The Library · Prayers
The prayers of the Church
Each major prayer and devotion shown the same way: its own words, and a dated timeline of how it arose and developed — the sources, oldest to newest, with documented history and pious tradition each named honestly.
Marian antiphon
Available
Alma Redemptoris Mater — Loving Mother of the Redeemer
The Advent antiphon of Our Lady — 'Loving Mother of the Redeemer' — its hexameters credited…
3 sources →
Prayer to Christ
Available
Anima Christi — Soul of Christ
The beloved medieval prayer to the wounded Christ — of the first half of the fourteenth…
3 sources →
Marian antiphon
Available
Ave Regina Caelorum — Hail, Queen of Heaven
The Lenten-season antiphon of Our Lady — 'Hail, Queen of Heaven' — found in manuscripts from…
3 sources →
Marian antiphon
Available
Regina Caeli — Queen of Heaven
The Eastertide antiphon of Our Lady — 'Queen of heaven, rejoice' — of unknown twelfth-century origin,…
3 sources →
Marian antiphon
Available
Salve Regina — Hail Holy Queen
The great Marian antiphon of the Latin West — its uncertain eleventh-century origin, the tradition of…
4 sources →
Hymn of thanksgiving
Available
Te Deum
The great hymn of praise and thanksgiving of the Latin Church — sung at the end…
4 sources →
Marian devotion
Available
The Angelus
The threefold daily remembrance of the Incarnation, rung at morning, noon, and evening — grown from…
5 sources →
Prayer of the heart
Available
The Jesus Prayer
The short, ceaseless invocation of the Christian East — its roots in the Gospel cries for…
8 sources →
Marian litany
Available
The Litany of Loreto
The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, named for the shrine of Loreto where it was…
4 sources →
Marian devotion
Available
The Rosary
The Marian prayer of a hundred and fifty Aves — its roots in the medieval Psalter…
11 sources →
Devotion of the Passion
Available
The Stations of the Cross
The Way of the Cross — fourteen stations retracing Christ's path to Calvary. Grown from the…
5 sources →
Hymn to the Holy Spirit
Available
Veni Creator Spiritus
The Church's great hymn to the Holy Spirit — 'Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest' — from…
3 sources →
Sequence for Pentecost
Available
Veni Sancte Spiritus — the Golden Sequence
The 'Golden Sequence' of Pentecost — 'Come, thou Holy Spirit, come' — long held the loveliest…
3 sources →
Each prayer opens the same dated timeline the doctrines use — its origin, development, and the approvals and commentary across the centuries, in the sources' own words. Documented history is shown as history; pious tradition, as tradition.