already ordained or in vows, and for those being called and not yet answering. Traditionally prayed on Thursdays.
- Prayer for One’s Family
For the household — those in it, those who have left it, and those not currently speaking to one another.
- Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
A novena by St. Alphonsus Liguori for the souls in purgatory, with a short reflection and prayer for each of the nine days. Many people make it in the nine days before All Souls’ Day on November 2 (October 24 to November 1), or for someone who has recently died.
Novenas
Prayers made over nine days, for a feast or for something you are asking for.
Discernment and Guidance
For anyone trying to work out what they are being asked to do.
About these texts
Every prayer here is a received text of the Catholic tradition, reproduced from published sources that are named on each prayer's own page. None of them were written by us, and none have been reworded.
Where a prayer has a modern wording still under copyright — the Mass texts belonging to the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, for instance — we publish the older traditional wording instead and say so on the page. GraceBook is not a publisher of liturgical books, and nothing here should be taken as the text to be used in the liturgy.
Scripture passages are from the Douay-Rheims Bible in the Challoner revision. If you find an error in any text, tell us and we will correct it.