Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is the first prayer most Catholics learn and the one we say most often. With a single gesture we profess the two central mysteries of the faith: the Holy Trinity, in whose name we were baptized, and our redemption through the Cross of Christ. Christians have made it since the earliest centuries; around the year 200, Tertullian wrote that believers traced the cross on their foreheads at every step and at every daily task.

Make it when you begin and end your prayers, when you enter a church with holy water, before and after meals, when you pass a church, before a journey or a test, and in moments of temptation or danger. Touch your forehead, chest, left shoulder, and right shoulder as you say the words, slowly and reverently.

Trace the Cross carefully and speak the words with faith—it is both blessing and creed in miniature.

The Prayer

In the name of the Father, ✠ and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sources: Traditional form; cf. Baltimore Manual of Prayers (1889).

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