The Guardian Angel Prayer in Latin

The children’s prayer, in the Church’s language.

Four lines, learned by Catholic children for centuries and prayed by adults who never stopped. The Latin is short enough to learn in a single sitting.

In Latin

Angele Dei, qui custos es mei,
me tibi commissum pietate superna,
hodie illumina, custodi, rege et guberna. Amen.

In English

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.

About This Prayer

The four Latin verbs are the whole prayer: illumina, custodi, rege, guberna — light, guard, rule, guide. It is prayed in the morning, and by many at the start of a journey. The English version, in its familiar rhyme, is a nineteenth-century translation.