Prayer for Deceased Priests and Bishops
Think of the priests who baptized you, heard your confessions, gave you your First Communion, married you, or anointed someone you love. Many of them have now gone to God. Because the faithful often assume a priest must already be in heaven, deceased priests can be among the most forgotten souls in purgatory, and yet they carried a heavy responsibility and served us for a lifetime.
The older Roman Missal includes a prayer for deceased bishops and priests, prayed each year among the Masses of November. It asks that those who shared in Christ's priesthood on earth may be joined for ever to the company of heaven. Pray it today by name for the priests of your life, and for the bishops who ordained them.
The Prayer
Let us pray. O God, who wert pleased that in the Apostolic Priesthood these Thy servants should be invested with pontifical or sacerdotal dignity: grant also, we beseech Thee, that they may be joined for evermore to the fellowship of that Priesthood in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
Remember especially: (name the priests who baptized you, taught you, forgave you, and buried your loved ones).
See also: Prayer for Priests (for the living) and Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory.
Source: Collect "for deceased Bishops and Priests" from the Masses for the Dead in The Roman Missal Adapted to the Use of the Laity (London, c. 1920 edition reformed under Pope Pius X). Public domain.
Comments