The Prayer of St. Francis — sacred illustration
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Traditional Prayers

The Prayer of St. Francis

Traditional Prayer

The Prayer of St. Francis, also called the Peace Prayer, is an anonymous prayer first published in French in 1912 in a small Catholic magazine in Paris; it has long been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but it is not found in his writings.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

The Prayer of St. Francis, also called the Peace Prayer, is an anonymous prayer first published in French in 1912 in a small Catholic magazine in Paris; it has long been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but it is not found in his writings.

Prayer points from The Prayer of St. Francis

  1. Ask God to make you an instrument of His peace today.
  2. Name one place of hatred, injury or discord in your life, and pray for love, pardon and union there.
  3. Pray for someone you know who is in doubt, despair or sadness.
  4. Ask Him to help you seek to understand before you seek to be understood.
  5. Ask for grace to give and to pardon, even when it costs you.
  6. Thank Him for the eternal life He promises through Christ.

Other forms of this prayer

As prayed in the Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

About this prayer

Few prayers are loved as widely as this one, by Catholics, Protestants and many others. Its history is a surprise. It first appeared anonymously in December 1912 in La Clochette, the little bulletin of a Catholic prayer league in Paris, as a beautiful prayer to say during Mass. A few years later a Franciscan priest printed it on the back of a holy card of St. Francis, and by 1927, when the first known English version appeared in an American Quaker magazine, it was being called his prayer. St. Francis of Assisi, who died in 1226, did not write it. But it fits him well: a man who gave up everything to follow Christ and became known for making peace. The prayer asks for what the Gospel asks of us: to give rather than grasp, to forgive, to seek the good of others before our own. This prayer is for anyone who wants to carry God’s peace into a place of conflict, sorrow or doubt.

When to pray this prayer

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