For the Holy Souls in Purgatory

A short prayer for the souls who have no one left to pray for them.

St. Gertrude the Great, a thirteenth-century Benedictine mystic, is associated with a short prayer for the souls in purgatory that has been prayed by Catholics ever since. It takes fifteen seconds and is most often prayed daily, or through November, the month of the Holy Souls.

The Prayer

Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious Blood
of Your divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,
for all the holy souls in purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and within my family. Amen.

About This Prayer

A tradition attached to the prayer holds that a great number of souls are released from purgatory each time it is prayed. That number is a pious tradition, not a teaching of the Church, and it has never carried official approval — but the prayer itself needs no such justification. It offers the one thing of infinite value, the Blood of Christ, for those who can no longer help themselves.

The Church encourages prayer for the dead as an act of charity toward those who cannot pray for themselves. Praying for someone who has died is not a statement about where they are; it is simply love continuing to act after death has interrupted it.